News from India (r)

[shar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

    ASEAN TRIES TO DEFEND RANGOON, BUT FEELS THE PINCH
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Kuala  Lumpur,  July  28:  Far from  breathing down Burma's
neck,   the Association of Southeast Asian Nations seems to
be  making extra effort to  defend it from punitive Western
actions on the hells of Rangoon's admission into the group.

At  the same time,  Asean is starting to feel the political
consequences  of admitting Burma,.  whose military junta is
the  object of  widespread condemnation for  its poor human
rights record and political repression.

Burma  drew harsh criticism during the Asean regional forum
meeting  that ended  on Sunday,   the bulk  of it  from the
United States,  Canada,  European Union and Australia.  "We
believe  Burma  is  now  an  anomaly,"  within  Asean,   US
secretary of state Madeleine Albright said,"

She  asked why the junta had not respected the results of a
1990  election  won by  pro-democracy  groups led  by Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and criticized Burma's record in
opium production.

Luxembourg foreign minister Jacques Poos,  speaking for the
European Union,  said the EU would not extend a cooperation
agreement  it has with Asean to  Burma "as long as we don't
see change" there.

Burmese foreign minister U.  Ohn Gyaw cited progress in the
drafting  of a new Constitution  but avoided addressing the
criticism directly.  The Burma-bashing at the ARF,  a forum
for   discussing  security  issues   in  the  Asia-Pacific,
contrasted  sharply with the warm welcome Asean extended to
Rangoon last week.

Asean  and many Western countries differ over the wisdom of
admitting  Burma under  the leadership of  the junta,  with
Southeast   Asian   countries  defending   its   policy  of
"constructive engagement" to nudge Rangoon toward political
reform.  In fact,  diplomats at the Asean meetings here say
some  Southeast Asian  foreign ministers  conveyed to Burma
the need for it to move toward political pluralism.  But in
public at least,  Asean is standing firmly by Burma,  which
along  with Laos became the  group's newest members on July
23.

In  a  move seen  as defending  Burma,  nine  Asean foreign
ministers  in a  joint communique  on Friday  lashed out at
Western  efforts  to take  trade  action against  states on
human rights grounds.

While  Asean  and the  West have  long differed  on linking
trade with human rights,  the statement took on new meaning
amid  a trend among local  authorities in the United States
to  pass lows banning or reigning in commercial activity by
its  firms in Burma.  The  Asean ministers "maintained that
human  rights issues should not  be made conditional to the
promoting  of  free  trade  among  nations."  The expressed
"concern  over the emerging trend of state,  provincial and
other  local authorities  in countries  outside this region
seeking  to impose trade sanctions  against other states on
grounds  of alleged  human rights  violations and non-trade
related issues."

For  example,  the  Massachusetts passed  a law prohibiting
local  government purchases from companies that do business
in  Burma.  After  it took effect  in 1996,   US firms like
Eastman Kodak Co pulled out of Burma.  Other MNCs operating
in Burma are adversely affected by the law.  (IPS 

                                The Asian Age July 29 1997.
    News  and Information Bureau,  All Burma Student League

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