Malaysia and the United States mended fences today after an angry dispute over protecting international shipping against terrorist attacks in the vital Malacca Straits.

The visiting commander of US forces in the Pacific, Admiral Thomas Fargo, ironed out the differences between the two countries in hour-long talks with Malaysian Defence Minister Najib Razak, Najib indicated at a news conference.

Malaysia reacted strongly to recent reports that Washington was considering deploying marines in the straits to counter terrorist threats in the narrow waterway, which carries a third of world trade, saying this would infringe on its sovereignty.

"Admiral Fargo wanted to clarify the misreport in the newspapers," Najib, who is also deputy prime minister, told reporters.

Fargo assured him that such intervention "has never been the intention of the US", and that Washington respected Malaysia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Najib said.

Rumsfeld's comments

Fargo's visit to Malaysia was the second attempt by a top US official in less than a month to limit the fallout from the report, following Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's comments on the issue during a trip to Singapore.

Rumsfeld also said Fargo had originally been "misreported" when he was said to have told a congressional committee in April that the US was considering putting marines on high speed vessels in the piracy-prone straits to protect ships against terrorists.

Malaysia, a mainly-Muslim state, angrily dismissed the idea, saying US forces in the area would attract terrorism rather than repel attacks.

Najib made it clear today, however, that Malaysia was prepared to cooperate in other ways with the US over concerns that terrorists could close the straits and cripple world trade or use a fuel tanker as a floating bomb in a maritime version of the airborne September 11 attacks.

He said Kuala Lumpur was ready to agree to Fargo's request for expanded cooperation in the exchange of intelligence and in efforts to increase Malaysia's capacity to fight terrorism, suggesting that this could involve joint exercises.

"There will not be any joint patrols but in the area of capacity building we could have some form of bilateral exercise which will increase our capacity to deal with problems of maritime security," he said.

"We have to ensure the threat of piracy and even the possibility of international terrorism is met in a lethal manner."

Joint patrols ruled out

Fargo, who met Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi earlier and was to hold talks with Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, had "expressed his pleasure with the level of commitment Malaysia has shown to fight terrorism," Najib said.

However, he also ruled out joint patrols with Indonesia and Singapore, the other two states with coastlines on the straits.

"We cannot pursue joint patrols, only coordinated patrols," Najib said in answer to a question, without elaborating.

His response contrasts to Singapore's welcome yesterday for the joint patrols plan first put forward by Indonesia.

Singapore's Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said the idea was a positive development, while suggesting that "the international community" also had a role to play in protecting shipping in the straits.

Fargo is due to visit Singapore and Thailand after leaving Malaysia on Wednesday. - AFP