AFP- Asean to discusss Thai policy

[hlaing@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

The Nation-12 July 1998
Asean to discusss Thai policy on 'interference'

MANILA -- Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are
likely to discuss softening the past practice of not interfering in each
other's internal affairs at a ministerial meeting in Manila, sources said
on Saturday. 

A diplomat involved in the meeting said the ''flexible engagement'' policy,
first proposed by Thailand, is expected to be taken up in informal
discussions during the ministerial meeting later this month. 

Allowing comment on other members' internal affairs was seen as becoming
more necessary due to the criticism that Asean has come under for accepting
Burma as a member despite widespread criticism among developed countries of
the ruling junta's human rights record. 

Earlier this month Thailand broke away with Asean's practice of
non-interference and expressed concern over increasing political tensions
in Burma. The Philippines showed signs of supporting Thailand's initiative
on easing the ban on non-interference. 

The government in Burma, however, angrily warned that concerns expressed
about political tensions there by some of its regional partners could
damage regional relations. 

The diplomat said pressure to ease Asean's 30-year-old non-interference
policy had been growing since the outbreak of the smoky haze problem from
Indonesia last year. 

Smoke from forest fires in Indonesia severely affected atmospheric
conditions and visibility in neighbouring countries. 

Meanwhile US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will hold four days of
talks with Asian ministers in the Philippines later this month before
travelling to Papua New Guinea and Australia, the State Department said on
Friday. 

She will also make a stopover in Auckland, New Zealand, on Aug 1 to meet
Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, Foreign Minister Don McKinnon and other
officials before returning to Washington on Aug 2. 

Albright will arrive in Manila on July 25 for the Asean meeting on July 26
and 27 and its post-ministerial conference on July 28 and 29. 

She will then make a brief stop in Papua New Guinea before heading to
Australia for meetings on July 30-31. 

State Department spokesman James Rubin said the Asian financial crisis and
its implications for regional stability would figure prominently in the US
agenda at the talks in Manila. 

Nuclear tensions in South Asia, the elections in Cambodia and the Korean
Peninsula will also be raised, he said in a statement. 



Agence France-Presse