Dump non-intervention policy ASEAN states told<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (APF): ASEAN members must dump their cherished
\ntradition of non-interference in each other's affairs or risk
\nnever resolving the differences that could drive them apart,
\nThailand's deputy foreign minister said.<\/p>\n
\"They won't be able to hold on to the notion that a non-
\ninterference policy will always be sacred,\" Sukhumbhand Paribatra
\ntold a seminar on the Association of South-East Asian Nations
\n(ASEAN) here Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\"It is essential that members do their utmost to make
\nthemselves acceptable in the eyes of the international
\ncommunity,\" he said in comments reported by local papers
\nWednesday and confirmed by his office.<\/p>\n
\"No one can live in isolation. Otherwise, regional integration
\nwill not be able to move forward.\"<\/p>\n
The change would allow the grouping to strengthen internally
\nand cope with future challenges and outside interference, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Thailand is pushing at the seminar on \"ASEAN in the New
\nMillennium\", held ahead of a meeting of the group's foreign
\nministers here next month, for an ASEAN troika to mediate in
\nconflicts between member states.<\/p>\n
Sukhumbhand said ASEAN members must understand that problems
\naffecting regional countries can no longer be confined within
\ntheir borders.<\/p>\n
\"Problems in one country can affect another, be it economic,
\nenvironmental, transnational crime, drug trafficking and public
\nhealth,\" he said.<\/p>\n
ASEAN faces a major image problem thanks to a series of
\nstumbles and omissions that critics cite as evidence that it has
\nbecome increasingly irrelevant.<\/p>\n
It was slammed for failing to predict the 1997 financial
\ncrisis that enveloped the region, and for doing little to fend
\noff the contagion when it came, or to assist in recovery.<\/p>\n
And it was accused of thrusting Australia into the role of the
\nregion's chief peacekeeper by failing to form a joint position on
\nthe carnage in East Timor last year.<\/p>\n
Another problem came with the admission of Myanmar in 1997
\ndespite bitter objections by Western nations who accuse the
\nruling military of widespread human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
The inclusion effectively blocked inter-regional ministerial
\ntalks between ASEAN and the European Union, which refuses to
\ngrant visas to Yangon generals.<\/p>\n
But Sukhumbhand defended the role of the grouping, which now
\nembraces Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
\nthe Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
He said it played an important role in uniting a region that
\nhad once been described as the \"Oriental Balkans.\"<\/p>\n
The director of the Thai foreign ministry's East Asia
\ndepartment, Surapong Jayanama said ASEAN members had agreed
\nduring the Cold War era to shelve their differences for the sale
\nof regional unity and security.<\/p>\n
Now, however, those differences were become more visible and
\npotentially more troublesome. Overcoming them was a major
\nobstacle to regional integration, he told the conference.<\/p>\n
Former Philippines president Fidel Ramos has also voiced
\nsupport for abandoning the non-intervention policy, saying it was
\na relic of the early years of the grouping when the priority was
\nto build mutual confidence.<\/p>\n
But now, Ramos said, this \"seems to have hobbled the
\nassociation, preventing it from taking purposeful action.\"<\/p>\n
Thailand and the Philippines have taken on a more prominent
\nrole within ASEAN since Indonesia, once the \"big brother\" of the
\nassociation, became mired in turmoil following the departure of
\npresident Soeharto.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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