ASEAN's future to be reshaped in crucial meetings

ASEAN's future to be reshaped in crucial meetings

By Michele Cooper

BANGKOK (AFP): Formed 27 years ago to counter a perceived threat from communist Indochina, ASEAN is gearing up this week for crucial decisions on reshaping its future -- including admitting former nemesis Vietnam.

Indicative of political trends in the region, the opening session of the annual ASEAN foreign ministers meeting today will be attended not just by the six members but by three regional observer nations and two guest countries.

And if Vietnam has its way, it will transform its observer status into full membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) before the end of 1995, officials say.

ASEAN now groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Laos and Papua New Guinea are also observers, Cambodia is classified a "special ASEAN guest," and Myanmar is attending as a guest of host Thailand.

While possible ASEAN membership for the others is some distance off, Thailand is promoting a so-called Southeast Asia 10 (SEA-10) grouping of ASEAN members, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar as an expanded regional forum.

Deputy Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said last week Bangkok would host a SEA-10 conference in the coming months, for substantive talks which will not be possible at the formal ASEAN open and closing sessions attended by all.

"It's a mark of ASEAN's political maturity, that it can envision this kind of step," a Bangkok-based diplomat said Wednesday, referring to the talks on expansion.

From a one-issue grouping, ASEAN has grown into a cohesive organization making slow but notable progress on a range of economic and political issues.

ASEAN members frequently speak with a single voice in international forums, and that voice sounds increasingly self- confident.

While ASEAN's tigers share many of the interests of the leading world powers, they can no longer be counted on to tamely fall into line behind Western designs.

An "ASEAN spirit" has emerged to protect the interests of member countries in the face of both domestic dissent and international protests.

In practice, this has meant that ASEAN states bar activities on their soil which might embarrass fellow members.

Most recently, Thailand moved against a regional human rights seminar which planned to focus on Myanmar and East Timor, a troubled former Portuguese colony in Indonesia.

And ASEAN labor ministers earlier made it abundantly clear they will fight Western demands that they pay higher wages to their workers in exchange for more liberalized trade.

While Western partners have at times been distressed at ASEAN's approach to human rights issues, they have been appreciative of other initiatives such as ASEAN's instrumental role in brokering the Cambodian peace accord of 1991.

ASEAN foreign ministers are expected to issue another joint statement Saturday on Cambodia, endorsing the government in Phnom Penh in the wake of an abortive coup d'etat two weeks ago mounted by elements in the government.

Member states are not in agreement on everything, however, and discussions of conflicting claims to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea which are believed to be rich in petroleum deposits are also expected.

The two-day foreign ministers meeting is to be followed on Monday by the first-ever ASEAN Regional Forum, bringing 18 delegations to the table to discuss security and stability issues.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, ASEAN will hold its traditional talks with so-called dialog partners: Australia, Canada, European Union, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States.