Asia pushes for Myanmar's inclusion

Asia pushes for Myanmar's inclusion

Agencies, Nusa Dua, Bali

Asian nations will push for the inclusion of Myanmar in a key Asia-Europe forum even though most of them have criticized the military-ruled nation for detaining Aung San Suu Kyi, an official said Tuesday.

Only seven of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- together with China, Japan and South Korea represent the region in the Asia- Europe Meeting (ASEM) forum.

Aside from Myanmar, the two other ASEAN newcomers Cambodia and Laos are not ASEM members.

The 15 European Union members, who make up the other side of the ASEM grouping, have objected to Myanmar's inclusion due to the detention of Suu Kyi.

"ASEAN's position is that we are asking to include Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia in ASEM. It should be a priority and in one package," Indonesian foreign ministry official Retno Marsudi was quoted by Agence France Presse as saying.

"Our position is fully supported by the northeast Asian countries (China, Japan and South Korea)," said Retno.

She was speaking after chairing a meeting of senior officials from the 10 Asian nations in Indonesia's Bali island in preparation for the ASEM foreign ministers' meeting beginning Wednesday.

Retno acknowledged Europe's opposition to Myanmar's membership but said "we are still discussing it... We are trying to find a solution and the most important thing is Asia's position is firm on this issue," she said.

Retno stressed that "there was no problem" among the seven ASEAN members as well as Japan, China and South Korea in backing Myanmar as well as Cambodia and Laos in their bid for membership of ASEM.

Suu Kyi was detained by the military junta following a violent clash on May 30 between a pro-junta mob and her supporters. The junta says it is holding her "for her own safety."

Besides the Myanmar issue, the senior official meeting of the 25-member ASEM countries on Tuesday continued to debate other hot issues, especially those on the North Korea nuclear weapons crisis, the post-war situation in Iraq and the Israel-Palestine crisis.

Indonesia's ministry for foreign affairs director general for America and Europe Arizal Effendy said ASEM senior officials had agreed to include all those issues on the chairman's statement that would be brought before the foreign ministerial meeting.

In another development, Japan proposed a declaration of the non-proliferation of the weapons of mass destruction, which all countries had agreed, in principle, to adopt.

However, most Asian countries would prefer to reword the declaration so that any ASEM support for action against regimes with weapons of mass destruction was bolstered by a UN mandate.

Besides political issues, ASEM senior officials also discussed initiatives on ocean cooperation, health management cooperation, human rights education and on silk and iron production cooperation as part of the efforts to improve the closer relations between the two continents.

The European Union Commissioner of External Relations Chris Patten is scheduled to present his new concept of partnership in security and good governance.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri is scheduled to officially open the ASEM ministerial meeting on Thursday, Arizal said.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Arizal could not hide his disappointment over the low turnout of European ministers at this year's meeting, with only four out of 15 European countries participating in the Bali meeting.

"We are disappointed with the level of participation and we expect that for the upcoming summit, it will be a lot better," he said.