ASEAN told to match words with action<\/p>\n
HANOI (Reuters): Southeast Asian foreign ministers on Friday
\nwrapped up a week of meetings with world powers on resolving
\nregional conflicts and winning help for their troubled economies,
\nbut critics said the forum was all talk and no action.<\/p>\n
The 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
\nmet big-power partners like China, Japan, India, the European
\nUnion and the United States in Vietnam to discuss the many
\nconflicts -- past, present and future -- that hang over the
\nregion.<\/p>\n
Ministers told a closing news conference the talks had been
\nvery constructive. But some ASEAN members said the group had to
\nreform and match words with action, or risk becoming irrelevant.<\/p>\n
\"I think we are all aware that we in ASEAN are still going
\nthrough a very difficult patch, not only because of the global
\ninternational gloomy outlook, but also many of us have internal
\nproblems, political transitional problems,\" said Singapore
\nForeign Minister S. Jayakumar.<\/p>\n
\"In a sense ASEAN has to regroup. But the most important thing
\nis acknowledgement of our problems.\"<\/p>\n
ASEAN is struggling to retain its credibility in a post-Cold
\nWar world where it is no longer of importance as a bulwark
\nagainst communism. To make matters worse, its once-thriving
\neconomies are mired in crisis.<\/p>\n
At a time of economic downturn it now faces the difficult task
\nof trying to integrate the poorer economies of former enemies
\nVietnam, Laos and Cambodia and of military-ruled pariah Myanmar.<\/p>\n
The political volatility which has scared off most foreign
\ninvestors was underlined during the talks by events in Indonesia,
\nwhere the frail and almost-blind President Abdurrahman Wahid was
\nsacked and replaced by his deputy, Megawati Sukarnoputri.<\/p>\n
U.S., China<\/p>\n
Center of attention during the week's meetings was a further
\nthaw in the frosty relationship between the United States and
\nChina, underlining ASEAN's struggle to avoid being sidelined and
\novershadowed by its giant neighbor.<\/p>\n
After a meeting on Wednesday between U.S. Secretary of State
\nColin Powell and Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, Beijing
\nsaid on Thursday it had paroled two U.S.-based Chinese scholars
\njailed for 10 years earlier in the week for spying.<\/p>\n
Powell, who was in Vietnam for the first time since he fought
\nthe communists as a soldier more than three decades ago, is due
\nto hold further meetings in Beijing on Saturday.<\/p>\n
A meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) -- Asia's key
\nsecurity grouping -- discussed the political changes in
\nIndonesia, tensions on the Korean peninsula, and U.S.-China
\nrelations.<\/p>\n
But although participants said discussions had been frank and
\nhonest, some were frustrated that the ARF remained just a talking
\nshop for \"confidence building\" and had not yet evolved a more
\nproactive role in resolving and preventing regional conflicts.<\/p>\n
\"We need to review existing mechanisms... so that ASEAN can
\ncontinue to be relevant and of strategic importance to external
\ncountries,\" Jayakumar said. \"The ARF is now moving step by step
\nfrom confidence building measures to preventive diplomacy.\"<\/p>\n
But more conservative members like Vietnam were reluctant to
\nsee the forum becoming more than a place to exchange views.
\n\"We have to move gradually,\" Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen
\nDy Nien told a news conference. \"Confidence building measures are
\nthe main thrust of the ARF.\"<\/p>\n
Little progress was made during the week on one of the
\nregion's main concerns -- relations with Stalinist North Korea.
\nNorth Korea's representative told the forum Washington was
\nattaching too many preconditions to a resumption of dialogue.<\/p>\n
Powell insisted the United States was willing to hold talks
\nanytime and anywhere, without preconditions.<\/p>\n
Pyongyang's foreign minister did not even attend the
\ngathering, saying he was \"too busy\".<\/p>\n
Other unresolved regional spats include a row between Japan
\nand China over trade, a new Japanese textbook critics say glosses
\nover wartime atrocities, and a controversial planned visit by
\nJapan's prime minister to a shrine honoring war dead.<\/p>\n
China and several ASEAN states are also in dispute on the
\nSpratly Islands, a remote archipelago said to be rich in oil. No
\nprogress was reported on efforts to resolve this issue.<\/p>\n
But, at a closing gala dinner on Thursday night, ministers put
\ndifferences aside for what has become a ritual after ARF
\nmeetings, taking to the stage to sing, dance and generally play
\nthe fool.<\/p>\n
Powell donned a red bandana to croon a ballad about a lovesick
\ncowboy entranced by a Vietnamese maiden -- played by Japanese
\nForeign Minister Makiko Tanaka in traditional Vietnamese dress.
\nVietnam's Nien, more soberly, sang a national folk song.<\/p>",
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