Tokyo to host Japan-ASEAN summit

Tokyo to host Japan-ASEAN summit

JAPAN: Japan's government on Friday decided to host a special summit with the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in December to mark 2003 as the year of cultural and economic exchanges between Tokyo and the Asian bloc, the foreign minister said.

The Japan-ASEAN summit will be held at the government's guesthouse in Akasaka, central Tokyo, on Dec. 11-12, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said.

The foreign ministry has printed posters for the ASEAN-Japan Exchange Year 2003, first proposed by Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi last November, featuring a picture of a smiling computer-generated young woman as a goodwill envoy.

The annual ASEAN summit is due to be held on the Indonesian island of Bali in October. China, Japan and South Korea are to hold separate talks with the 10-member ASEAN as dialog partners. --AFP

;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Thailand-wargames U.S., Thai, Singapore troops begin military exercises against JP/11/ASEAN

U.S., Thai, S'pore stage wargames THAILAND: More than 13,000 troops from the United States, Thailand and Singapore began annual military exercises on Friday that will focus on anti-terrorism, peacekeeping and civilian evacuation.

The two-week "Cobra Gold" exercises will be held in several areas of Thailand, and will include land, sea and air operations.

The exercises, the biggest in Southeast Asia, have been conducted by the U.S. and Thai armed forces since 1982. In 2000, Singapore became a full participant after being an observer since 1993.

U.S. Ambassador Darryl N. Johnson said the exercises have acquired greater importance following suicide attack in Saudi Arabia this week, as well as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and last year's bombings in Bali, Indonesia.

The attacks "emphasize the need for the international community to come together and protect ourselves, our societies, and our citizens from the menace of terrorism," Johnson said in a speech at the opening of the exercises. --AP

;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Myanmar-SuuKyi-visit Myanmar's Suu Kyi encounters "most serious" protest JP/11/ASEAN

Suu Kyi encounters protest

MYANMAR: Myanmar's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi encountered a pro-junta group of some 300 people protesting her movement as she arrived in the capital of northernmost Kachin state on Friday, her party said.

It was the "most serious" incident on this trip so far, National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman U Lwin said.

The leader is currently on a month-long political tour, the lengthiest of a number she has made across the country since being released from house arrest in May last year by the ruling military junta.

U Lwin said on Friday that Suu Kyi was met by a group of some 300 members of the junta's Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA) who were carrying catapults and small objects such as bicycle nuts as she attempted to cross a bridge to Myitkyina. --AFP