Reuter: Burma Under Increasing Pres

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Subject: Reuter: Burma Under Increasing Pressure at ASEAN Forum

BURMA UNDER INCREASING PRESSURE AT ASEAN FORUM

(Adds Christopher, Australia comments)
     By Ian MacKenzie
     JAKARTA, July 22 (Reuter) - Burma came under increasing pressure from
Western nations on Monday over its human rights record, despite efforts by
Southeast Asian nations to defuse the issue which they find increasingly
irritating.
     The European Union and Australia both expressed concern over the
political situation in Burma in bilateral meetings with Rangoon's Foreign
Minister Ohn Gyaw.
     U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, speaking to reporters
before arriving here for the annual meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum
security group, said he would raise concerns about Burma's crackdown on
pro-democracy activists led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
     "We're very concerned about the situation in Burma....We have a number
of options that will be before...the United States, looking down the road
here," Christopher said, referring to sanctions legislation awaiting action
in Congress.
     Association of Southeast Asian nations Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia,
Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines and Brunei welcomed Burma as an observer
and eventual member of the group during the annual meeting of their foreign
ministers at the weekend.
     ASEAN has resolutely rejected Western calls for sanctions against
Burma. Its members say their policy is one of "constructive engagement" to
promote political change and have expressed deepening irritation over
Western pressure on Rangoon.
     Irish Foreign Minister Dick Spring, current chairman of the EU Council
of Ministers, told reporters after meeting Ohn Gyaw that he had expressed
the EU's concern over the political situation in Burma.
     Asked if the Burmese had been receptive, he said: "I think they
certainly understood the concerns..."
     He said they had agreed on further dialogue. "I think that it's
important that we'll have regular meetings where those concerns can be
expressed, and I think that will happen in the future."
     Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he had also
expressed concern over the situation in Burma in his bilateral meeting with
Ohn Gyaw.
     A key issue angering the West is the death in custody on June 22 of
James Nichols, a Burmese citizen who was close to Suu Kyi and had been
honorary consul for several European nations, including Denmark.
     Spring said the Burmese had handed over "some documentation" relating
to the death of Nichols, and this would be studied and a report made to EU
members, particularly Denmark.
     Downer said he had also received a letter from the Burmese explaining
the circumstances of the death. An Australian official, however, later
quoted Downer as saying: "They responded but did not engage the points we
had been making."
     At an earlier news conference, the Burmese minister said that weekly
meetings held outside Suu Kyi's Lakeside Rangoon home were legal if they
were peaceful and no documents were distributed.
  REUTER
KT
ISBDA