ASEAN must prove value of Myanmar stance

There is little sign of the dust settling within the international community in the wake of last week's decision to admit Myanmar to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

ASEAN has clearly failed to persuade Western countries to give "constructive engagement" a chance. The reasoning behind this policy is that the junta's authoritarianism would be mellowed and in due course transformed by prosperity.

Some non-ASEAN countries endorsed this approach. Others derided it. And a few countries waited to see whether Myanmar would present a convincing case that it was heading toward democratization of its system.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday that Myanmar's perception of democracy is different from that of the outside world. But that failed to convince Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy. He announced yesterday that Canada, in a significant departure from past policy, will join the United States in imposing sanctions on Myanmar.

Canada's foreign policy makers have tended in the past to display caution in areas such as human rights and democracy. They have been reluctant to impose sanctions on countries which followed political systems that were not in keeping with their own values.

But even Canada has now lost patience with the Myanmarese regime. Canadians are aware that military rule is not unknown within ASEAN. But they also know that military control in Myanmar is much more rigid and authoritarian than elsewhere in the region. It is now up to ASEAN to see that constructive engagement does indeed produce results, otherwise Myanmar will look like an odd man out within the regional grouping.

-- The Hong Kong Standard