NEWS - Australia sees Asia leading

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Subject: NEWS - Australia sees Asia leading next Timor force

Australia sees Asia leading next Timor force

  
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Australia will cut back its military
presence in East Timor once U.N. peacekeepers arrive, and wants one of
Indonesia's ASEAN neighbours to lead the force, Australia's ambassador
to Malaysia said on Tuesday. 

``We, Australia, certainly have a strong interest in seeing our
leadership reduced and certainly have some other nation, an ASEAN
nation, come forward to take up the next phase,'' ambassador Robert
Cotton told a news conference in Malaysia's capital. 

Cotton said Australia is currently providing about 4,300 of the 5,650
members of the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET) deployed
under a United Nations mandate to restore peace and security in the
ravaged territory. 

Four member states of the 10-member Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) have also contributed soldiers: Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. 

A U.N. peacekeeping force is expected to take over from the
Australian-led multilateral force after Indonesia's parliament ratifies
the result of an August 30 referendum in East Timor. 

Indonesia and Malaysia have vigorously criticised Australia's leadership
of the current force. 

``The next phase, to be led by an ASEAN state, we think would be a good
thing because we do believe that East Timor, obviously enough, will have
to find its future in this region and it needs to work as an independent
nation with the states of ASEAN,'' Cotton said. 

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

Colonel Duncan Lewis of the Australian Defence Force said Canberra
intends to cut back its commitment to between 1,500 and 2,000 in a U.N.
blue beret peacekeeping force. 

Cotton reiterated that Australia rejects Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad's statement last month that Australian troops in East
Timor had been ``heavy-handed.'' 

``We do not believe it to be correct.'' 

The diplomat denied that Australian Prime Minister John Howard envisaged
Australia as the United States' deputy in Asian peacekeeping. ``There is
no Howard Doctrine,'' he said. ``Australia does not want to have the
role as regional policeman.'' 

Mahathir said in a column printed on Monday in Japan's Mainichi Daily
News that East Timor could end up being ``Australia's Vietnam.'' 

Asked to comment, the Australian envoy said: ``This operation in East
Timor is mandated by the United Nations. The operation in Vietnam was
not.'' 

Cotton said he was convinced Malaysia and Australia could work out their
differences despite the sharp rhetoric. 

``I would like to think that the relationship is strong enough to manage
this one through. We've had some differences in the past and we've
talked those through,'' he said. 

04:12 10-12-99