East and Southeast Asia:
Threats without and within
Chinese troops wear protective masks against SARS
(photo: AFP)
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HUDDLED together in the face of two looming threats, East Asian nations were plagued by security issues in 2003, most notably North Korean posturing on nuclear weapons and the spread of the SARS virus. In Southeast Asia, the threat from within continued to afflict nations seeking to align themselves with the US- led "war on terrorism".
Believed to have been born in China's Guangdong province late last year, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) resulted in more than 800 deaths worldwide, the large bulk of which occurred in China and Hong Kong, and dealt a devastating blow to the regional economy. More than 8,000 were diagnosed with the virus, but health officials breathed a sigh of relief when the World Health Organisation declared in July that strict quarantines and obsessive monitoring of hotspots had managed to "contain" the virus. A confirmed case in Singapore in September, however, was a reminder that the danger remains potent.
Stepping up its reclusive stance, North Korea spurned international weapons treaties, withdrawing from the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in January and dissolving its 1992 agreement with South Korea. Representatives from North and South Korea, Russia, China, Japan and the United States convened in Beijing in August, when a purported threat by Pyongyang to test a nuclear weapon led only to a heightened sense of foreboding and a grim promise of more talks. Pyongyang's offer this month to "freeze" its programme in return for concessions from the US was dismissed by Washington as insufficient.
The nuclear threat cast a long shadow over the region. As South Korean President-elect Roh Moo-hyun was preparing to be sworn into office in February, North Korea launched a missile into the sea between Japan and the Korean peninsula. Still shaken by a similar warning sent to Japan in 1998, Japan announced this month that it is acquiring a US anti-missile system. Japan, which has clung to its post-WWII image as a non- militaristic nation, also controversially moved to strengthen its military in response to perceived external threats.
Internal threats dogged the leaderships of Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and the Philippines' Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Launched in May, Indonesia's aggressive military crackdown on the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has drawn sharp condemnation from human rights groups. A car bomb blast at Jakarta's J W Marriot in August took 14 lives and drew international attention back to the believed perpetrator, militant Islamic organisation Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) -- also blamed for last year's catastrophic suicide bombings on the resort island of Bali. High-profile JI trials included that of the group's alleged spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who was convicted of "subversion" in September.
In neighbouring Philippines, the government's struggle with Islamic militants in the predominantly Muslim south was mirrored in fitful efforts to secure a cease-fire with the main separatist faction, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). In July, Manila indicted eight suspected JI militants in connection with a string of bombings in Manila two years earlier. Notorious JI operations chief Hambali -- dubbed "Southeast Asia's Bin Laden" by the CIA -- was also named in the indictment, but remained at large until he was captured in a joint Thai-US police operation in Thailand in August. A July military mutiny by some 300 soldiers was resolved without bloodshed but prompted the beleaguered Arroyo to declare a "state of rebellion" that was lifted in mid-August.
Regime change came quietly in both China and Malaysia. After a decade as president, Chinese leader Jiang Zemin stepped down in March to make way for new President Hu Jintao. As head of the Central Military Commission, however, Jiang maintains a strong behind-the-scenes role. In Malaysia, long-standing Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, known for his provocative comments on Western foreign policy, eased in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to the post in October, ending 22 years at the helm.
Reviewed by Nyier Abdou
