ASEAN told to match words with action

ASEAN told to match words with action

HANOI (Reuters): Southeast Asian foreign ministers on Friday wrapped up a week of meetings with world powers on resolving regional conflicts and winning help for their troubled economies, but critics said the forum was all talk and no action.

The 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) met big-power partners like China, Japan, India, the European Union and the United States in Vietnam to discuss the many conflicts -- past, present and future -- that hang over the region.

Ministers told a closing news conference the talks had been very constructive. But some ASEAN members said the group had to reform and match words with action, or risk becoming irrelevant.

"I think we are all aware that we in ASEAN are still going through a very difficult patch, not only because of the global international gloomy outlook, but also many of us have internal problems, political transitional problems," said Singapore Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar.

"In a sense ASEAN has to regroup. But the most important thing is acknowledgement of our problems."

ASEAN is struggling to retain its credibility in a post-Cold War world where it is no longer of importance as a bulwark against communism. To make matters worse, its once-thriving economies are mired in crisis.

At a time of economic downturn it now faces the difficult task of trying to integrate the poorer economies of former enemies Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and of military-ruled pariah Myanmar.

The political volatility which has scared off most foreign investors was underlined during the talks by events in Indonesia, where the frail and almost-blind President Abdurrahman Wahid was sacked and replaced by his deputy, Megawati Sukarnoputri.

U.S., China

Center of attention during the week's meetings was a further thaw in the frosty relationship between the United States and China, underlining ASEAN's struggle to avoid being sidelined and overshadowed by its giant neighbor.

After a meeting on Wednesday between U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, Beijing said on Thursday it had paroled two U.S.-based Chinese scholars jailed for 10 years earlier in the week for spying.

Powell, who was in Vietnam for the first time since he fought the communists as a soldier more than three decades ago, is due to hold further meetings in Beijing on Saturday.

A meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) -- Asia's key security grouping -- discussed the political changes in Indonesia, tensions on the Korean peninsula, and U.S.-China relations.

But although participants said discussions had been frank and honest, some were frustrated that the ARF remained just a talking shop for "confidence building" and had not yet evolved a more proactive role in resolving and preventing regional conflicts.

"We need to review existing mechanisms... so that ASEAN can continue to be relevant and of strategic importance to external countries," Jayakumar said. "The ARF is now moving step by step from confidence building measures to preventive diplomacy."

But more conservative members like Vietnam were reluctant to see the forum becoming more than a place to exchange views. "We have to move gradually," Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien told a news conference. "Confidence building measures are the main thrust of the ARF."

Little progress was made during the week on one of the region's main concerns -- relations with Stalinist North Korea. North Korea's representative told the forum Washington was attaching too many preconditions to a resumption of dialogue.

Powell insisted the United States was willing to hold talks anytime and anywhere, without preconditions.

Pyongyang's foreign minister did not even attend the gathering, saying he was "too busy".

Other unresolved regional spats include a row between Japan and China over trade, a new Japanese textbook critics say glosses over wartime atrocities, and a controversial planned visit by Japan's prime minister to a shrine honoring war dead.

China and several ASEAN states are also in dispute on the Spratly Islands, a remote archipelago said to be rich in oil. No progress was reported on efforts to resolve this issue.

But, at a closing gala dinner on Thursday night, ministers put differences aside for what has become a ritual after ARF meetings, taking to the stage to sing, dance and generally play the fool.

Powell donned a red bandana to croon a ballad about a lovesick cowboy entranced by a Vietnamese maiden -- played by Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka in traditional Vietnamese dress. Vietnam's Nien, more soberly, sang a national folk song.