Myanmar suggests it will forego ASEAN chairmanship<\/p>\n
Jasbant Singh, Associated Press\/Vientiane<\/p>\n
Military-ruled Myanmar hinted on Sunday it would forgo a regional
\nchairmanship to spare neighbors from rebukes by the West over the
\njunta's poor democracy record, as Asia-Pacific nations opened
\ntheir top annual security conference.<\/p>\n
Australia also was set to embrace a regional nonaggression
\npact, reversing longstanding opposition after Asian neighbors
\nmade the accord a condition for attending a summit next December
\naimed at moving toward a big East Asian trade bloc.<\/p>\n
Canberra will sign a declaration of intent to join the pact
\nduring the six-day conference in Laos and have its parliament
\nratify the pact before signing it by December, Laotian Deputy
\nForeign Minister Bounkeut Sangsomsak said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus more
\nthan a dozen other governments with interests in the region --
\nsuch as the U.S., Russia, European Union and China -- opened
\ntalks leading up to the ASEAN Regional Forum on Thursday and
\nFriday.<\/p>\n
Forum officials worked on an agreement about sharing
\nintelligence to better combat international terrorism, officials
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"The recent bombings in London and Egypt are a reminder that
\nthis sort of thing can take place at any time and any place,\"
\nIndonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said.<\/p>\n
Impoverished Laos, holding only its second such conference,
\ndeployed soldiers in armored cars at intersections in tropical
\nVientiane and along the main road to the nearby Mekong River
\nseparating the country from Thailand.<\/p>\n
The main venue's corrugated metal roof was pelted with rain on
\nSunday, filling the cavernous interior with an earsplitting
\nsizzle. Conference spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy said VIP meeting
\nrooms were protected by a new layer of grass thatch -- though the
\nmain hall was left unthatched.<\/p>\n
\"Even if there is a downpour now, it will not disturb the
\nmeeting because we have grass covering the roof. The rain will
\nhit the grass, not the roof,\" Yong said.<\/p>\n
Myanmar's colleagues in ASEAN have urged it to meet U.S. and
\nEuropean Union demands to liberalize and release pro-democracy
\ncampaigner Aung San Suu Kyi or forgo its scheduled chairmanship
\nof the bloc in late 2006.<\/p>\n
The U.S. and EU have threatened to boycott ASEAN meetings if
\nMyanmar becomes the bloc's leader, and Southeast Asian nations
\nfear it could endanger trade ties with the West.<\/p>\n
Myanmar's delegation was widely expected to announce this week
\nit would step aside.<\/p>\n
Myanmar Foreign Ministry official Thuang Tun strongly
\nsuggested that in comments to reporters on Sunday, though he
\ndeclined to confirm it.<\/p>\n
\"We do not want to have our friends in a very difficult
\nposition,\" he said. \"If we just insist for the sake of insisting
\nthen we have a situation where ASEAN would be in a difficult
\nposition and we do not want to put ASEAN in a difficult
\nposition.\"<\/p>\n
The U.S. secretary of state is skipping the ASEAN ministerial
\nmeeting -- sending a deputy instead -- for the first time since
\n1982. The meeting was expanded to include the security-oriented
\nASEAN Regional Forum in 1994.<\/p>\n
The no-show provoked speculation that it was a U.S. warning
\nnot to give Myanmar the chairmanship, or that Washington's
\npriority was the Mideast over Asia.<\/p>\n
New Zealand and Mongolia were expected to join ASEAN's
\nnonaggression pact, which the bloc also has signed with nations
\nsuch as China, Russia, Japan, India and Pakistan.<\/p>\n
Australia long refused to join, saying it could interfere with
\nits 54-year-old defense treaty with Washington. But ASEAN made it
\na prerequisite for attending December's inaugural East Asia
\nSummit in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Sunday
\nthat Canberra is eager to attend the summit, and hopes to resolve
\nconcerns over the friendship pact in Laos.<\/p>\n
Negotiations among six nations aimed at getting North Korea to
\nscrap its nuclear weapons program resume separately on Tuesday in
\nBeijing. However, foreign ministers for those nations will be in
\nLaos, where they also could discuss the standoff.<\/p>",
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