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Diplomatic coup ?



	RANGOON, Burma (AP) _ Admitting Burma to the Association of
	Southeast Asian Nations would bolster the country's military
	government and prevent democratic change, Nobel laureate Aung San
	Suu Kyi said Tuesday.
   	``To make Burma a member of ASEAN at this moment is to encourage
	(the regime) to be more repressive,'' Suu Kyi said a news
	conference at the home of her party's vice chairman.
   
	Burma is expected to be admitted to the regional economic
	grouping in July. In February, President Suharto of Indonesia _ an
	ASEAN member and one of the regime's strongest supporters _ visited
	Burma and reportedly assured the generals membership was imminent.
   	
***	Acceptance by its neighbors is considered a diplomatic coup for
	the military government, which is shunned by most Western countries
	because of its human rights violations and crackdown on Suu Kyi's
	democracy movement.
   
	Suu Kyi's contacts with the press and public have become
	increasingly rare in recent months. The regime has erected
	roadblocks around her lakeside compound in Rangoon and denied most
	people access to her.
   
	Last year, she said members of her party received long prison
	terms the day Burma was granted observer status in ASEAN.
   	``If they are made a member of ASEAN, it will be as though they
	have been given carte blanche,'' she said Tuesday.
   	Suu Kyi distributed to reporters a long list of her party
	members who she said were being threatened or unjustly arrested on
	trumped-up charges.
   
	``Even if the authorities declare (my political party) an
	illegal organization, we shall continue our struggle for
	democracy,'' she said.
   	Suu Kyi said the government's increased attempts to crush all
	opposition, including a massive military offensive against Karen
	rebels along the country's eastern border, had not eroded her
	confidence that Burma would achieve democracy.
   
	``I am more confident than ever,'' Suu Kyi said.
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041221 Mar GMT