ASEAN worried about new member Myanmar

ASEAN worried about new member Myanmar

By David Brunnstrom

BANGKOK (Reuters): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has come to rue admitting military-ruled Myanmar as a member 18 months ago.

The 30-year-old regional bloc now finds the behavior of one of its youngest members jeopardizing its relationship with, and much needed financial assistance from, its oldest dialogue partner, the European Union (EU).

Signs are that a key ministerial meeting between the two blocs scheduled for late next month will have to be postponed since Europe considers Myanmar's human rights record so bad it will not accept senior Yangon officials within its borders.

Talks between the two blocs to resolve the stalemate have not budged either from their respective collective positions.

The nine-member ASEAN insists all of its foreign ministers must be allowed to attend the Berlin meeting or none at all.

But the signs of frustration and strain are showing.

"There are some people who now ask whether it was a good idea to accept Myanmar," said an ASEAN diplomat in Bangkok. "But now it's a fait accompli, it's done, and we have to live with it. But we have our limits too and sometimes we feel very fed up with this situation."

The economic crisis that has swept Asia since the last foreign ministers meeting two years ago means ASEAN needs all the help it can get.

But Europe, economically resurgent and under pressure from strong human rights lobbies, is in no mood to let Myanmar off the hook.

It says easing its visa ban on senior Myanmar officials requires Yangon to show "substantial progress" on human rights.

The issue has already put paid to a more junior-level meeting, of the EU-ASEAN Joint Cooperation Committee, that was supposed to take place in Bangkok last month.

EU and ASEAN diplomats consider the ministerial meetings, which are supposed to be held every two years, key to the development of bloc-to-bloc political ties.

But there is also a financial equation. The lack of dialogue means disbursement of hundreds of millions of dollars of EU development funding will be indefinitely delayed.

Thailand and Germany have been tasked with negotiating a way around the dispute, but neither is optimistic.

"Germany has said it will be difficult to convince its EU colleagues unless there is progress on human rights," said a Thai Foreign Ministry official. "We are not very optimistic."

While Germany, as the current holder of the revolving EU presidency, would like to find a compromise, it has to represent all EU members, not least Britain and the Nordic countries, which have taken a particularly tough line on Myanmar.

"We wouldn't rule out a compromise, but we have made very clear our position," said a German diplomat in Bangkok.

"The gilding line in the relationship cannot only be economic. It has to be human rights as well," he said.

"The ball is now definitely on the Burmese (Myanmar) side and if ASEAN can't convince them, they have to bear the consequences. And the consequences are the meeting not taking place."

Myanmar has shown little indication that it plans to alter radically its attitude to dissent in the weeks ahead.

Last week, it said it had freed "on humanitarian grounds" a dissident writer it jailed for 20 years in 1993 for distributing anti-government leaflets.

But diplomats in Yangon say they consider as credible reports from pro-democracy groups that some 270 activists were sentenced last month to jail terms ranging from seven to 52 years.

Human rights activists say the number of political prisoners held in Myanmar could number up to 2,000.

On Monday, Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung left on a four- nation ASEAN tour that will take in Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. An ASEAN diplomat said the EU dispute would top the agenda during his tour.

The Thai Foreign Ministry official said ASEAN was obliged to ensure all its members were treated equally.

"We understand the EU position because we subscribe to that way of thinking too, but we have to say we are not very happy when it links its relationship with ASEAN to developments in a single country," he said.

Nevertheless, the ASEAN diplomat suggested a compromise might come in the time-honored form of a "diplomatic illness".

"But it's up to Myanmar to decide whether it will assign somebody else for the meeting. We will not ask U Win Aung to stay away and we have no intention of raising it. But if he decides that himself, then that's different."