ASEAN champions EAEC cause

ASEAN champions EAEC cause

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia (JP): ASEAN foreign ministers at the
end of their annual meeting here yesterday expressed satisfaction
at the progress of the East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC) and hoped
that it would soon be instituted.

"The foreign ministers noted with satisfaction the increasing
cooperation among potential EAEC members and expressed the hope
that the Caucus would soon be formally instituted for the benefit
of its members," read the Joint Communique of the 30th ASEAN
Ministerial Meeting.

The brief statement comes under the backdrop of a planned
informal ASEAN summit meeting in December which will also invite
China, Japan and South Korea -- a de facto collection of the EAEC
membership.

The informal ASEAN summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur from
Dec. 14to Dec.16.

"Up to now the EAEC cannot yet be launched, as you know,
there are still objections from several sides causing doubts on
the part of potential members of the EAEC," Indonesian Foreign
Minister Ali Alatas said.

Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) ended a two-day meeting here yesterday with a 15-
page joint communique. The communique covered political,
economic, regional, and international issues

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The meeting
marked the first time Laos and Myanmar participated after being
admitted as full members on Wednesday.

The formation of the EAEC has stuttered as the prospective
non-ASEAN members have been hesitant to join. The United States
has indicated that it does not approve of the Caucus, thus
causing hesitancy on the part of countries like Japan.

Alatas said while the EAEC has not come to fruition, ASEAN
has backed the Caucus from the start.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi admitted that
launching the Caucus has not been easy. "The prospective members
were not sure what the EAEC can do," he said.

But he quickly noted that the prospective non-ASEAN members
are now "becoming more comfortable" with th idea, pointing out
that it would be a forum for discussing various issues effecting
the region and not aimed "at deciding anything that would be
confrontational to other interests or other groups."

Trade

The 57-point communique also took a tough stand against
linking human rights to trade issues, warning that it could
undermine the international trading system.

"The foreign ministers while recognizing the importance of
trade in bringing about economic development to the ASEAN
countries, maintained that human rights issues should not be made
conditional to the promotion of free trade among nations," the
communique said.

It expressed "concern over the emerging trend of state,
provincial and other local authorities in countries outside this
region seeking to impose trade sanctions against other states on
grounds of alleged human rights violations and non-trade related
issues."

While the statement did not refer directly to Myanmar,
ASEAN's newest member has been the target of indignation and
sanctions from the West for its alleged suppression of the pro-
democracy movement.

The economic issues covered 18-points of the communique on
such matters as currency manipulation, the ASEAN Free Trade Area
and support for Vietnam's entry into the World Trade Organization
and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

On labor issues, the foreign ministers reiterated the position
of ASEAN labor ministers that trade access "should not be linked
to workers' conditions or the levels of implementation of labor
standards in a particular country."

Included in the political, regional and international issues
section were perennial topics such as the Middle East crisis, the
South China Sea and United Nations reform.

On the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the foreign ministers
expressed their hope that it could now move into the second stage
of growth dealing with preventive diplomacy.

The ARF brings ASEAN and its dialog partners together in a
loose consultative forum on political-security issues. With the
ultimate aim of conflict resolution, the ARF is now evolving from
the confidence building stage to preventive diplomacy.

The ARF will hold their fourth meeting here tomorrow.

"ASEAN proposes that we advance to the second stage. Otherwise
we'd be accused of being stagnant. This is why we are now
combining the (first) two stages," Alatas said.

Also attending yesterday's meeting were Brunei's Foreign
Minister Mohamed Bolkiah, Laos' Somsavat Lengsavad, Myanmar's U
Ohn Gyaw, the Philippine's Domingo Siazon, Singapore's S.
Jayakumar, Thailand's Prachuab Chaiyasan and Vietnam's Nguyen
Manh Cam.

Commenting on just ended meeting, Badawi said the meeting
went smoothly without any real contention despite minister
sometimes having divergent views.

"We did not have any difficulty what so ever in discussing
the issues at hand and coming to a consensus," he added.

Ministers today have a day-off as they wait their dialog
partner counterparts to arrive for the ARF. United States
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Australian Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer already arrived yesterday evening.

Upon his arrival, Downer held a brief meeting with Alatas.

This evening the 21 foreign ministers attending the ARF will
hold an informal dinner hosted by Badawi.

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