MALAYSIA has bluntly warned it will not stand for any attempt by Australia or New Zealand to use their closer economic links to Singapore as a back door into the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).

The warning, by Malaysia's Minister for International Trade and Industry, Rafidah Aziz, follows the signing of a free trade agreement between New Zealand and Singapore.

Singapore and Australia announced Feb 20 they would start negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) in the city-state on Feb 21.

The outspoken Malaysian minister told the Australian business magazine Asia Today in an interview that the East Asian community did not extend to Australia or New Zealand.

"They are not (part of) East Asia," she said. "They will have to fit into the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) process."

Rafidah said Malaysia had also warned Singapore it would not stand for any attempt by Australia and New Zealand to use their partnership with Singapore as a means of negotiating entry to AFTA.

She said discussions about linking AFTA to CER -- the Closer Economic Relations free trade agreement binding Australia and New Zealand -- were continuing. But these were unlikely to lead to an AFTA-CER Free Trade Area (FTA), she said.

"Malaysia has already advised that this is not feasible. In fact, it has already been shown that even a Singapore-CER FTA is not on."

But Rafidah stressed that Malaysia was not a proponent of free trade areas, favouring instead a broader approach to economic integration which it believes would generate a wider range of mutual support and benefits.

"Trade liberalisation does not mean happiness," Rafidah said.

Australia has been well aware of Malaysia's opposition to its becoming part of AFTA for almost a decade, but the Malaysians have not recently seen fit to express it in such blunt terms.

It was a factor in Australia's decision to pursue bilateral free trade areas with countries such as Singapore and the United States.

Until recently Australian trade policy was firmly focused on multilateral level agreements through the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and APEC.

Stalled efforts to promote a new global round of liberalisation through the WTO along with frustrated attempts to join regional blocs such as AFTA have forced a fundamental shift in Canberra's trade objectives.

However, Australia says it wants to pursue bilateral free trade areas with countries such as Singapore and the United States, which can complement or even spur multilateral efforts. Giant US corporations including General Electric, Boeing, Time Warner, Goldman Sachs and General Motors are now backing Australia's push to join a new trade pact with the United States which would also encompass Singapore, New Zealand and Chile.

Australia believes such a new deal with the United States, its biggest trading partner after Japan, would complement future links with Asia rather than impede them as some critics here fear.

Singapore has recently concluded what is known as a Closer Econoimic Partnership (CEP) with New Zealand, and is negotiating either FTAs or CEPs with the United States, Japan and Mexico. Australia believes an agreement with Singapore could be open to other "friendly" countries in the region such as Thailand and the Philippines.