[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
Asean Backlash from West likely ove
- Subject: Asean Backlash from West likely ove
- From: ausgeo@xxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 01 Jun 1997 19:23:00
Subject: Asean Backlash from West likely over Burma
Monday June 2 1997
Asean
Backlash from West likely over Burma
WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok
Asean's dealings with the West may suffer now Burma's repressive regime is to
be admitted, diplomats said yesterday.
The 10-member group is expected to find Burma's presence in wider
international meetings awkward and potentially debilitating, said one diplomat
in Bangkok.
"The Asean big boys have been determined for some time to bring Burma in . . .
but Europe, the United States and Japan are really fed up with SLORC," he
said, referring to Burma's junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council.
Foreign ministers of the seven members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations announced on Saturday that Burma, Cambodia and Laos would be admitted
next month.
There are now doubts that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will attend
the Asia Regional Forum and other international meetings on the sidelines of
next month's Asean ministerial meeting.
The European Union is exploring new ways of bringing pressure to bear on SLORC
- with the encouragement of a new British Government that has promised to
inject a fresh morality into its international relations.
The British have already warned Asean the EU's ban on visits by junta leaders
could lead to difficulties when London hosts the second Asia-Europe summit
next year.
Japan's Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto underlined the West's fears when he
said last week: "We hope membership will not give immunity to the military
regime's actions."
The West's doubts appear to have merely goaded Asean's pacesetters -
Indonesia's President Suharto and Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad
- into expressing more support for Burma's junta.
A Thai foreign affairs expert, opposition MP Sukumbhand Paribatra, said
yesterday: "Even Asean should have a minimum standard of legitimacy - and
SLORC has no legitimacy."
He advocated "constructive intervention" by Asean in Cambodia "to help in its
political, economic and social development".
But acting Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim insisted the grouping had
adequate experience to deal with the junta, and again backed its policy of
non-intervention and "constructive engagement".
Asean's key dialogue partners seek no rupture with an organisation they
consider a potential counterweight to China's regional ambitions.
Yet one veteran diplomat said: "The West will not back down on Burma.
Relations with Asean could now be slower."
"I think the West will be tougher knowing that the decision [on Burma's
membership] was rammed through on a 'to hell with the West' basis."
Japanese commentators meanwhile warned the new members could become an
economic as well as a political burden for Asean.
South China Morning Post