ASEAN entry to save Cambodia

ASEAN entry to save Cambodia

HONG KONG (AFP): The admission of Cambodia into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will enable the group to save the nation from descending into chaos, Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said yesterday.

Cambodia's entry in July, along with Myanmar and Laos, was decided in May partly out of the "concern of the ASEAN foreign ministers that the situation might deteriorate further in Cambodia," Siazon told AFP.

"Therefore, it would be better to accept Cambodia now so that ASEAN will be able to involve itself in trying to assist Cambodia resolve the internal situation (there)."

Siazon said his fellow foreign ministers of ASEAN members Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, were to hold talks here today on the sidelines of the Hong Kong handover and the discussions would include political developments in Phnom Penh.