ASEAN told to take 'medicine' for crisis
ASEAN told to take 'medicine' for crisis
MANILA (Agencies): U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright warned Southeast Asian nations yesterday the protracted financial turmoil spilling over into other economies will only worsen if the bitter but necessary "medicine" is refused.
Albright, who arrived in Manila to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum, said the economic havoc will top the agenda during the conference devoted to regional security concerns today.
"The risk of long-term harm to the global economy, and to our own prosperity, cannot be ignored," she said. "We will stress the lessons of the past year (that) to attract outside investment and to ignite new growth, it is vital to apply democratic principles and the rule of law to the marketplace."
While acknowledging the dire consequences on workers and families from the stringent economic reforms dictated by such bailout institutions as the International Monetary Fund, Albright said, "This does not change the fact that reform is medicine. If refused, the illness only grows worse. If taken, recovery becomes only a matter of time."
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the economic meltdown has had a direct impact on security "with the downsizing of defense forces".
The crisis, which started in July 1997 after Thailand devalued the baht, has triggered a drastic slowdown in the economies, social unrest, and even forced Indonesian president Soeharto to step down from power after 32 years.
The turmoil also compounded other unresolved and sensitive issues, including tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the outcome of elections in Cambodia, and rival claims to South China Sea islands. India and Pakistan's nuclear tests have raised the specter of an Asian nuclear arms race.
Downer called for condemnation of the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests, much stronger language than the nine members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations used in a communique issued Saturday deploring the weapons testing.
Taboo subjects
ASEAN ended a two-day meeting of foreign ministers Saturday marked by exchanges over whether to discuss previously taboo subjects like democracy and human rights.
Ministers noted widespread criticism that the nine-member group had appeared helpless in the face of major challenges such as the region's financial crisis and calamitous forest fires last year in Indonesia.
Their final communique deplored nuclear tests in South Asia -- it did not refer by name to India and Pakistan, which conducted tit-for-tat nuclear tests in May -- and called for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
The communique also highlighted the signing of a declaration that member states would try to make Southeast Asia a drug-free area by 2020. ASEAN members include countries of the infamous opium-producing Golden Triangle, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.
But the meeting was overshadowed by what looked like an unresolved debate over whether ASEAN should permit a more freewheeling political style and allow debate on issues transcending boundaries, such as human rights and the environment.
Albright said she would seek at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) "a unified international response" to the results of the Cambodian elections monitored by a United Nations-led group including the ASEAN members. Assessments of the polls will be delivered by the joint international monitor group and a separate one will be issued by the United States.
ASEAN foreign ministers have cautiously held hopes the polls will be fair, free and credible, saying the successful elections will pave the way for Cambodia's membership into the nine-member organization this year.
ASEAN members are Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Their ARF dialog partners are Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, Mongolia and the United States.
Myanmar -- Page 14
Cambodia -- Page 16