Strasbourg, 06/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - By adopting the report by Dutch Liberal Jules Maaten by 440 to 11 with 30 abstentions, the European Parliament called for a strengthening of the partnership between European and Asia, regretting the lack of a coherent European Union strategy with regard to Asia. It called on Council and Commission to find ways of associating India, other Asian countries and Taiwan with ASEM in order to stimulate economic growth and democracy in the region. It recommended that ASEM's political pillar incorporate a global approach to the preventing war and maintaining peace by supporting political dialogue between North and South Korea and between China and Taiwan. It called on the Commission to initiative the negotiations process to lead to a free trade agreement between the EU and Taiwan and expressed its concern at the arms race between China and Taiwan, calling on China to withdraw its missiles from along the Straits of Formosa. It also called on China to suspend executions and abolish capital punishment. Parliament criticised the Commission for generally ignoring the respect of human rights and democratic principles in the framework of the implementation of cooperation agreements with Vietnam and Laos and in recent strategic documents concerning the two countries (amendment tabled by Marco Pannella). It supports the Indonesian government in its efforts to improve relations between the Christian minority and the Islamic movement but expressed concern at the proliferation of fundamentalist cells, like Laskar Jihad, in various regions of Indonesia.