ASEAN, Japan to Boost Cybercrime, Counter-Terrorism Cooperation

Kuala Lumpur (PNA/Kyodo) — Southeast Asian ministers in charge of security held talks with their Japanese counterpart on Thursday in a bid to enhance cooperation in tackling terrorism and cybercrime.

Eriko Yamatani, a cabinet minister and also the chairperson of the National Public Safety Commission, led a delegation for the second ministerial meeting between Japan and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The first ministerial level consultation was held in 2013 in Laos.

In a joint statement, both sides called for the need to boost counter-terrorism capacity through advanced dialogue and sharing of information and knowledge.

“We noted that cybercrime, whose modus operandi are becoming increasingly sophisticated and complicated, poses a grave and imminent threat to the region,” the statement said.

Both parties expressed hope that the ASEAN-Japan Cybercrime Dialogue launched last year would become the foundation of cooperation between ASEAN member states and Japan.

The issue of the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea during the 1970s and 1980s was also touched on in the meeting. Yamatani has responsibility for that issue in Japan.

“We emphasized the importance of addressing humanitarian concerns of the international community such as the abduction issue,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed, who chaired the meeting, said an ASEAN-Japan dialogue on terrorism and cybercrime will take place in Kuala Lumpur during the first quarter of next year.

The New Straits Times quoted him as saying that Japan, which ranked in Tier 2 (of 4) in the U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report, has the capacity and experience to help Malaysia tackle human trafficking and cybercrime.

“We have asked Japan to provide technical and financial assistance that will involve enforcement agencies including police and the National Security Council,” he said.

Malaysia, in turn, could assist Japan in helping to fight Islamic extremism.

“Japanese nationals have been kidnapped and killed by the Islamic State in Iraq,” he said. “As an Islamic country we have a better understanding of the extremists’ actions and behavior which have deviated from true Islamic teachings.”

The ASEAN-Japan meeting was part of a series of meetings held on the sidelines of the four-day ASEAN ministerial meeting on transnational crime that also included meetings with other dialogue partners, such as China and South Korea.

The meeting is held biennially. But plans are afoot to make it an annual affair.

This year’s host Malaysia has added a “Special ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Rise of Radicalization and Violent Extremism” into the agenda which will take place on Friday. (PNA/Kyodo) LGI/BNB/RSM