Australia, New Zealand may miss E. Asian summit

Australia, New Zealand may miss E. Asian summit

Australia and New Zealand will not be allowed to attend an
inaugural East Asian summit unless they sign a non-aggression
pact with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN
ministers decided on Monday.

Malaysia in December will host the summit, which brings
together ASEAN and its "Plus 3" partners China, Japan and South
Korea.

Australia, New Zealand and India have also expressed a desire
to join the summit.

Prospective summit partners must have "substantive relations
with ASEAN, they must be a full dialog partner and they must
accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC), said a
statement by the ministers at the end of their annual retreat.

The treaty bans signatories from using violence to settle
conflicts in the region.

"India obviously is qualified on all three counts," said
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo.

"In the case of Australia and New Zealand, we hope they would
be able to accede to the TAC and be able to join us in Kuala
Lumpur."

ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Vientiane last November
called on Australia, along with New Zealand, to show good faith
by signing the TAC to dispel concerns about Australia's threats
to carry out pre-emptive strikes on foreign terror bases.

Foreign ministers are scheduled further to formalize the
expansion plans during ministerial meetings in Laos in July.

Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said last month
that Australia, New Zealand and India should be excluded from the
first meeting. Indonesia has expressed support for Australia's
inclusion. --AFP