Malaysia urges Rice to attend ASEAN security forum in Laos
Malaysia urges Rice to attend ASEAN security forum in Laos
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia urged U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on
Tuesday to attend a Southeast Asian security meeting in Laos
later this month.
The United States has said Rice will skip the ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF) and the post-ministerial conference of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations annual meeting in
Vientiane.
"I'm sure if she attends for one or two days, it will not
divert her agenda on trying to find a resolution to the various
problems in the Middle East because these are long-term
problems," said Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.
"Just deciding not to attend, I don't think it sends a good
signal," he was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.
On Monday, Syed Hamid said Rice's decision to skip the meeting
was "regrettable" and indicated Washington was losing interest in
the region.
But he disagreed with speculation that the United States was
attempting to pressure ASEAN into making sure that military-ruled
Myanmar did not take up chairmanship of the group next year.
"They have given us the reason that they are very occupied
with the Middle East," he said. "It has sent a very uneasy
signal. This is the first time -- it is unusual."
Asked if Rice's decision not to attend could be viewed as a
U.S. snub to ASEAN, Syed Hamid said: "You cannot help such
perception to be considered because it has never happened
before".
Concerns over Myanmar, also known as Burma, have become a
sticking point, and Washington has warned that ASEAN's reputation
would be tarnished if Yangon took up the rotating leadership of
the 10-member grouping.
Speaking in Thailand, Rice urged Southeast Asian nations to
press the junta to reform and said there could be a "possible
case for reconciliation" if it freed opposition leader and Nobel
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
The meeting in the Lao capital from July 28 to July 29
includes dialogue between ASEAN and its key trading partners,
notably the United States, the European Union, China, Japan and
Russia, as well as the ARF, the only official security meeting in
the Asia-Pacific region.
Analysts have warned that Rice's non-attendance could hurt
U.S. credentials in the region and deepen doubts over Southeast
Asia's importance to U.S. foreign policy-makers.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick will represent
Washington at the talks.
It will be the first time in about two decades that a U.S.
secretary of state has not attended the annual ASEAN foreign
ministers' summit and the ARF.