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BURMA RELATED NEWS - July 24,
2003.
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HEADLINES
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AFP - Thailand
seeks international forum to push Myanmar to free Suu Kyi
AP - Myanmar
government denies journalists' arrests related to their
articles
AP - Myanmar sends
mixed signals about sanctions' effect on drug fight
Reuters - Europe
tackles Burma, reinvigorates Asia ties
Reuters - Asia and
Europe criticise Myanmar, N.Korean nukes
Reuters - Myanmar
state media defiant on Suu Kyi, sanctions
Reuters - Thailand
offers to mediate with defiant Myanmar
Business week -
Editorial - Burma's Junta Starts to Sweat
Chicago Tribune -
Myanmar to give update on Suu Kyi status
Herald Sun - 'Road
map' for Suu Kyi release
The Star - Dr M and
Thaksin to discuss Myanmar
The Nation - THE
FALL OF A WARLORD
The Nation - CHIANG
RAI DRUG FORUM: War on drugs set to escalate
Asia Times -
Myanmar: ASEAN's thorn in the flesh
Kyodo News - NLD
could have prevented May riots in Myanmar: state media
Kyodo News - Asia,
Europe seek Suu Kyi's immediate release
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Thursday July 24,
4:34 PM
Thailand seeks international forum to push Myanmar to free
Suu Kyi
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) - Thailand proposed an international forum to
prod Myanmar to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as Asian and European
foreign ministers stepped up the pressure on Yangon's military
rulers.
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai floated the idea of a
forum during the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). Officials said he proposed
involving, among others, Southeast Asian nations, the European Union, China and
Japan.
Surakiart told reporters that Thailand had prepared a "road map"
for Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi and introduce democracy and had already
discussed it with the junta.
"What we are thinking now is that we would
like to have a small forum and invite Myanmar and some like-minded countries to
brainstorm and comment on our road map so that it will be something that is
practical," he said.
He said Thailand had proposed the road map to "five
or six countries" but declined to divulge details, which were still being
fleshed out.
Surakiart is believed to have met EU Commissioner Chris
Patten as well as his Chinese and Indonesian counterparts here on the
proposal.
"In our view, we think that ours (road map) is practical but we
would like to hear views from others and help develop it further with the
involvement of Myanmar -- not only the government but other parties in Myanmar
to see that it can be practical and acceptable to all sides," he
added.
"They are practical steps -- from releasing Aung San Suu Kyi to
(achieving) the objective of establishing democracy."
It is unclear how
the Thai proposal would be different from the efforts made by the United Nations
to induce reforms in Myanmar.
Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra is due this
weekend to meet his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad, who had warned
Myanmar it could be expelled from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) as a last resort unless it heeds international calls to release the
democracy icon.
The Myanmar issue has sparked intense debate at the ASEM
ministerial talks.
The Europeans have imposed political and economic
sanctions to pressure the Myanmar junta while the Asians prefer the problem
resolved through diplomatic channels.
The Asians rejected a European
proposal to have a special agenda on Myanmar at the meeting.
Indonesian
President Megawati Sukarnoputri in her formal opening remarks Thursday said,
without referring to Myanmar, that the two sides should respect differences and
not impose their will on each other.
EU Commissioner Patten downplayed
the differences.
"There is no difference of opinion about the importance
of Burma (Myanmar) releasing Aung San Suu Kyi and (her party's) activists, who
have been locked up, and getting back to the process of reconciliation," he told
reporters.
"There are occasional differences of tactics but I don't think
they are going to divide people today," he said.
European nations have
made it clear that they would not allow Myanmar to become a member of ASEM
unless it releases Aung San Suu Kyi and allows democracy.
"Myanmar should
enter ASEM. But in view of the current situation it is not possible. So
together, we have to find the means to allow it to be a member," French junior
minister of foreign affairs Renaud Muselier told reporters.
Aside from
Myanmar, the ministers discussed the North Korean nuclear crisis, the spread of
weapons of mass destruction, the terrorism threat and the recent outbreak of
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
At the end of their talks Thursday,
they are expected to demand Suu Kyi's immediate release, issue a strong warning
about the spread of weapons of mass destruction and their possible use by
terrorists, and support multilateral talks led by China to tackle the North
Korean nuclear crisis.
ASEM's Asian side is made up of seven of the 10
ASEAN members -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam -- plus China, Japan and South Korea.
Aside from
Myanmar, ASEAN members Cambodia and Laos are also not members of
ASEM.
The European delegation is made up of the 15 countries in the
European Union.
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Myanmar government denies journalists' arrests related to
their articles
Thursday July 24, 9:36 PM
BANGKOK, Thailand
(AP) - Myanmar's military government
said Thursday that it detained journalists from a local sports magazine, but
denied an international press watchdog's claim that they were held for writing
negative articles about the nation's soccer program.
The Paris-based
Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday that four journalists from the sports
magazine First Eleven were arrested July 17, apparently because of an article
about a Myanmar soccer team that was fined for failing to show up at a regional
tournament.
Two of the journalists were later released but the other two
were still being held at an undisclosed location, the group said in a statement.
It also accused police of beating the magazine's chief editor, U Zaw Thet Htwe,
a former political prisoner.
A statement from the government spokesman's
office said that ``certain people'' working for the magazine were called in for
questioning but didn't say whether any of the journalists were still in custody.
It said none of the journalists were beaten.
``The reason for their
detention is not because of what they wrote in the journal. It has nothing to do
with their profession but (is) on a totally different subject,'' a statement
from the government spokesman's office said without elaborating.
The
magazine was previously warned for publishing a story questioning what happened
to an international donation of US$4 million earmarked for promoting soccer in
Myanmar, the group said in a statement.
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Myanmar sends mixed signals about sanctions' effect on
drug fight
Thursday July 24, 7:30 PM
CHIANG RAI, Thailand
(AP) - Myanmar's top drug fighter
said Thursday that Western sanctions against his country over the detention of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi could make it poorer and less able to wage
its war on the illegal drug trade.
Myanmar's interior minister later
denied that the campaign against drug traffickers in his country _ a top opium
producer _ would be affected. But his comments appeared to be political bluster.
The United States has passed legislation to impose severe economic
sanctions on Myanmar over its refusal to release San Suu Kyi, who was arrested
on May 30. The European Union also has imposed sanctions.
Brig. Kyaw
Thein of Myanmar's state Central Committee for Drug Abuse said fighting the drug
trade was a priority but that it could suffer under the sanctions.
``If
they want to really impoverish our country, then it will hurt because we are
using our own limited resources to counter this (drug) problem,'' Kyaw Thein
said in an interview. ``I think if we become poorer, it will become much more
difficult for us to achieve our goals.''
Kyaw Thein was speaking at a
conference in this northern Thai town of ministers from China, India, Laos and
Thailand on regional cooperation to combat illegal drugs.
Myanmar's Home
Minister Tin Hlaing, also attending the confernce, gave a different line, saying
his country's drug-fighting efforts would be unaffected.
``These
(anti-drug measures) are a different issue, so this cannot be directly affected
by the political sanctions,'' he said at a news conference.
The United
States and the United Nations acknowledge that Myanmar is making greater efforts
to crack down on opium trade and poppy cultivation. Over the past year, areas
under poppy cultivation declined by 26 percent. Opium production was less than
one quarter of its 1996 level.
But Myanmar remains the world's second
largest source of illicit opium after Afghanistan. Myanmar produced 630 metric
tons (695 U.S. tons) of opium in 2002, according to U.S. figures. U.N. officials
put the total for the same period at 825 metric tons (910 U.S. tons).
The United States has provided little assistance to Myanmar since 1988,
when the military government crushed a pro-democracy movement. U.S. officials
have said relations will not improve until Myanmar makes democratic reforms and
does more to fight drugs.
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Thursday July 24, 4:28 PM
Europe tackles Burma,
reinvigorates Asia ties
By Jane
Macartney, Asian Diplomatic Correspondent
BALI,
Indonesia, July 24 (Reuters) -
Myanmar's refusal to introduce democracy is damaging the entire region and could
even prove a roadblock to enlarging the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the European
Commission said on Thursday.
But Chris Patten, Commissioner for External
Affairs, also recognised that the forum that gathers 10 Asian and 15 European
countries needed reinvigorating as evidenced by a low turnout of foreign
ministers from Europe.
"I think we are all deeply concerned about the
impact of Burma/Myanmar on the region," Patten told Reuters in an interview on
the sidelines of the ASEM meeting in the Indonesian island of Bali.
How
to nudge Myanmar's ruling junta towards more democracy and the release of
opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi has dominated this week's meeting.
"It
is not only damaging to that country and its prospects but it is damaging
regionally," Patten said. "We are conscious that all of us share the view that
Aung San Suu Kyi should be released with her followers from incarceration."
Patten, who has long showed support for Suu Kyi's struggle for
democracy, said differences between Asia and Europe had in the hijacked meetings
in the past, but participants were now much closer to consensus on how to handle
Myanmar.
"Everybody, including Asian countries, can see the enormous
damage being done to neighbours...by the way the regime is behaving," he said.
"Their behaviour has been appalling."
The issue is important as
discussions begin on enlargement of ASEM next year to include new European Union
members as well applications from Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
In 2002,
the EU was ASEAN's second-largest export market and third largest-trading
partner after the United States and
Japan. EU imports from ASEAN were
valued 61 billion euros ($70 billion) and EU exports to ASEAN at 42 billion
euros.
TURN INTO A ROADBLOCK
"I hope we can
sort this out before the enlargement debate takes off next year because we don't
want to let this issue turn into a roadblock," Patten said, adding that without
changes in Myanmar, there was no possibility Europe's attitude would change.
Patten was adamant Myanmar should not overshadow initiatives to revive
the ASEM process and boost bilateral relationships with individual countries or
forums -- particularly in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN),
which has recently issued unprecedented criticism of fellow member Myanmar.
"We have a strong sense that our overall relationship with countries in
the region is well below its potential," he said, adding that he hoped to give
more substance to talks -- possibly be reducing the number of meetings to ensure
a higher European turnout.
"I think that is a problem," he said, adding
that the heads of government meetings -- the next is due in Hanoi late next year
-- always won a high turnout.
"I think people recognise we really do, to
borrow an old advertising slogan, want to put a tiger in the tank as far as our
relationship with Southeast Asia is concerned," he said.
One key aspect
of the relationship was the war on terror.
"This meeting is taking place
within a short distance of the appalling bombing last autumn, which killed so
many," he said, referring to the two bombs that killed 202 in two popular Bali
nightclubs last October.
"We've already been working with Indonesia,
with the Philippines and with others to help them in practical ways deal with
terrorism, deal with terrorist financing, do the right sort of training in order
to strengthen borders," Patten said.
"This is an international problem.
It has to be dealt with internationally."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday July 24, 9:32 PM
Asia and Europe criticise
Myanmar, N.Korean nukes
By Jerry Norton
BALI, Indonesia, July 24 (Reuters) - After days of haggling, Asia and Europe
narrowed their differences on Thursday and issued an unprecedented joint demand
for Myanmar's military to immediately free democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In a separate statement, the 10 Asian and 15 European foreign ministers
attending the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) took on North Korea with a call for
curbs on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction -- a reference to
Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
European Commissioner for External
Affairs Chris Patten was outspoken, telling Reuters in an interview Myanmar's
refusal to introduce democracy was damaging the entire region.
"Their
behaviour has been appalling," he said on the sidelines of the ASEM gathering in
the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart
Sathirathai said Suu Kyi's release should be immediate. He used the meeting to
drum up support for a Thai proposal that interested countries work with Myanmar
to draw up a road map for moving towards democracy.
Myanmar put Nobel
laureate Suu Kyi into what the military called "protective custody" after a May
30 clash between her supporters and a pro-government group. Myanmar said on
Wednesday 91 activists had since been freed.
"The ministers...called on
the government of Myanmar to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD
members and ensure them freedom of political activities," said a closing
statement from the chair.
The Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) has urged Myanmar to free Suu Kyi, showing unprecedented unity in
criticising a member whose actions have sparked international outrage. However,
members reluctant to see ASEM make it an issue toned down an initially sharply
worded statement from Europe.
"For the first time it is a common Asian
and European document," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a closing
news conference. "It is a satisfactory result."
STILL WAITING
Myanmar's intransigence is threatening a bid to enlarge ASEM.
Asked if Myanmar could join, French Junior Minister of Foreign Affairs
Renaud Muselier said: "Myanmar should enter ASEM, but in the current situation
it is impossible."
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda
acknowledged Myanmar's response to ASEAN's demand five weeks ago for Suu Kyi's
immediate release had been disappointing. "We are still waiting."
Myanmar's military defended Suu Kyi's detention.
"The
undesirable fact is that Daw Suu Kyi and the NLD (National League for Democracy)
are trying to push Myanmar towards total destruction," said a commentary on
Thursday in the New Light of Myanmar daily, a junta-controlled newspaper.
"They would say that wouldn't they," said British Minister of State Mike
O'Brien, but added that he saw hope for change.
"There's a limit to how
far the Burmese will want to insult their neighbours by ignoring the clear wish
of the neighbours to see stability return to Burma," he told Reuters.
Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung is expected in Jakarta next week to
brief Indonesia, and from there is due to go to Thailand.
Ministers
addressed North Korea's nuclear ambitions, which threaten members China, South
Korea and Japan and were the focus of unprecedented separate talks among the
three. Chinese pressure appeared to have kept out harsh language against
Pyongyang, which was not named in the separate statement condemning
proliferation.
"No one wants North Korea to turn into a bomb-making
factory flogging off the shelf to the highest bidder," Patten said. "This is a
global problem of the first dimension."
Preventing more terror attacks
such as the bombing of Bali nightspots which killed 202 people last October is
another priority.
"This is an international problem. It has to be dealt
with internationally," Patten said.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday July 24, 2:58 PM
Myanmar state media defiant
on Suu Kyi, sanctions
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON, July 24 (Reuters) -
Myanmar's state-run media carried fresh denunciations of pro-democracy
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday and said any stiffer sanctions
against the military regime over her detention would backfire. Diplomats said
the commentary, in a newspaper regarded as a junta mouthpiece, showed that the
ruling generals were unlikely to bend to growing international pressure to free
Suu Kyi. The Nobel laureate and other key leaders of her National League for
Democracy (NLD) party have been detained since a May 30 clash between her
supporters and a pro-government group.
The report came as Asian and
European foreign ministers meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali united on
Thursday in calling for Suu Kyi's immediate release.
"The government
welcomed and invited Daw Suu Kyi to follow the path of friendly negotiations and
reaching a settlement," said the commentary in the New Light of Myanmar daily.
"But the undesirable fact is that Daw Suu Kyi and the NLD are trying to
push Myanmar towards total destruction," it said.
The United States and
the European Union have threatened harsher sanctions against the impoverished
country, while key donor Japan has turned off all new aid. The U.S. Senate this
month sent legislation banning all imports from Myanmar for President George W.
Bush's signature.
The commentary said more sanctions would hurt the
withdrawing investors, adding that businessmen from other countries would
readily take their place.
"The most important thing is...one should not
be frightened whenever intimidated," the commentary said. "The only requirement
is to lay down a firm policy and to continue to march towards the future in
unity and oneness."
JUNTA "DETERMINED"
The
military has ruled Myanmar in various guises since a 1962 coup, arguing that
strong rule is needed to keep the ethnically diverse country together. The
generals refused to accept the NLD's 1990 election victory and have kept Suu Kyi
under house arrest for much of the last 15 years.
A Yangon-based
Southeast Asian diplomat said the commentary was a sign that the junta, the
State Peace and Democracy Council (SPDC), were unlikely to free Suu Kyi soon.
"I came to the conclusion the SPDC will not change its stance regardless
of outside pressure," the diplomat told Reuters. "They seem to be determined to
stick to their decision."
Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) ministers were due to meet on the sidelines of the current Asia-Europe
Meeting (ASEM) in Bali to discuss Myanmar and call for Suu Kyi's release.
Myanmar, which is not a member of ASEM, has not sent a representative to
the ASEAN meeting but is sending envoys to neighbouring countries in coming days
to explain its stance.
For three decades ASEAN has had a strict policy
of non-interference in the internal affairs of any member, but the grouping
broke the policy last month to criticise Myanmar.
Some diplomats say the
May 30 violence left dozens dead and was orchestrated by the military
government, with hundreds of youths attacking Suu Kyi's convoy with bamboo and
iron rods as she toured central Myanmar.
The junta denies this and says
four people died. The commentary on Thursday said Suu Kyi could have avoided the
clash because she and her entourage had been warned in advance that opposing
demonstrators were waiting for her.
"They could have returned to Yangon
and informed the matter to the government," it said.
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Thursday July 24, 7:46 PM
Thailand offers to mediate
with defiant Myanmar
By Trirat Puttajanyawong and
Aung Hla Tun
BANGKOK/YANGON, July 24 (Reuters) - Thailand offered on Thursday to mediate
between Myanmar's defiant military rulers and an international community angered
by the detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Thai
offer came as ministers from Asia and Europe, meeting on the Indonesian resort
island of Bali, struggled to find a common strategy on Thursday to persuade
Myanmar's military to free Suu Kyi.
Myanmar showed no signs of bending
to international pressure after state-run media carried fresh denunciations of
Suu Kyi and said stiffer sanctions against the junta would backfire.
"We
are ready to perform this duty because we want to see democracy prosper in this
region. I have ways and means to do so," Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
said in Bangkok.
"We already have our channels to talk to them and I
believe these will yield a positive result," he told reporters.
Thailand, afraid harsher sanctions on Yangon will unleash a flood of
economic migrants, has floated the idea of a meeting between Western countries,
Myanmar and its Southeast Asian neighbours to draw up a "road map" to democracy.
The United States and the European Union have threatened more sanctions,
while key donor Japan has halted new aid.
The Nobel laureate and other
key leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) have been detained since
a deadly May 30 clash between her supporters and a pro-government group. The
military has said she is in what it calls protective custody.
"The
government welcomed and invited Daw Suu Kyi to follow the path of friendly
negotiations and reaching a settlement," said a commentary in the New Light of
Myanmar daily on Thursday.
"But the undesirable fact is that Daw Suu Kyi
and the NLD are trying to push Myanmar towards total destruction," said the
commentary.
SANCTIONS WILL FAIL, SAYS MYANMAR
The commentary said more sanctions would hurt investors, adding
that businessmen from other countries would readily take their place.
"The most important thing is...one should not be frightened whenever
intimidated," the commentary said. "The only requirement is to lay down a firm
policy and to continue to march towards the future in unity and oneness."
The military has ruled Myanmar in various guises since a 1962 coup,
arguing that strong rule is needed to keep the ethnically diverse country
together. The generals refused to accept the NLD's 1990 election victory and
have kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for much of the past 15 years.
European Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten told Reuters in
an interview on the sidelines of the Bali meeting Myanmar's refusal to introduce
democracy was damaging the entire region.
"Their behaviour has been
appalling," he said.
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said
Suu Kyi's release should be immediate.
The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) of
foreign ministers opened with a call for respect for cultural differences, but
other officials agreed pressure was mounting on Myanmar to act.
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministers were due to
meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting to discuss Suu Kyi's detention.
Myanmar, which is not a member of ASEM, has not sent a representative to
the ASEAN meeting but is sending envoys to neighbouring countries in coming days
to explain its stance.
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Thursday July 24, 8:31 PM
Editorial - Burma's
Junta Starts to Sweat
BusinessWeek - Pressure is growing on Burma's
military government to once again release Aung San Suu Kyi, the nation's
democratically elected leader, from detention in Rangoon. On July 23, under
threat of Burma being kicked out of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
[ASEAN], the junta announced it was releasing 91 Suu Kyi supporters who were
arrested along with her last March -- the latest in a string of incarcerations
that go back to 1990.
The next step, many Burma watchers believe, could
be for the generals to reopen a dialogue with Suu Kyi, 58, whose landslide
election 13 years ago has never been acknowledged as legitimate by the junta.
"They don't have a choice [but to deal with her again]," says Kyaw Yin Hlaing,
assistant professor of political science at National University of Singapore and
a Burmese. "They have to find a way to work with Suu Kyi."
In late July,
the Japanese government cut off economic aid and debt relief worth $224 million
over the last five years. And President George Bush is expected soon to sign the
Burmese Freedom & Democracy Act of 2003, banning Burmese exports to the U.S.
and freezing the junta's assets at American banks worldwide. Malaysian Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad is leading the effort to have Burma expelled from
ASEAN, which it joined in the mid-1990s in its boldest effort yet to seek
international legitimacy.
LOSING FACE. The junta
generals who first seized power in 1988 have never been able to shake Suu Kyi.
She's the Oxford-educated daughter of Burmese General Aung San, a founder of the
modern nation-state formerly known as Burma and now called Myanmar by the junta.
Her efforts to restore democracy to the country have won her the Nobel Peace
prize. She was released briefly last year, under a deal brokered with Razali
Ismail, Malaysia's envoy to the U.N. But when a national economic swoon and
financial crisis in early 2003 reignited popular support for her presidency, the
generals incarcerated her again on May 30.
Western diplomats in Rangoon
think the generals are most worried about being kicked out of ASEAN. The foreign
ministers of the 10 ASEAN member states, including Burma, called an emergency
meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on July 23 to discuss what
appears to be a brewing regional diplomatic crisis.
Never before have
Burma's neighbors threatened to punish Rangoon for human-rights abuses. Such a
sanction, if carried out, would constitute a loss of face for the junta's three
leaders -- generals Than Shwe, Maung Aye, and Khin Nyunt. And diplomats who
follow Burma note that a loss of face is the only risk to which they have ever
responded in the past. "It matters to the Burmese government more than the loss
of jobs and a bad economy," notes one.
Adds political scientist Kyaw:
"I'm not saying [Western] sanctions won't have any impact, but it won't make
them change their mind. The Western governments have to understand that."
BARBED-WIRE BRIEFS. New U.S. sanctions would shut off
$350 million of Burmese garment imports into the U.S. annually, which could
result in the loss of about 100,000 jobs, according to some estimates. That
makes up the bulk of the $367 million in bilateral trade with the U.S., but it
will be only one more pinprick in the economic pain Burmese have endured since
the beginning of the year. Prices for rice, cooking oil, and other basic
commodities soared in January due to distribution problems in a country where
power plants and telephone switching stations aren't connected to a power grid
or a national phone network.
In February, a run on commercial banks
forced most of them to close down, unable to collect loans or pay depositors. In
March, the kyat, Burma's currency, plummeted 30% against the U.S. dollar on the
black market -- the only exchange rate considered relevant in Rangoon.
Hundreds of foreign investors -- drawn in by low wages and the junta's
promises of open-market reforms -- have now mostly withdrawn, put off by
repeated, sudden changes in rules governing foreign direct investment under the
junta and tired of pressure from human-rights groups. Case in point: British
underwear manufacturer Triumph International pulled out after a
Democracy-in-Burma group published a mock advertisement depicting its underwear
made of barbed wire and calling for a boycott. The only manufacturers left in
Burma today are those that haven't found a buyer to take their
multimillion-dollar factories, many with sparkling new equipment.
STALLING DEMOCRACY. While the government keeps issuing
statistics showing the economy growing at double-digit rates every year,
economists say no reliable estimates of the size of Burma's gross domestic
product exist. "There is no means for the government to collect accurate
statistics," says one economist in Rangoon. "They don't want to. They want to
have statistics that meet objectives for 30-year plans."
The Burmese
Embassy in Singapore declined a request from BusinessWeek to set up interviews
with junta officials or the Finance or Trade Ministries for this story. It also
rejected an application for a visa for this correspondent to visit Rangoon.
The junta's next move will be hard to plot. The generals first put Suu
Kyi under house arrest from 1990 to 1995, vilifying her in the government
newspapers with cartoons depicting her as a nymphomaniac. They could release her
again, but they continue to drag their feet on certifying the results of the
1990 election victory.
QUIET NEIGHBORS. Any way you
look at it, however, "the government has miscalculated," says Aung Zaw,
editor-in-chief of Irawaddy, a political monthly magazine published in the city
of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. "People rally around a person whom they feel
can bring them out of misery. The government thought that if they could cut her
off from the people, they would forget her. But she's hugely popular."
While the U.S., Japan, and Burma's Southeast Asian neighbors turn up the
heat, two larger neighbors that enjoy a bustling border trade with Burma --
China and India -- have been noticeably silent. Indian commerce officials
visited Rangoon in late July to sign an agreement to boost bilateral trade,
while China has responded to the current political flap with not a peep.
With dish antennas cropping up across the rooftops of Rangoon, however,
Burmese houses and restaurants are tuned into satellite-TV news broadcasts of
the Iraq war aftermath and the U.S. considering military intervention in the
war-torn African nation of Liberia. "People ask, 'When is the U.S. going to come
in and fix this?'" says one diplomat in Rangoon. "They say, 'Time for a regime
change.'"
It's highly unlikely that Burma will fall into President
Bush's crosshairs, apart from the weapon of economic sanctions. Nor will the
silence of India and China matter much in the larger scheme of things. For now,
the generals seem genuinely worried about being evicted from their
neighborhood-community association, and that pressure could still lead to
additional concessions. This regime change, if it eventually comes, will have to
be homegrown.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago Tribune
Myanmar to give update on Suu Kyi
status
Published July 24, 2003
BALI, INDONESIA --
Myanmar's foreign minister is to visit Thailand next week on a tour of Asian
countries to brief neighbors on the treatment of democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, the Thai foreign minister said Wednesday.
The military government's
detention of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has brought criticism from Southeast Asian
neighbors and sparked outrage in Europe and the United States.
Suu Kyi
has been detained since May 30.
The issue is dominating a meeting of
Asian and European foreign ministers this week on the Indonesian island of
Bali.
Foreign Minister Win Aung is to visit Bangkok on July 31 after a
trip to Jakarta scheduled for Monday to brief fellow members of the Association
of South East Asian Nations on the latest situation, Thai Foreign Minister
Surakiart Sathirathai said in Bali.
The Thai foreign minister said he had
already spoken by telephone with his Myanmar counterpart .
"Each of us
has some communication with Myanmar," he said at the Asia-Europe Meeting in
Bali.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Herald Sun
'Road map' for Suu Kyi
release
From correspondents in Bali, Indonesia
24jul03
THAILAND had drawn up a "road map" for the release of
Burma pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi - a plan that brought together six
"like-minded" countries and all internal parties in the military-ruled nation,
the Thai foreign minister said today.
Surakiart Sathirathai would not say
who these countries were and when talks would begin, but said Thailand has
already completed the road map - which he said would lead to establishing a
democracy in Burma.
"We have asked six countries including Burma to
discuss really practical steps from the release of Suu Kyi to the objective of
democracy," Sathirathai said on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe foreign
ministers meeting here.
"Something that is acceptable for all sides," he
said.
The talks would probably involve members of the Association of
South-East Asian Nations, or ASEAN, which, in an effort to win Suu Kyi's
release, has already asked Burma to receive a delegation led by former
Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas.
"It is time we (ASEAN) get our
act together," Sathirathai said late yesterday.
Talks could also include
all opposition parties and refugee groups from Burma's minority tribes now
seeking asylum in neighbouring countries, an Asian official said.
Burma
Foreign Minister Win Aung is scheduled to be in Bangkok for talks at the end of
the month but it is not known whether his visit is part of the Thai "road map".
S. Jayakumar, Singapore's foreign minister, said today his country would
consider a variety of approaches in seeking the release of Suu Kyi.
Suu
Kyi's May 30 arrest - following a clash between her followers and a junta-backed
mob in which several people were killed - has been dominating the annual
Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM, which brings together foreign ministers and senior
officials from 26 Asian and European countries.
A ministerial
declaration later Thursday is expected to demand that the junta release Suu Kyi
immediately. Burma is not part of ASEM.
European delegates have been
putting pressure on the senior officials from the seven of 10 ASEAN countries
represented here to act on the Suu Kyi issue.
The regional grouping has
had a long tradition of non-intervention in its members' affairs but Syed Hamid
Albar, Malaysia's Foreign Minister, said it was time Burma's military rulers
listen to the ASEAN voices speaking out against the arrest.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Star - Thursday, July 24, 2003
Dr
M and Thaksin to discuss Myanmar
BANGKOK: Malaysian Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Dr and his Thai counterpart Thaksin Shinawatra will discuss
the political crisis in Myanmar during talks in Langkawi this weekend.
During the two-day talks, Thaksin will also meet with United Nations
envoy to Myanmar Tan Sri Razali Ismail, said Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart
Sathirathai.
Razali is the only outsider to have seen Myanmar
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi since she was taken into detention in the
wake of the May 30 political violence.
?Razali will brief Thaksin
on the problem and his meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi and Razali wants to listen
to Thaksin?s ideas on how to convince Myanmar?s government to free her,?
Surakiart told reporters on Tuesday.
Thailand has reportedly
presented to Myanmar a ?roadmap? towards national reconciliation, which
Surakiart plans to discuss with his Myanmar counterpart Win Aung when he visits
Thailand later this month for economic talks.
The international
community has responded angrily to the democracy activist?s detention, with the
United States and European Union beefing up sanctions and Asean issuing an
unprecedented call last month for her release.
Dr Mahathir warned
on Sunday that Myanmar may as a last resort face expulsion from Asean if it
continues defying world pressure to free the 1991 Nobel peace laureate.
The Thai government said in a statement yesterday that Dr Mahathir had
invited Thaksin to the weekend meeting in Langkawi.
The two
leaders are expected to discuss other bilateral issues.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
THE FALL OF A WARLORD
Don Pathan
Published on Jul 24, 2003
Wa commander - and Thai 'mole' - Wei Sai-tang's jailing by the
UWSA offers a rare glimpse inside the narco-army's power structure
The
recent sentencing of Wa commander Wei Sai-tang to 75 years in jail for a number
of offences has puzzled senior Thai Army and narcotic officers.
Wei, 35,
was officially convicted by the United Wa State Army (UWSA) for, among other
things, printing fake Burmese kyat notes, a currency that is not highly sought
after either inside or outside Burma
The real reason behind Wei's fall,
said Thai and Wa sources, appears to be his alleged dealings with the Thai Army.
The commander had turned rogue, viewing himself as the leader of a
breakaway faction, they said.
A closer look at Wei's story provides a
glimpse into the UWSA's secret power structure. It also lends support to reports
that the 20,000-strong organisation is split between two chief players: Chairman
Bao Yu-xiang in the north and notorious opium warlord Wei Hsueh-kang, who
commands the Wa's Division 171 in the south, near the Thai border.
For
commander Wei, the desire to cut a deal with Thailand was inviting. It could
have provided him with much-needed economic and logistic links through Thailand
and ensured his future in a terrain shaped by decades of opium politics and
insurgency.
The UWSA has been accused by Thai authorities of flooding
the country with methamphetamine pills and some of the world's best heroin.
With Wei, their UWSA "mole" ousted, the Thai Army must now seek new
options.
There have been a couple of consultations with the Chinese
military to tackle the UWSA but so far, there has been no sign of a
breakthrough.
In recent years, the UWSA has positioned some 10,000
troops along the Thai border, and forcibly relocated nearly 100,000 villagers
from its traditional stronghold along the Chinese border to areas along the Thai
border.
The Thai Army insists on taking a hard line on the UWSA. But the
Thaksin government, keen on mending fences with Rangoon, has opted for promoting
a crop substitution programme in conjunction with the Burmese government in a
Wa-controlled area adjacent to Chiang Rai.
A senior officer at the
Office of the Narcotics Control Board, said his agency might be able to cool
down the conflict if the UWSA was willing to cooperate to curb narcotics.
But the Wa have proved a tough nut to crack.
For local and
international drug agents, Wei's conviction effectively puts his rival, Wei
Hsueh-kang, the most notorious heroin kingpin in the Golden Triangle, in a very
comfortable position.
The kingpin and his two brothers came to the
region decades ago to seek their fortune. Intelligence sources say he has
investments in Bangkok, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Thaksin had vowed to
hunt down the drug lord "dead or alive".
Wei Hsueh-kang has also been
convicted in the United States and Thailand on charges of heroin trafficking and
there is a US$2 million (Bt83 million) bounty on his head.
Rumours that
he was detained in the outskirts of Panghsang have been dismissed by both Wa and
Thai intelligence officials. Given his stature and power, they said, it was
unlikely he would surrender without a fight.
A Wa insider said that
although there may be "complications" between the northern command under
Chairman Bao and the drug lord and his brothers both sides now needed each
other's support more then ever.
If the UWSA continued on its present
course and expands its turf from the Chinese border to Thailand, it was unlikely
that the two Wa regions would split any time soon.
In an interview with
The Nation from his headquarter in Panghsang late last year, Bao dismissed Thai
claims that UWSA presence along the Thai border was a security threat.
Bao insisted that the effort was part of the UWSA's opium eradication
programme.
Old Burma hands, meanwhile, see the expansion as a strategic
move, saying it made a lot of sense as it gave the UWSA two outlets - China and
Thailand.
Complicating the issue, however, was a move by Rangoon to
position one of its units right in the middle between the two Wa regions.
The UWSA's border presence continues to be a thorn in Thai-Burma
relations.
Armed clashes between Thai units and Wa militia from Wei
Hsueh-kang's outfit flare up almost every month. On a couple of occasions, they
have escalated into full-scale battles and drawn Burmese troops into the fray.
In Panghsang, Bao continues to work hard to win the hearts and minds of
the international community. He receives visiting foreign diplomats on a regular
basis and encourages the United Nations and other international agencies to help
him with crop substitution and development projects in opium area.
Bao
has downplayed the drug charges against drug lord Wei as Thailand's problem,
saying it was the authorities own fault for letting him escape from a Thai
prison in the first place.
The Rangoon government has said a military
move against the Wa is out of the question.
The chairman knows quite
well what kind of political liability drug lord Wei poses to the UWSA, said a Wa
source. But what choice, he asked, does he have?
Any attempt to take him
down could drive a wedge between the northern and the southern Wa regions, and
destroy the UWSA itself.
---------------------------------
Wa's march southward
The
United Wa State Army came into existence in 1989 following the break-up of the
Communist Party of Burma (CPB), under which it made up the bulk of the
organisation's infantry.
A cease-fire deal with the military government
of Burma was quickly worked out along with various former CPB factions.
For Rangoon, the truce neutralised these rebel groups, which had enough
weapons to last 10 years.
The idea was to prevent them from teaming up
with the ethnic armies along the Thai border.
For the Wa, it was a green
light to expand control southwards from their stronghold on the Chinese border.
Along the way, they clashed with Khun Sa, hastening the opium warlord's
surrender in early 1996.
Tension was high immediately after Khun Sa and
his Mong Tai Army withdrew, as the Burmese gave the UWSA an ultimatum to pull
back.
But the UWSA didn't see it that way.
Instead, they beefed
up the newly secured areas taken from Khun Sa and welcomed outsiders, allowing
Thai merchants to bring in everything from household goods to construction
materials.
Twice a week, hundreds of Thai merchants line up at a
checkpoint just north of Chiang Mai's Ta Thon district to be screened by
immigration and customs officers before entering what has long been a no-go
area.
Thousands of Thai nationals have been hired to build everything
from a small dam to hospitals and schools to accommodate the arrival of tens of
thousands of villagers forcibly relocated from the northern Wa region.
But as millions of methamphetamines continue to flood Thailand, and with
all fingers pointing at the Wa, Bangkok has decided to declare the UWSA its
public enemy number one.
Thai workers and construction companies have
been ordered to return to the Thai side, and the border checkpoints leading to
the UWSA areas have been ordered shut.
Today, tension along the border
leading to the Wa-controlled area remains high as Thai soldiers and Wa militia
exchange gunfire on almost a monthly basis.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
CHIANG RAI DRUG FORUM: War on drugs set to
escalate
Piyanart Srivalo, Don
Pathan
Published on Jul 24, 2003
Ministers
from Thailand, India, Laos, Burma and China are poised to announce a Chiang Rai
Declaration outlining their political commitment to curbing the flow of
narcotics and precursor chemicals within the region.
The ministers,
including Justice Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana, will meet today in Chiang Rai
as part of a regional drug forum.
Yesterday's meeting of senior official
focused on formulating a common strategy on how to contain precursor chemicals,
legally produced in many countries in the region but sold on the black market to
producers of illicit drugs like heroin and methamphetamines.
The forum,
which for the first time includes India, was expected to green-light the
establishment of a network that would bypass bureaucratic red tape by linking
the respective counter-narcotics agencies of each country, said Pol Lt-General
Chidchai Vanasatidya, secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotic Control
Board (ONCB).
Burma suggested a working group be established to follow
up on the agreed plan, said Pitaya Jinawat, director of the ONCB's northern
branch.
Market access in foreign countries, including the US and in Europe,
for farmers who have switched from opium cultivation to legitimate crops would
be high on today's agenda when ministers meet, Chidchai said.
The border
areas of Thailand, Laos and Burma, known as the Golden Triangle, continue to be
the world's largest producer of opium and the main supplier of heroin.
In spite of millions of dollars being spent over the past three decades
to try to curb the drug trade, narcotics production in the region continues to
grow steadily, while Thailand's western neighbour, Burma, has become Asia's
biggest producer of methamphetamines, known locally as ya ba.
One ONCB
report said Burma produced about 828 tonnes of opium last year - a close second
to Afghanistan, which has emerged in recent years as the key producer of the
grade-four heroin currently flooding Southeast Asia and Australia.
Another ONCB report estimated that about 700-million methamphetamine
tablets, cheaply produced in clandestine labs in Burma's Shan State, had flooded
Thailand in the past year alone.
Pol Lt-General Prung Boonphadung,
Police Fifth Region commissioner and the man responsible for law enforcement in
the five northern-most provinces, said police were keeping a close watch on the
synthetic drug crystal methamphetamine, or ice, after the recent overdose deaths
of two Taiwanese traffickers.
"We believed they were testing out the
product," Prung said.
One kilogram of ice, a very potent and deadly
precursor chemical, could produce anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000
methamphetamine tablets, he said.
Thailand has singled out the
pro-Rangoon United Wa State Army, Kokang Chinese and Kachin Independent Army,
all of which are remnants of the now-defunct Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and
situated in Burma's section of the Golden Triangle, as being responsible for
much of the opium and heroin flowing through the region.
But Burma, in
its report presented at the meeting yesterday, said the three bodies had made
great efforts to turn their respective autonomous areas into drug-free zones.
Analysts say the region's drug problem will continue until a real
political solution to Burma's political and ethnic problems can be found.
Thailand has stepped up security along the northern border over the past
five years, resulting in a "balloon effect" on the trafficking route.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Wang Qian-rong, China's Narcotic
Control Bureau deputy secretary general, said the "balloon effect" had resulted
in more drugs entering China's Yunnan province.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Asia Times - Jul 25, 2003
Myanmar:
ASEAN's thorn in the flesh
By Phar Kim Beng
HONG KONG - Even Mahathir Mohamad has lost patience with the generals in
Yangon. But the Malaysian prime minister's warning that the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) might have to give Myanmar the boot is not
likely to worry the junta much.
Of all the moves ASEAN has made over the
years to make itself stronger, admitting Myanmar has been a decision the
association has grown to regret the most. In fact, talk of Myanmar being
expelled has become rife since the junta's detention of democracy activist Aung
San Suu Kyi at the end of May. If Yangon continues to defy world pressure to
release her, "in the end it may have to be that way", affirmed Mohamad, hitherto
a strong supporter of Myanmar's ASEAN membership.
Although Mahathir's
remarks were later softened by his foreign minister, Syed Hamid Albar, who
explained that "just as the decision to admit Myanmar was reached through
consensus, the expulsion of Myanmar has to be done in a similar manner", the
pressure on Myanmar is clearly growing. And Yangon has tried to ward off the
pressure by releasing some 91 democracy activists arrested on May 30.
The threat of expulsion from ASEAN, however, is unlikely to become
reality.
Over the past decade, ASEAN has tried to strengthen itself with
four different approaches. The first entailed membership enlargement. In July
1995, Vietnam was admitted as the seventh member of ASEAN. Laos and Myanmar
became full members in July 1997, and Cambodia did so in December 1998. ASEAN
made the decision to expand in the hope that size would eventually equal
strength.
The second approach involved the creation of the ASEAN Free
Trade Area (AFTA) in 1993 to promote economic cooperation among its member
states. The goal was to make the region congruent to the forces of
globalization, where free trade and open competition were becoming the norm.
AFTA served to become the regional embodiment of what was ultimately a global
reality.
The third approach involved the creation of the ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF) in 1994. Although widely considered an oddity, in that ARF was
composed of a collection of small and middle powers whose ability to shepherd
the great powers into agreement was highly questionable, the creation of ARF
nevertheless indicated an ambitious step forward. ARF sought to include all
major powers, especially the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and
Russia, in the deliberation of Asian affairs. ARF was further premised on the
belief that since the Cold War rivalry was over, all powers would be
sufficiently motivated by their economic interests alone to seek greater
convergence in their foreign policies.
The fourth approach came in the
form of ASEAN and China mutually agreeing to create a common free-trade area by
2015. Popularly known as CAFTA, or ASEAN Plus 1, the arrangement originated from
the suggestion of then Chinese premier Zhu Rongji in November 2001 to transform
the area occupying China and Southeast Asia into a complete free-trade area. The
gesture also marked Beijing's effort to assuage the worries of ASEAN that the
emergence of China would necessarily shut its member states out both
economically and politically.
Myanmar's misbehavior, however, has become
a thorn in ASEAN's flesh. As recently as this week, senior officials from Europe
insisted on inclusion of the Myanmar issue on the agenda of the Asia Europe
Meeting, which kicked off Wednesday on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.
But the expulsion of Myanmar is not likely unless Thailand, the frontline
ASEAN state, changes its policy toward Myanmar. Indeed, ASEAN's Myanmar policy
is deeply entwined with that of Thailand.
ASEAN's policy on Myanmar was
first derived from the policy of "constructive engagement" initiated in 1991 by
the Thai government of prime minister Anand Panyarachun. This policy was later
regionalized as an ASEAN policy. ASEAN's Myanmar policy, in other words, is a
policy of Thailand.
For Thailand, the reasoning that led to the
formulation of the constructive-engagement policy was based upon both realities
and aspirations, according to its former deputy foreign minister, Sukhumband
Paribatra: "Myanmar and Thailand [have] been permanent neighbors, sharing a
2,400-kilometer-long border. Most of this border has not been demarcated and
passes through difficult mountainous and jungle terrain, inhabited by common
ethnic groups, which historically both governments have not found it easy to
rule." The border of the two countries is also porous, with more than 70 passes,
mostly in remote areas. Therefore events in Myanmar often have repercussions on
Thailand.
Events have since shown that admitting Myanmar to ASEAN was a
mistake. The move not only impaired ASEAN's external links with the world, but
it also resulted in bringing an extremely controversial actor from the periphery
to the very center of the association's decision-making.
Even Japan has
become wary of its links with Myanmar. Since the latest detention of Suu Kyi,
which invited a global uproar, Tokyo has decided to suspend its development aid
to Myanmar. Being one of the few developed countries in direct talks with the
military government in Yangon, Tokyo gave it $78 million in fiscal year 2001,
the latest year for which figures are available. Before 1988, Japan's grants to
Myanmar made up 60 percent of all foreign aid and grants to the country.
But even Japan's move, coupled with ASEAN's threat of expulsion, is not
enough to force Myanmar to make sweeping and systemic changes. Indeed, the mere
closure of the aid spigot, the current tactic of Japan, will prove futile as
long as China maintains its current trade policies: Myanmar's bilateral trade
with China improved by 10 times in the last decade to reach $500 million by
1999, a figure some believe to be a low estimate.
Furthermore, it is not
at all clear that other ASEAN members want to expel Myanmar. Vietnam, a target
of sanction and colonial intervention in the past, is said to be sympathetic to
the country.
In any event, the obligation to press for change in Myanmar
is now on ASEAN, not the world. And it has to learn how to do so quickly. In
2006, Myanmar is scheduled to be the chair of ARF. If Myanmar remains defiant
and recalcitrant, its chairmanship of ARF will invite a great deal of opposition
and criticism from many of ASEAN's powerful dialogue partners.
And such
opposition would be justified, since the Yangon junta is an illegitimate regime
that is in power in defiance of the clear-cut results of a democratic election
in 1988.
--------------------------------------------------------------
NLD could have prevented May riots in Myanmar: state
media
YANGON, July 24, Kyodo - Myanmar's state media on Thursday accused
the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) of provoking a clash in May
between supporters of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi and pro-government
demonstrators to trigger international condemnation of the government and
sanctions.
A commentary that appeared in state-run newspapers claimed
that NLD secretary U Lwin in interviews with Western media outlets said he
received information that anti-NLD demonstrators were waiting to attack Suu
Kyi's entourage on May 30 in northern Myanmar.
''Her party could have
canceled the visit to that particular place or sought local authorities for
security, if she really wanted to avoid the confrontation. Instead the group
deliberately ran into it, ending in a tragic incident,'' it said.
''Watching her activities since 1988, it is obvious that Aung San Suu
Kyi has no honest confidence in the government as well as in the dialogue,'' the
commentary said.
''The NLD was simply treading Aung San Suu Kyi's
fancied path of inciting mob violence to invite international blame and
sanctions on the government to eventually end in hardships, commotion and utter
devastation in the country,'' it said.
Suu Kyi and some NLD members have
been detained since what the junta says were violent clashes between NLD
supporters and pro-junta demonstrators.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Asia, Europe seek Suu Kyi's immediate
release
By Christine T.
Tjandraningsih
BALI, July 24, Kyodo - Foreign ministers from 10 Asian and 15
European countries reached a consensus Thursday on crucial issues affecting both
regions at the end of their one-day meeting on the Indonesian resort island of
Bali, including urging Myanmar's military junta to immediately release detained
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize
laureate, and several members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) have
been detained since May 30 following what Myanmar's ruling generals claimed were
violent clashes between NLD supporters and pro-junta demonstrators in northern
Myanmar.
In the chairman's statement issued at the end of the fifth
Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) of foreign ministers, the ministers ''recalled the
assurance given by Myanmar that the measures taken following the incident were
temporary.''
They also called on Myanmar ''to immediately release'' Suu
Kyi and her followers and ''ensure them freedom of political activities'' -- a
gentler admonition than the Europeans' initial call for ''condemnation.''
Europe had been seeking strong censure of Myanmar over the detention of
democracy movement leader Suu Kyi, but some Asian countries wanted a softer
approach.
''They have a similar objective but differences in
nuances...The European countries wanted more pressure on Myanmar by imposing
sanctions, while Asian countries wanted an engagement approach,'' Indonesian
Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa told Kyodo News.
''However,
each side has its own strength and we could not force a similarity...Therefore,
we should be in the middle,'' he added.
The ministers, according to the
statement, also called upon Myanmar to resume its efforts toward national
reconciliation and democracy and reaffirmed their support for the efforts of the
U.N. secretary general's special envoy Razali Ismail in seeking a solution to
the issue.
Suu Kyi's detention also played a large part in a meeting of
ASEM senior officials preparing for the ministerial talks, where the differences
in opinions became clear.
European countries want to link Suu Kyi's
release to allowing the ASEM membership to grow next year by admitting Myanmar,
Laos and Cambodia, an idea so far resisted by the Asian side.
''The
obstacle is the political development in Myanmar...The European side has a view
that a country like Myanmar, which has violated human rights and arrested Suu
Kyi, should not be admitted into ASEM next year together with Laos and
Cambodia,'' Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda told reporters.
''Unfortunately, Myanmar was not represented here in the meeting so we
could not listen to their responses on these two different views,'' he added.
Myanmar, which is not an ASEM member, was invited to attend an informal
dinner of ministers Wednesday evening, but declined, citing ''domestic
engagements.''
A special envoy from the junta will, however, visit
Indonesia on Monday and Thailand next Thursday to try to explain its policies on
Suu Kyi.
On North Korea, the ministers urged the denuclearization of the
Korean Peninsula and a peaceful resolution of its nuclear issue ''through
dialogue and negotiations would contribute to peace and stability in the region
and beyond.''
The ministers also pressured North Korea to reverse its
decision to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a global nuclear
arms control treaty, resume its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy
Agency and give up any nuclear weapon program expeditiously and in a verifiable
manner.
China has brokered preliminary talks between North Korea and the
United States, but Washington seeks multilateral talks involving the two Koreas,
itself, China and Japan.
North Korea, however, says it will speak only
to the U.S.
Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing expressed hope
for the involvement of more countries, but said, ''The key is not in the hands
of China, but in the hands of Pyongyang and Washington.''
''Patient and
flexible dialogue is the best and the only right option,'' he said.
Tension on the Korean Peninsula escalated last October when North Korea
reportedly told U.S. officials in Pyongyang that it has a program to enrich
uranium for nuclear weapons.
The ASEM ministerial meeting also discussed
postwar Iraq, terrorism, severe acute respiratory syndrome and nonproliferation
of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
A declaration on the WMD was
issued at the end of the meeting, separate from the chairman's statement,
emphasizing ''the importance of continuing efforts on disarmament and prevention
of proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.''
According to the chairman's statement, the ministers agreed to convene
the sixth ASEM foreign ministerial meeting in Dublin on April 19-21 next year
and to convene a meeting of senior officials in Vietnam to prepare for the ASEM
Summit in Hanoi on Oct. 8-9 next year.
ASEM consists of 10 Asian
countries -- Brunei, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam -- and 15 EU member countries plus
the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU.
The EU members
are Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
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