ASEAN EXPANSION TO MOVE CLOSER TO B

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Subject: ASEAN EXPANSION TO MOVE CLOSER TO BURMA

                                   Asia Times

                                 March  19, 1997

HEADLINE: ASEAN expansion to move closer 

BYLINE: Ong Hock Chuan and Sanjeev Miglani

DATELINE: Jakarta and New Delhi

 BODY:
   ASEAN ministers will meet informally at the Non-Aligned Movement's
ministerial meeting in New Delhi on April 7 and April 8 to decide when Cambodia,
Laos and  Myanmar  should join the regional grouping, sources said.

   They said foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
had scheduled a meeting and were expected to agree to the simultaneous entry

of the three countries in July.

   They pointed out that a decision must be made by then if Malaysia, as this
year's host of ASEAN functions and meetings, is to have time to prepare the
ceremony for the entry of the three countries. The meeting of foreign ministers 
of the Non-Aligned Movement was the last function at which all ASEAN foreign
ministers would be together before the July date. ASEAN prime ministers, at the 
grouping's informal summit in Jakarta last December, said that Cambodia, Laos
and  Myanmar  would be admitted simultaneously.

   The leaders, faced with Western criticism on admitting  Myanmar  because of
its human rights record, did not specify when the three would be admitted.
Privately, however, they said the three countries would join by July 30, in time
for the grouping's 30th anniversary celebrations.

   ASEAN is now made up of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The inclusion of  Myanmar,  Laos and Cambodia
would realize the ASEAN founding fathers' vision of regional unity.

   Foreign ministers from 50 nations have indicated their intention to travel to
India for the Non-Aligned conference. The 35-year-old body boasts 113 members,
roughly three-quarters the membership of the UN, but is struggling for

relevance now that the Cold War has ended.

   High on the agenda is the future of the movement in a world without
ideological power blocs and one that has broken down into more cohesive regional
blocs such as ASEAN, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum and the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

   The Non-Aligned Movement's ministerial meeting has already been overshadowed 
by the far more significant bilateral meetings due to take place on its fringe. 
Along with the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting, the focus in the sub-continent 
has already shifted to the planned resumption of an India-Pakistan
foreign ministers' dialogue after an interval of three years.

   India, Egypt, Algeria, Mexico and Indonesia have articulated their continued 
support for the non-aligned concept. But diplomats said this was typical.

   "Except for lip service, the Non-Aligned Movement comes temporarily to life
during its summits and foreign ministers' conferences. Then each member goes his
own way," said J N Dixit, former foreign secretary of India.

   India, keen to make a success of the conference, plans to steer the group
towards debating the new and common challenges facing developing nations. 
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: March 18, 1997