China looking to boost ASEAN links at summit<\/p>\n
BEIJING (Agencies): Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji hopes to boost
\nties with Southeast Asia at a regional summit this week that is
\nalso to include a three-way meeting with counterparts from South
\nKorea and Japan, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Zhu's attendance at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
\n(ASEAN) summit will help an \"exchange of views on how to further
\npromote Chinese cooperation with ASEAN countries,\" spokesman Sun
\nYuxi said.<\/p>\n
\"China hopes to ... increase mutual understanding and trust so
\nas to promote common development,\" Sun said.<\/p>\n
The meeting, which brings together the heads of ASEAN's 10
\nmember governments with those of Japan, South Korea and China,
\ntakes place in Singapore during ASEAN's annual Nov. 24-26 summit.<\/p>\n
ASEAN is expected to take up the issue of a code of conduct to
\ngovern disputes in the South China Sea, where several ASEAN
\nmembers and China joust over tiny islands, shoals and fishing
\ngrounds, although an agreement is unlikely.<\/p>\n
A Chinese Foreign Ministry official for Asian affairs,
\nspeaking on condition of anonymity, said those ASEAN nations had
\nto decide the cope of a code of conduct before China would take a
\nstance on its adoption.<\/p>\n
China will discuss building a rail link from Singapore to
\nKunming in southwest China and shipping on the Mekong River, and
\nis willing to look into establishing an ASEAN-China free trade
\nzone to compliment ASEAN's moves toward economic integration, the
\nofficial said.<\/p>\n
ASEAN will take the first step toward reducing internal
\ntariffs by 2002, and Japan has already said it would look into
\nthe possibility of free trade with the bloc.<\/p>\n
However, China's economy, driven by cheap labor and foreign
\ninvestment, competes more directly with Southeast Asian nations.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, non-governmental organizations will meet on
\nIndonesia's Batam island this week to highlight human rights, the
\nenvironment and other social concerns as Southeast Asian leaders
\nmeet in nearby Singapore, organizers said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Citizens' groups have long accused the 10-country Association
\nof Southeast Asian Nations of neglecting human rights and social
\nissues in its quest for economic development.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid was scheduled to speak
\nSaturday at the ASEAN People's Assembly 2000 on Batam, which lies
\n20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Singapore.<\/p>\n
ASEAN heads of government are holding an informal summit in
\nSingapore Friday and Saturday. Other high-level government
\nofficials from the ASEAN countries begin talks in Singapore
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
Organizers of the Batam meeting, slated for Friday through
\nSunday, said they plan to draft a report on their concerns and
\npresent it to ASEAN government leaders.<\/p>\n
\"We want ASEAN to make a stronger commitment to human rights
\nand democracy,\" said conference participant Debbie Stothard,
\ncoordinator for the human rights group Altsean-Burma.<\/p>\n
As an example, she cited the chaos and bloodshed that followed
\nEast Timor's vote to secede from Indonesia last year. Australia-
\nled United Nations peacekeeping forces eventually stepped in.
\n\"The governments of our region refused to even acknowledge the
\nproblem of East Timor before,\" Stothard said.<\/p>\n
\"Then, when all hell broke loose last year, it was governments
\noutside the region that tried to resolve it,\" she said.<\/p>\n
To be more effective, ASEAN would have to change its central
\ntenant of noninvolvement in individual members' domestic
\npolitics, she said.<\/p>\n
The ASEAN People's Assembly 2000, organized by Indonesia's
\nCenter for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the
\nSingapore Institute of International Affairs, it brings together
\nover 300 representatives from various walks of life from all 10
\nASEAN members along with non-ASEAN observers.<\/p>\n
ASEAN, an economic and security alliance formed more than
\nthree decades ago, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
\nMalaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and
\nMyanmar, which is also known as Burma.<\/p>",
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