Mahathir warns ASEAN may boycott Asia-Europe meet

Mahathir warns ASEAN may boycott Asia-Europe meet

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): ASEAN may boycott a Asia-Europe summit in London next year if the European Union bars Myanmar from attending, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warned in reports published yesterday.

"If there is discrimination against Myanmar, it is a discrimination against ASEAN. You may find other countries in ASEAN also deciding not to attend," Mahathir was quoted by the New Straits Times daily as saying.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook ruled out Myanmar's participation in the meeting Monday because of European Union (EU) sanctions against the ruling military junta.

The sanctions deny visas to officials from Burma, renamed Myanmar by the junta which seized power in 1988 and is widely accused of human rights abuses and links with international drug trafficking.

The Malaysian premier, known for his hard-hitting comments against the west for their intervention in Asian affairs, did not elaborate on his statement.

Although Myanmar was admitted into ASEAN last July, this does not mean automatic entry into the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) which held an inaugural 25-nation summit in Bangkok in 1996.

The second ASEM meeting will take place in London next April, grouping 10 East Asian countries comprising seven ASEAN economies plus China, Japan and South Korea, and the 15 EU members.

Along with Myanmar, ASEAN also groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

There have been no reactions from other ASEAN members so far on Mahathir's warning.

But Cook had stressed, in concluding his Southeast Asia swing Monday, that Myanmar's participation in ASEAN would not be a source of friction between EU and ASEAN, as membership is resolved by consensus.

During his visit to Kuala Lumpur last week, the British foreign secretary singled out Myanmar and its ruling junta for its "apparent willingness to abet and profit from the drugs trade".

Cook warned that his government would refocus the resources of its intelligence and law enforcement agencies and make the issue a top priority for its secret service agents.

Myanmar retaliated on Monday by slamming Britain as "the world's number one culprit" for narcotics, saying the problem was a "direct result of Britain's colonial strategy 150 years ago".

A senior Yangon official said Britain was seeking to victimize Myanmar as it did in colonial times.

Myanmar was a British colony from the mid-nineteenth century until independence in 1948. The opium trade provided major revenues for Britain from many of its territories in Asia.

Myanmar, which accounts for two thirds of the world's opium production, argues that it has stepped up efforts to limit cultivation of the opium poppy by hill-tribe people and trafficking of drugs.

In a further development, Myanmar's military government lashed out at Britain yesterday for accusing Yangon of profiting from the drugs trade, and said it was awaiting a regional response before commenting on a decision not to allow Myanmar to attend an Asia-Europe summit next year.

"The British Foreign Secretary's statement criticizing Myanmar on the involvement in narcotics drugs is regarded here as the century's greatest hypocritical statement," a government official said.

"Britain should actually be taking the lead in assisting the victim countries clean up the mess she originally and internationally created instead of pointing fingers at Myanmar to cover up her own faults," he said.