Australia defends travel warning
AAP reporting from Cebu said that Minister Warren Truss yesterday defended Australia’s travel advisory which warns citizens against visiting the central Philippine city of Cebu during twin Asian summits.
Truss admitted that advisories could hit tourism in the countries named but said governments must protect their nationals from possible attacks.
The Federal Government has warned citizens against visiting Cebu, where the summits will be held for three days from tomorrow.
“We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in the Philippines because of the high threat of terrorist attack,” the warning says.
“We continue to receive credible reports that terrorists are planning attacks against a range of targets, including places frequented by foreigners. Some reports suggest that terrorists could target sites in Metro Manila, Mindanao including the Sulu Archipelago, and Cebu province.”
Other governments have issued similar advisories.
“I appreciate that a travel advisory … can be damaging to the tourism industry,” Truss told reporters.
“But we do have an obligation as a country to be truthful to our citizens and when there are acts of violence in other parts of the world then we have an obligation to report honestly.
“We need to stamp out terrorism and then those sorts of warnings would not be necessary.”
Prime Minister John Howard is expected to fly in on Sunday to attend the East Asia summit on Monday involving 10 ASEAN members and dialogue partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
The East Asia summit will be preceded by a gathering of ASEAN leaders tomorrow.
The summits were hastily postponed last month, with organisers citing an approaching typhoon but sources said terror warnings issued by several countries at that time were partly responsible.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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