ASEAN will continue to engage

ASEAN will continue to engage Myanmar despite U.S. criticism

Jim Gomez Associated Press/Busan, South Korea

Southeast Asian governments will continue to engage Myanmar and avoid doing anything that might prompt it to withdraw from the region's main trade group, the organization's chief said on Thursday.

Ong Keng Yong, secretary-general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), made the remarks after U.S. President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued fresh criticism of military rule in Myanmar during visits to Asia.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been a member of ASEAN since 1998, but the group has come under increasing pressure from Washington and European governments to push the ruling generals to pursue democratic reforms and release Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.

ASEAN insists persuasion, not sanctions, is the best way to deal with the regime.

"As part of the ASEAN group we have no other choice but to bring Myanmar along in whatever way we can," Ong told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Busan, South Korea.

"What's the alternative? The alternative is exclude Myanmar altogether and they are not hesitant about getting into isolation," he said. "Is that going to solve the problem?"

Rice told reporters on the sidelines of the APEC meetings this week that Myanmar's junta was "one of the worst regimes in the world" for its record on human rights and free speech.

She urged the country's neighbors to do more to bring about democratic change in Myanmar.

"I understand that a lot of countries that are neighbors of Burma feel the need to engage them, but I would hope that engagement also takes the form of being serious about the really quite appalling human rights situation," Rice said.

During a speech in Kyoto, Japan, this week, Bush named China and Myanmar as countries that "still have not taken even the first steps toward freedom."

"The people of Burma live in the darkness of tyranny but the light of freedom shines in their heart," Bush said.

Few international organizations apart from ASEAN have granted Myanmar membership because of the regime's record. Myanmar is not among APEC's 21 members.

Ong said the ASEAN goal of bringing about change in Myanmar through economic and political engagement "may be slow, but at least they're still at the table."

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962. The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising. It called a 1990 general election but refused to hand over power after Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory.

In July, Myanmar gave up its turn next year at ASEAN's rotating chairmanship after the United States and the European Union threatened to boycott the group's meetings.