Kosovo bombing may affect region

By Oei Eng Goan and Meidyatama Suyodiningrat

SINGAPORE (JP): The unilateral military action against Yugoslavia caused apprehension among non-Western members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF), who feared the erosion of basic international principles could resonate in the region.

The issue of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) bombing of Yugoslavia led to numerous exchanges between the 22 foreign ministers attending the annual one-day meeting here.

The debate was so heated that, according to one ASEAN delegate, it caused "a last minute hitch... because one country from outside the region felt the paragraph on Kosovo (in the ARF Chairman's Statement) was detrimental to them".

ASEAN -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- established ARF as a loose consultative forum on political and security issues.

Other ARF members include the United States, Canada, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union, Russia, India, South Korea, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea.

Paragraph nine of the 22-point Chairman's Statement did not express regret for NATO's bombing of Kosovo, but rather stated ARF's "concern with its wider implications".

The debate over the issue began with what was described by one delegate as a "philosophical dialog" between the ministers during their informal dinner on Sunday and again during Monday's meeting.

"We saw a development where it seems basic principles of the UN Charter -- national sovereignty, noninterference in internal affairs of others and state integrity -- were eroded," Indonesia's director general for political affairs at the foreign ministry, Nugroho Wisnumurti, told The Jakarta Post.

Notwithstanding the human rights violations committed by the Yugoslav government, he asserted the ensuing military reaction "was not in line with the UN Charter".

"The question is: Will this become a precedent," Nugroho said, adding that "the UN Security Council in this case was apparently marginalized and Indonesia feels the international community should take notice".

An ASEAN delegate who asked not to be named was more direct, saying the concern is that if unchallenged, such military action, under different guises, might be taken against countries in the region who often have contradictory policies with the West.

According to the delegate, the response given by those who defended the action in Kosovo was that "these principles (of national sovereignty and noninterference) were no longer absolute, allowing such intervention for humanitarian purposes".

Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov in his address at the forum bluntly stated that NATO's actions raised worries about states' security, including in Northeast Asia.

"We witnessed the recurrence of thinking based on the use of force; an attempt to rely on the law of force in circumvention of the fundamental norms of international law," Ivanov said.

Nugroho said Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas' intervention helped resolve the impasse on how the issue would be addressed in the ARF Chairman's Statement.

He said additions to the statement were made to specify that the action in Kosovo was taken to stop war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"So it is clear in the context of the Kosovo issue that it was not merely an issue of the bombing of Yugoslavia, but an issue of human rights violations," Nugroho said.

The final statement reaffirmed support for the UN Charter and international law and welcomed the peace settlement which allowed the people of Kosovo to enjoy basic human rights.

The statement also expressed deep regret over the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.

Candor

While the sixth ARF meeting touched on a wide range of issues, one central issue was the overlapping claims in the South China Sea.

Alatas led off the discussion on the issue by elaborating on the workshop on managing conflict in the South China Sea. He suggested the workshop be raised from its current form to a governmental level.

There was a general consensus for "a commitment to self- restraint", but there was no agreement to freeze the erection of structures on islands in disputed waters.

On the future direction of the forum, there were still divergent views on how fast ARF should enter preventive diplomacy from its current policy of confidence building measures.

Singapore foreign minister S. Jayakumar, who chaired the meeting, said that while there were divergent views, there was no acrimony and countries discussed issues in a gentle and decent manner.

He noted with pleasure that at the first ARF meeting there were issues which could not be discussed with the same candor as they now enjoy.