23 April, 2008 The Star
PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA: The world need not feel insecure about Asia because the region's members prefer security that is guaranteed by economic development, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
It was not Asian countries that made the West feel insecure, but the West, he said in his address titled Security problems in Asia and their possible impact on world stability at the First International Conference by the Centre for Defence Information Studies in Havana, Cuba, on Monday.
Asians believed that promoting a prosper-thy-neighbour policy would help to reduce problems from coming into their own countries, he said, adding that Asian powers had not indulged in military adventures for a long time.
However, the United States has been telling Asian countries that they have a serious security problem, he added.
Dr Mahathir said the United States had convinced Japan and Korea that China was a threat to their security.
?But is China a threat to the security of its neighbours and to the rest of the world?? he asked.
?So who is causing Asian countries to feel insecure? It?s certainly not the Asians, but the United States, the most belligerent country in the history of mankind.?
Dr Mahathir said the real threat to everyone?s security was caused by people who continually produced new, and more efficient, weapons. They promoted the sale of their wares and thus caused an arms race.
?The people who sell arms are in fact the people who create insecurity,? he said, noting there were countries outside Asia, which didn?t want to see a stable or prosperous Asia.
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