ASEAN meet disrupted by S. Korea, U.S.<\/p>\n
By Pandaya<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (JP): The inaugural ASEAN Regional Forum meeting
\nopened with a clash yesterday, when the U.S. and South Korea
\nforced the conference to take a stand at the gripping Korean
\npeninsula crisis.<\/p>\n
The six ASEAN foreign minister and their counterparts from 12
\nstates discussed security in the Asia-Pacific region behind
\nclosed doors for three hours.<\/p>\n
Conference sources said the U.S. set the stage for
\nconfrontation with the ASEAN foreign ministers when they insisted
\nthat the officials take a stand on the Korean peninsula crisis,
\nwhich has been already aggravated by the nuclear issue.<\/p>\n
The U.S., represented by foreign undersecretary Strobe Talbott
\nand Korea by Foreign Minister Han Sung-joo, maintained that the
\nchairman's statements to be issued late last night made mention
\nof the Korean issue.<\/p>\n
But China and Indonesia turned down the proposal on the
\ngrounds that the three-hour gathering should not raise particular
\nconflicts which may spark open confrontation, a senior official
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Predictably, the officials did not discuss the potentially
\nexplosive conflict over the sprawling Spratly islands in the
\nSouth China Sea claimed by China, Taiwan, the Philippines,
\nMalaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.<\/p>\n
"Once specific issues like the Spratlys were raised, the
\nparticipants concerned would begin attacking each other," said
\nIzhar Ibrahim, Indonesia's director general for political
\naffairs.<\/p>\n
The dialog followed the annual meeting of foreign ministers of
\nASEAN, which groups Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia,
\nBrunei and the Philippines which ended on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The ASEAN regional forum brings together Australia, New
\nZealand, the U.S., Canada, European Union, Japan, South Korea (as
\ndialog partners), Russia, China (as consultative partners), Papua
\nNew Guinea, Vietnam, Laos (as observers), Cambodia and Myanmar
\n(as guests).<\/p>\n
The ASEAN Regional Forum will be held on annual basis.
\nOfficials said that in the future the forum will broaden the
\nissues under discussion.<\/p>\n
Tension<\/p>\n
The gathering was marred with waves of demonstrations
\norganized by non-governmental organizations demanding that ASEAN
\nstop rights violations in the region, which they said were a
\nmajor cause of tension.<\/p>\n
Activists who participated in two unofficial human rights
\nseminars handed over petitions to Thai foreign ministry officials
\nat the posh Sangri-La hotel where the ASEAN Forum meeting was
\ntaking place.<\/p>\n
They criticized human rights records in Indonesia and Myanmar.<\/p>\n
Izhar said the meeting did not even touch on human rights
\nissues. "It is not the right forum to discuss human rights
\nissues," he said after the meeting.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told journalists he was
\n"satisfied" with the meeting because every participant could
\nspeak their mind and begin to build trust in each other.<\/p>\n
Indonesia proposed that the U.S., Russia, China and Japan
\nshould be involved in the planning of the Zone of Peace, Freedom
\nand Neutrality (ZOPFAN).<\/p>\n
Indonesia sought to bind the four world's major powers and the
\nrest of the dialog partners in ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and
\nCooperation.<\/p>\n
Alatas argued that ZOPFAN, conceived as a broadly gauged
\nframework for greater peace and security in Southeast Asia, was
\nstill relevant because it is based on premises eminently valid
\ntoday.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asean-meet-disrupted-by-s-korea-us-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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