ASEAN, West vow to lower tensions
By Pandaya
BANGKOK (JP): Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and their Western allies ended their meeting yesterday, pledging closer collaboration to reduce tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.
As usual, no specific agreements were reached in the two-day post-ministerial conference (PMC), which followed the annual ASEAN ministerial gathering. Instead, they held a joint press conference.
They called for more concerted action for the restoration of democracy in Myanmar, reduced tension on the Korean peninsula and in the South China Sea, and more concerted support for the legitimate Cambodian government.
The officials expressed their support for continued peaceful settlement to the Bosnian civil war and welcomed the Israel- Jordan peace agreement signed in Washington last Monday.
The ministers from ASEAN -- which groups Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore -- and their dialog partners from the U.S., Canada, European Union, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia also pledged to improve their economic cooperation.
The post ministerial meeting noted the change in the Western powers in their attitude towards the military junta in Myanmar.
The EU, U.S., Australia and New Zealand, once supporters of total isolation of Myanmar, now back ASEAN's "constructive engagement" policy towards that country.
The two allies increased their pressure for the release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and an improvement of their human rights record.
"The military regime should heed the democratic aspirations of its people, adopt fundamental political reforms and respect human rights," said U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs Joan Spero.
Arms sale
The ASEAN and the Western allies support the democratically elected government in Cambodia and seek to isolate the Khmer Rouge, which continuously attempt to destabilize the country.
Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas and Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi denied reports that the two countries supply arms to the Cambodian government.
Alatas said what Jakarta offered was military training in Indonesia but never arms, which would amount to a breach of ASEAN's policy.
Badawi said Kuala Lumpur was ready to provide training for the Cambodian military personnel because Malaysia has the capacity to do so.
Thai newspapers, quoting unspecified documents and unnamed sources, said that the Indonesian Pindad arms manufacturing company will sell three million bullets for M-16 riffles, worth US$378,000, to the Cambodian army.
Indonesian embassy officials in Bangkok said they knew nothing about the arms deal, in which the ammunition, reportedly, will be shipped to the Cambodian seaport of Kompong Som in August.
Alatas reiterated his denial that Jakarta in any way leveraged Bangkok's attempt to ban a series of seminars on East Timor prior to the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting that opened on July 22.
He said the unofficial seminars were the work of a handful East Timorese dissidents who represented themselves and meant to politicize the forum for their own personal interests.
Recovering from a heart surgery recently, Alatas became hostile whenever journalists raised the issue of East Timor, a former Portuguese colony in the eastern tip of Indonesian Timor island which integrated itself into Indonesia in 1976 in the wake of civil war in the territory.
Nuclear
Japan, the U.S., EU and South Korea urged quick solution to the nuclear crisis in North Korea and prompt resumption of inter- Korea peace talks.
"The door is kept open and we wait for a message from North Korea to resume a dialog soon," said South Korea Foreign Minister Han Sung-joo.
Spero and Singapore Foreign Minister Shunmugam Jayakumar clashed over linkage of human rights with international trade agreements.
Spero emphasized the importance of linking social issues like workers rights, environment and labor standards with such agreement.
Jayakumar rejected the idea, saying that the policy represented a protectionist move and would hurt competitiveness of goods from the developing countries.