ASEAN ministers defer Cambodia's admission

ASEAN ministers defer Cambodia's admission

HANOI (AFP): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Friday deferred the admission of Cambodia as a member until after the new coalition government in Phnom Penh takes full shape, officials said.

"We feel there needs to be more time to let the dust settle and that would be better for all sides," Thai foreign ministry spokesman Kobsak Chutikul told journalists as the group's foreign ministers met into the night.

Politically unstable and violence-prone Cambodia had been hoping to become the 10th member of ASEAN in time to join the group's Dec. 15-16 summit in the Vietnamese capital.

But under ASEAN tradition, admission requires a consensus among the nine current members. At least three openly opposed Cambodia's immediate entry.

"There is no consensus on this at this time and we do not foresee a consensus emerging from this meeting, either at the foreign ministers' level or at the leaders' level," said Kobsak.

Cambodia was supposed to join ASEAN in July 1997 but its entry was deferred after Second Prime Minister Hun Sen ousted his co- premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh amid fierce fighting in Phnom Penh.

A new coalition forged by the two rivals after fresh polls last July is staking a claim to the ASEAN seat, but some members want further proof of political harmony in Phnom Penh, starting with the establishment of a senate.

"We would want to ask Cambodia if her own conditions of effective government, of a working government, have been totally passed, and what is the next stage in that evolutionary process," Kobsak said.

"We feel that perhaps a little bit more time will be better for Cambodia herself, for the various parties in Cambodia to have a little bit more time to get used to working together under the new coalition arrangement and under the new power-sharing arrangement."

"In particular, to have all loose ends tied up like the constitution being amended, Hun Sen creating a senate, and finding senators," he added.

The Thai official said ASEAN members should "try to put the issue at rest and move on to other things," stressing that the Hanoi meeting's main goal was to alleviate the region's economic crisis and prevent it from recurring.

Discord over the timing of Cambodia's entry spilled into the open earlier Friday, a rare event in an organization built on the principle of compromise.

Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Laos expressed support for Cambodia's early membership, saying it should be allowed to take its place at next week's summit. Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines wanted a deferment.

Even normally low-key Laos made its views known. Foreign Minister Somsavath Lengsavad told AFP Laos had sent a letter to Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk reaffirming support for Cambodia "joining on the occasion of the sixth formal summit."

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas was the most vehement backer of Cambodia, saying deferring its entry would amount to interference.

"We should not hint or indicate as if there are further, additional conditionalities attached to their entry. The main condition is not political stability," Alatas said.

"The only condition was we had to wait for you (Cambodia) to have a government before we can move to adopt a position on your entry. That was the condition, as far as Indonesia is concerned," he said.

Cambodia's UN seat, vacant for 15 months, has been given back to the coalition, reinforcing its international legitimacy.

"Since when should ASEAN sit in judgment about how governments work and make it a condition of entry?" Alatas said.

"Did we do that when Vietnam entered, or Laos and Myanmar? Or before that, Brunei Darussalam?" he said.

"We never said, I hope your government works and we will just see first if your government works. This is an additional conditionality that moves towards internal interference," he said.