AFP-Albright=Rangoon , should talk

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Subject: AFP-Albright=Rangoon , should talk to the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi

Albright reaffirms US commitment to Asia
SINGAPORE, July 25 (AFP) - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright underscored
US commitment to Asia Sunday with a flurry of meetings with regional
counterparts after months of American preoccupation with Europe.
"The United States has been paying a lot of attention to the Balkans and
Europe lately but we have not lost sight of the rest of the world," Albright
told a news conference here.

"No region of the world is of greater importance to US interests or to the
future of world stability and peace than the Asia-Pacific," she said,
launching into a litany of topics she hoped to cover with Asian officials in
the coming days.

Albright on Sunday had seven bilateral meetings -- including crucial talks
with the Indian and Chinese foreign ministers -- on the eve of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum on security.
At least four more such meetings are scheduled.

Her meetings and the issues to be discussed "reflect the equally enormous
stake we have in a stable, democratic and prosperous Asia," she said.

Albright said she would raise and hope for progress on subjects ranging from
China-Taiwan relations and Spratly islands tensions to concern over
stability in South Asia and the Korean peninsula, fears of Indonesian
unrest, and human rights conditions in Myanmar.

Most of those topics were covered in part on Sunday in her meetings with
Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant
Singh during which she urged restraint on Taiwan and Kashmir and stressed
the importance Washington places on nuclear non-proliferation.

"This is, and, I suspect, will remain for some time, the most important
diplomatic challenge we face," Albright told reporters in reference to
weapons of mass destruction.

But even as the secretary affirmed the priority attached to nuclear
questions -- especially as they relate to North Korea -- she said she would
be addressing a "second over-arching set" of issues.

These so-called "transnational issues" such as terrorism and the smuggling
of drugs, women and girls in Asia are of particular concern to Washington
and, Albright added, she would do her utmost to convince ASEAN officials

that the situation in Myanmar was a threat to regional security.

"I want to make clear that Rangoon (the old name of Myanmar's capital
Yangon) should talk to the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi," she said, referring to
the dissident leader and her National League for Democracy.

Albright said she would take up Myanmar's "failure to move towards
democracy" in her meetings which are scheduled through Tuesday on the
sidelines of the regional forum and ASEAN's annual talks with key partners.

On Monday, Albright is expected to take up the issue of Indonesia in
earnest, meeting with Foreign Minister Ali Alatas.

She is due to tell him that Washington expects Jakarta to make good on its
promises for a peaceful transition to a new government as well as a free and
fair vote in East Timor on an offer of autonomy in August.

"We're going to want reassurances from the Indonesians," said a senior State
Department official travelling with Albright.

More generally, Albright said the entire region's recovery from the
devastating economic crisis was a priority for the United States and said
she would urge ASEAN members not to take for granted any upturn.

"We are encouraged by signs that the worst of the Asian financial crisis is
behind us," Albright said. "It is vital however that neither those inside
nor outside the region declare victory too soon.

"The reforms that are helping restore that confidence must be continued,"
she said, adding "the battle against corruption and cronyism must be waged
on all fronts".