ASEAN Call for talks on hostility t

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South China Morning Post
Thursday  September 4  1997

Asean 
Call for talks on hostility to Burma 

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Manila 
Southeast Asian nations should hold talks to decide what action to take over 
Britain's opposition to Burma attending an Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) there 
next year, a Philippine official said yesterday.
"Let the [Asean] foreign ministers talk about that and eventually the 
leaders," before the London Asem summit in April, Philippine Foreign 
Undersecretary Rodolfo Severino said.
Britain is unlikely to grant visas to allow Burmese officials to attend the 
ASEM summit, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said this week.
Mr Cook's comments prompted Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to 
threaten on Tuesday to "opt out" of the summit, adding: "You may find other 
countries in Asean also deciding not to attend."
Mr Severino said the Philippines had expected the issue to arise, but had not 
yet decided whether or not to attend the summit.
Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations attended Asem in their 
individual capacities, but the matter of Burma's attendance was certainly of 
importance to the members, he said.
Asean accepted Burma and Laos into its fold in July, despite appeals by 
Western nations to freeze out Rangoon to force its military leaders to improve 
the country's human rights record.
Mr Severino said it was questionable whether "the Asia-Europe meeting would be 
credible . . . without the whole of Asean being there".
John Avila, political economist at the Manila-based University of Asia and the 
Pacific, said that "Mahathir doesn't reflect the Asean position, but then the 
Malaysian position could carry over" to the other Asean members.