ASEAN still wants Australian summit but needs time: Cambodia

ASEAN still wants Australian summit but needs time: Cambodia

Agencies Phnom Penh

The 10-member ASEAN group wants to establish an annual ASEAN plus Australia summit but leaders need more time to study the proposal, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said on Tuesday.

He said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had not rejected a request from Canberra to hold a summit each year, when the group met for its regular annual summits here last week.

"But there were only some requests to have further studies," he told reporters. "ASEAN heads of states did not reject Australia's request for an ASEAN plus Australia summit."

Established summits include ASEAN, ASEAN plus China, ASEAN plus Three -- which includes China, Japan and South Korea -- and ASEAN plus India.

Australia's application never moved beyond the discussion table and rated one line in an executive summary of the summit's first day.

Malaysia, whose Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is a fierce critic of Australia, has been lukewarm to the idea of such a summit. Mahathir had recently accused Australia of hypocrisy for warning travelers to stay away from Asia in the wake of a deadly bombing on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

According to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper last week, Mahathir also blocked Australia's bid to join ASEAN summit in Cambodia last week.

Last Wednesday, Thailand rejected a report that it was responsible for Australia being denied the request. The Nation newspaper had quoted diplomats as saying Bangkok had objected after a row over Thailand reneging on a proposal for Australia to be one of the founding members of the Asia Cooperation Dialog (ACD), a Thai-sponsored informal regional forum.

Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra subsequently told his party he would "only take yellow-skin and black-haired" participants as members of the ACD, a comment Canberra said demonstrated "a cavalier attitude", the report said.

Asked who within ASEAN had objected to an ASEAN plus Australia summit, Hor Namhong replied: "No comment."

India made a similar request at the ASEAN summit in Singapore two years ago, "but it could not happen (in 2000) and it is the same as an ASEAN plus Australia Summit."

The first ASEAN plus India summit was held within last week's forum.

"Cambodia supports an ASEAN plus Australian Summit, because Cambodia thinks that geographically -- whether you want it or not -- Australia is in Asia, is a neighbor of Southeast Asia," he said.

"Secondly, there has been a lot of trade exchange between ASEAN and Australia. Australia has been a dialog partner with ASEAN for a long time, and Australia has donated lot of aid to ASEAN.

"Cambodia thinks that it would be good to have an ASEAN plus Australia summit. It is good for both ASEAN and Australia," he said.

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