ASEAN snub West's call to keep out Myanmar

ASEAN snub West's call to keep out Myanmar

By Nick Cumming-Bruce

BANGKOK: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
left more determined than deterred by Western disapproval, is
going ahead with plans to admit Myanmar as a full member in July
along with strife-torn Cambodia and the tiny, landlocked nation
of Laos.

The decision taken by ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in the
Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur rebuffs a letter reportedly sent
by U.S. vice-president Al Gore setting out Washington's
objections to Myanmar's early admission.

The U.S. and European Union have both cautioned ASEAN that its
standing as one of the world's most highly-regarded regional
groupings may be compromised by giving diplomatic comfort to
Myanmar at a time when the ruling junta's unrelenting abuse of
human rights is making it a target for escalating Western action.
The regime's reputation is further tarnished by Myanmar's status
as one of the world's biggest heroin suppliers.

ASEAN leaders also dismissed a video-taped appeal sent by
Burmese pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
to defer Myanmar's membership until the junta undertook political
reform. She warned Myanmar's admission would only make its ruling
generals "more obdurate and oppressive than ever".

A number of ASEAN countries were uneasy about admitting
Cambodia at a time when bitter conflict between its co-prime
ministers is fueling a new surge in political violence that
analysts fear could erupt into open warfare.

ASEAN's new admissions, raising membership to 10 countries,
will fulfill its original members' long-held desire to turn it
into a geographically comprehensive Southeast Asian bloc in time
for the 30th anniversary of the association's formation.

The decision to admit Myanmar is a mark of the self-confidence
of a group set up at the time of the Vietnam War to prevent
tensions and rivalry among Southeast Asia's non-Communist
countries -- Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the
Philippines -- spilling into open conflict.

Their success later brought in tiny Brunei and paved the way
after the Cold War for the admission of former enemy Vietnam as a
full member last year. It has also seen ASEAN emerge as a hub for
fast expanding contacts between East Asia and the West and for
attempts to engage China on a range of diplomatic, security and
economic issues.

In response to Western concerns, ASEAN leaders have emphasized
they do not consider human rights as a criterion for admission of
new members and consider "constructive engagement" a more
productive approach than sanctions. Regional analysts say they
are in any event more concerned to check the risk of an isolated
Myanmar drifting into a Chinese orbit.

The group's foreign ministers appear to have devoted little
time even to discussing Myanmar in Kuala Lumpur. "We made the
decision for the good and benefit of ASEAN," Malaysian Foreign
Minister Abdullah Badawi said. "We believe that (Myanmar) will be
better if it is with ASEAN."

Cambodia, where factional conflict is jeopardizing investments
by ASEAN businessmen and could hamper its ability to meet
economic conditions of entry, appears to have featured more
prominently in their deliberations.

ASEAN's announcement, however, coincided with another rise in
tension over a call by Second Prime Minister Hun Sen for
prosecution of those responsible for a major shipment of weaponry
to his senior co-premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh's party
Funcinpec.

ASEAN leaders have proved ineffectual in trying to check the
co-prime ministers' mutual antagonism and will be hoping there is
no major eruption of violence overshadowing the formal admission
of the three new members on July 23.

-- The Guardian