Tuesday, 21 July 2009

ASEAN welcomes U.S. impending accession to TAC

www.chinaview.cn
2009-07-20

PHUKET, Thailand, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday welcomed the United States' impending accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in Southeast Asia.

A signing ceremony for the U.S. accession to the TAC will be held Wednesday as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will represent her country to sign documents with the ten ASEAN foreign ministers.

"We warmly welcomed the impending accession by the United States of America to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia as a strong signal of its commitment to peace and security in the region," said a joint communique issued Monday after the ministers' meeting.

The TAC, a peace treaty, was signed in 1976. It is the group's founding non-aggression pact aimed at promoting regional stability. It was amended on Dec 15, 1987by a protocol to open the document for accession by states outside Southeast Asia.

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

Editor: Deng Shasha

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