Contact: Sammy McDavid
Mississippi State will be host next week to an assembly of current and former government officials and international security experts from the Asia-Pacific region. They are coming to campus Wednesday and Thursday [March 8 and 9] to discuss potential terror threats, particularly as they relate to the vital Strait of Malacca that links the Pacific and Indian oceans.
Meeting in the Hunter Henry Center, the forum is organized by the university's Janos Radvanyi Center for International Security and Strategic Studies. Vanderbilt University's Institute for Public Policy Studies and the Tokyo-based Asian Security Forum are co-sponsors.
Radvanyi, a former diplomat and retired MSU history professor who continues to lead the center named in his honor, said research clearly indicates that world terrorism lies not only in the Middle East, Africa and Europe, but also within Southeast Asia. With that knowledge in mind, CISS is joining with its forum co-sponsors to inaugurate a comprehensive security study of the sea lane considered to be "Asia's key choke point," he added.
Long infamous among sailors for narrow channels, shallow reefs, thousands of islands, and history of pirate activities, the watercourse between Indonesia and Malaysia nevertheless accommodates more than 60,000 vessels--from supertankers to cruise ships--annually.
"Al-Qaeda is joining forces with local Muslim extremists and is creating extended international terrorist networks throughout the region," Radvanyi said. "The 621-mile-long strait is the shortest route for oil tankers traveling from the Middle East to Japan, China and South Korea. A powerful terrorist attack in the strait would disrupt for months Middle East oil and other goods to these industrial nations.
"We have asked participants to present reports and take part in panel discussions for the exchange of research methods and experiences in fighting global terrorism in Southeast Asia," he explained. "The neutral forum that we are providing for this comprehensive study is a proven method for establishing trust among participants of different ethnicities and cultures."
While not open to the general public, interested members of the news media are welcome to attend the varied sessions. To ensure adequate seating and obtain a schedule of events, attending reporters should contact the CISS office--as soon as possible--at (662) 325-8406.