Australia has no plans to attack neighbours says Downer

Alexander Downer

CANBERRA - Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says Australia has no plans to attack its Asian neighbours despite refusing to dump its regional pre-emptive strike policy.

Australia last week caved into pressure from its Asian neighbours and agreed to sign a regional non-aggression pact in return for an invitation to the inaugural East Asian summit later this year.

The government had previously ruled out signing the treaty of amity and cooperation, which would ban Australia from making pre-emptive strikes on terrorist cells in other countries.

Mr Downer today rejected criticisms by Labor that Australia's decision to sign the peace pact now meant the government no longer needed its pre-emptive strike policy.

He said Australia's right to self defence was set out in the peace pact through reference to its obligations under the United Nations charter.

"We don't have a qualified approach to the protection of Australia and the protection of Australians," Mr Downer told ABC TV.

"If people in Australia support a qualified right to self defence I think they should say so.

"We don't know what circumstances might be where we need to defend ourselves, say against terrorists ... it's not qualified.

"But we, on the other hand are obviously not planning on attacking our next-door neighbours.

"I think some of our political opponents ... are trying to suggest we're about to attack our neighbours, well of course we're not."

The East Asian summit is expected to lay the groundwork for a vast regional trading bloc which promises to be a global economic powerhouse.

Mr Downer said he believed there was the potential in the next one or two decades for member countries to set up a free trade area stretching from China to New Zealand and India.

He also said he believed that as well as closer trading ties, member countries would extend their security links.

"I don't mean a kind of alliance character, but patterns of consultation and cooperation in the security field," Mr Downer said.

However, Mr Downer downplayed suggestions that members of the East Asian summit would end up setting up their own version of the European Union.

He said the make-up of the individual countries and their history were very different to Europe.

- AAP