Colin Powell to Visit Eight Asian Nations

July 12, 2002
By Elaine Monaghan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit eight Asian nations starting later this month, the State Department said on Friday, in a trip that will highlight the impact on the region of the Sept. 11 attacks and Islamic militancy.

Powell will depart July 26 and visit India, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines, his final stop, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a news briefing. The trip ends on Aug. 3, Boucher said.

Bombings this year in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, and the discovery in Singapore and Malaysia of militants suspected of links to Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, raised fears that the region could become a stage for the U.S. war on terrorism.

Powell's stop in the Philippines will be seen as a pat on the back for Manila's help in fighting Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who also have alleged connections with bin Laden, the man accused by the United States of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks that killed about 3,000 people.

Analysts say crackdowns in Malaysia and Singapore have made Thailand a popular destination for militants. A top U.S. official said in May that al Qaeda, bin Laden's guerrilla network, had established a toehold in Indonesia, the world's most-populous Muslim nation.

Singapore has won praise from the United States for arresting militants, including some who allegedly plotted to bomb American targets in the city state.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Monday that he was outraged by recent Thai intelligence reports that al Qaeda members were hiding in the south of his country.

FIGHTING TERRORISM IS KEY U.S. PRIORITY

The United States has made fighting terrorism its top foreign policy priority since Sept. 11, defining its relationship with countries on the basis of their cooperation with its campaign to crush al Qaeda and its allies.

Powell said on Tuesday he would go to India and Pakistan to try to keep a lid on tensions over the disputed region of Kashmir that almost erupted in war this year. The order of stops there on July 27 and July 28 has not yet been set.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is under pressure to fulfill pledges to stop infiltration by militants intent on bloodshed in Indian-controlled Kashmir and India proper.

India sees it as the task of the United States, which unusually has good relations with both nuclear-capable neighbors, to make Musharraf keep his word.

"There been some easing of tensions, there has been a significant decline in the infiltration. ... We continue to look for that to be made permanent in accordance with the pledges that President Musharraf has made," Boucher said.

He said both sides needed to take more steps to ease tensions like shutting down militant camps in Pakistan and the continued reduction of India's military build-up.

Powell's visit is organized around the annual gathering of Southeast Asian nations on July 31 and Aug. 1 in Brunei.

He has visited India and Pakistan twice since Sept. 11, but his stops elsewhere will be his first as secretary of state.

Powell arrives in Bangkok on July 28, travels to Kuala Lumpur the next day, visits Singapore on July 30 and goes on to Jakarta from Brunei on Aug. 2 before heading to Manila and back home.

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