The US said it has no plans to sign a non-aggression treaty with Southeast Asia even though other big powers Russia, China and India have become signatories to underscore security commitment to the region.
Australia, a key US ally, has also agreed to accede to the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, abandoning Canberra's option to launch pre-emptive military strikes against terrorist bases in the region.
The three-decade-old treaty bans signatories from using violence to settle conflicts in the region, a key policy of ASEAN, which was established during the height of the Cold War.
But the US is reluctant to sign the treaty, which is also a condition laid down by ASEAN for those wanting to participate in an inaugural East Asian Summit it would hold in December.
"We have a very active and productive dialogue with ASEAN on a full range of issues," a US State Department official said.
"Although we have discussed the treaty in the past, we have no current plans to sign the agreement," he told reporters.
The official did not say why Washington is reluctant to ink the pact but some experts believe it is due to bureaucratic rather than strategic reasons.
The issue goes back to the Cold War, when there was a sense that there should be no restrictions on the free movement of US forces, particularly the navy, in East Asia, according to Marvin Ott, a professor at National War College in the National Defense University in Washington.
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