Cambodia's ASEAN entry confirmed
Cambodia's ASEAN entry confirmed
SINGAPORE (AFP): ASEAN's chairman Singapore confirmed last Saturday that a special ceremony to admit Cambodia into the grouping will be held in Hanoi on April 30, finally unifying all 10 countries in the region.
A spokesman for Singapore Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar, chairman of the standing committee of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said the minister had formally invited Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong to attend the ceremony.
"The foreign minister of Cambodia has confirmed his attendance at the ceremony," the spokesman said.
In Phnom Penh, a close aide to Prime Minister Hun Sen -- who had lobbied hard for Cambodia's admission when he attended an ASEAN summit in the Vietnamese capital last December -- welcomed the Singapore announcement.
"This is a great step for ASEAN because it fulfills the ambition of the founders to extend cooperation in the region and highlights the new confidence the region has in Cambodia," the aide said.
The announcement followed consultations by Vietnam with other ASEAN members following the group's December summit, during which the Vietnamese tried in earnest to convince the other members to admit Cambodia immediately.
The April 30 ceremony will finally bring all 10 Southeast Asian countries into the grouping, ending political divisions dating back to the Cold War.
ASEAN was founded in 1967. Its present members are Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Cambodia was supposed to have been admitted in July 1997 but political infighting in Phnom Penh, which saw Hun Sen oust his then co-premier Prince Norodom Ranariddh, forced a postponement.
The election of a new government led by Hun Sen last year paved the way for admission.
Some members including Singapore, however, insisted on the formation of a senate for the new Cambodian parliament before lifting all their objections to the country's full entry.
ASEAN's next foreign ministers' meeting, including a security forum to be attended by the world's leading military powers, will be held in Singapore in July.
A Singapore-based diplomat from a key ASEAN member country told AFP that the admission of Cambodia was a victory for the "authoritarian" wing in ASEAN, whose members range from freewheeling democracies like the Philippines and Thailand to army-ruled Myanmar and communist Vietnam.
"Definitely it strengthens the hand of the authoritarian wing in ASEAN. The Philippines and Thailand will have to argue harder to be heard," he said.
"But that also depends on how Indonesia turns out. If the next government turns out to be more liberal, then it's going to even out the equation because they're the biggest. But if Indonesia turns farther to the right, then it's different," he added.
In June Indonesia will hold its first national elections since last year's fall of veteran strongman Soeharto.