ASEAN stands firm on noninterference

ASEAN stands firm on noninterference

MANILA (Agencies): Top officials denounced yesterday calls for
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to drop its
taboos against non-interference, maintaining only the Philippines
and Thailand backed such a radical switch.

"Non-interference has always been at the very core of our
guidelines," said Nugroho Wisnumurti, an Indonesian Foreign
Ministry spokesman at the meeting of the ASEAN Standing
Committee. "There is no reason for a change."

The start of ASEAN's 31st Annual Ministerial Meeting, hosted
by the Philippines, was overshadowed by negative reactions to the
moves to motivate members of the nine-member grouping to speak
freely and criticize each other.

Lauro Baja, Philippine foreign affairs undersecretary who was
chairman of the senior officials' session, told a news conference
the consensus was against the proposal but it would not be
immediately shelved. "The foreign ministers have a greater
latitude and greater freedom of thought than the senior
officials," and will resume the discussions July 23.

The Philippines and Thailand have openly advocated a shift
from non-intervention to "flexible engagement," which would
provide ASEAN member countries greater opportunities to become
involved in issues occurring in another member country.

Indonesia, however, has opposed any change.

The proposed shift comes as Southeast Asian countries are
becoming more aware that problems in one nation -- such as
currency devaluations, political unrest or environmental
degradation -- often affect its neighbors.

The shift would make it easier, for example, for ASEAN members
to talk to Indonesia about its forest fires, which each year
blanket much of the region in dangerous haze.

The non-intervention policy, adopted by ASEAN since its birth
in 1967, has long been a sensitive issue because of non-
democratic governments in some countries belonging to the group.

Change

The policy change is one of several contentious issues being
discussed this week by the senior officials, who are preparing
the formal agenda for ASEAN foreign ministers who hold their
annual meeting in Manila on July 24 to 25.

Easing the Asian currency havoc, preventing further nuclear
tests, encouraging honest and fair elections in Cambodia and
battling transnational crime are among the top issues to be
tackled during the meetings with dialog partners through July 29.

Baja denied Pakistan would be sending an emissary to the talks
to speak out against the strong statement ASEAN plans to issue
condemning the series of nuclear tests carried out in May by
rivals India and Pakistan.

Pakistan has no links with ASEAN but India is a dialog partner
and is carrying on an intense lobbying campaign in a bid to
remove the statement condemning the tests and urging both nations
to sign the treaty on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and
the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty "without delay".

Turmoil

Both the Philippines and Thailand maintain more candid
discussions are essential to ward off fresh bouts of turmoil
resulting from the region's economic crisis and other touchy
issues such as refugees fleeing Myanmar and Cambodia.

"The first thing we must do is define intervention," said
Nyunt Maung, a Myanmar delegate. "If it focuses on political
issues, it's not all right."

Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has urged the
international community to back her demand that the parliament
elected in 1990 be allowed to convene by Aug. 21.

Although Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called
for a review of ASEAN's non-intervention policy last year, the
senior officials from Kuala Lumpur said their talks with other
delegations showed all members except Thailand and the
Philippines opposed any change.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.