Myanmar, an eternal outcast of Asia-Europe ties
By Philippe Agret
BANGKOK (AFP): Even though Myanmar is absent from this week's ASEM summit in Seoul, the pariah state still remains a regional embarrassment in relations between Asia and Europe.
Myanmar joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in July 1997, but is not a member of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and has not put itself forward as a candidate for the third summit that opens on Thursday in Seoul.
Ostracized by the West due to violations of human rights, Myanmar relies on the solidarity of its Asian neighbors to break its diplomatic isolation.
"Myanmar will never become an obstacle or hindrance to ASEAN ... The future of Myanmar and ASEAN cannot be separated... An ASEAN without Myanmar will not be ASEAN in its true sense," the first secretary of the ruling junta, Gen. Khin Nyunt, recently said in Yangon.
"Membership to ASEM is not an issue and Myanmar is not rushing into it," a junta spokesman told AFP on Tuesday.
Two years ago the Asian economic crisis completely eclipsed the political problems of the second ASEM summit, held in London.
ASEM groups 15 European Union members, seven of ASEAN's ten members -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam -- as well as China, Japan and South Korea.
The most recent members of ASEAN, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia are not expected to join ASEM for at least a couple of years.
States participate individually in ASEM and not as part of a regional bloc, as they do in ASEAN-EU relations.
Consequently the impact Myanmar may have in Seoul will probably be on an "informal" level, one Bangkok analyst forecast.
The Europeans could take advantage of ASEM to address the Myanmar stalemate during bilateral discussions with some of their Asian counterparts.
Beyond ASEM, EU-ASEAN relations are tainted by the human rights situation in Myanmar and "political dialogue" between the two regional blocks has stalled since 1997.
The two groups have agreed to meet for the first time in more than three years at ministerial level in Laos from 11-12 December, but the ongoing crackdown on the opposition in Myanmar could still derail the meeting.
The EU strongly condemned the military junta's decision to place senior National League for Democracy (NLD) members under de facto house arrest.
The restrictions on NLD senior members were imposed on Sept. 22 after Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi attempted to travel by train to the northern town of Mandalay in defiance of the junta's ban on traveling outside Yangon.
"All restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi's freedom to move about, to communicate abroad and to receive visitors should be lifted immediately," the EU said last month.
EU members also reiterated their call for a dialog between Myanmar authorities and the democratic opposition, including the NLD.
"Only this dialog will allow Myanmar to step onto the road to democracy and national reconciliation," the EU stressed.
In October 1996, the EU adopted economic sanctions as a protest against Myanmar's reported human rights abuses.
The EU has also barred its member nations from giving visas to high-level officials of the Yangon military regime.
The EU has frequently criticized Myanmar for alleged human rights abuses including the use of forced labor, repression of ethnic minorities and iron control over media outlets.
On the other hand, the EU has not ruled out dialog with Myanmar, and has shown willingness to keep the channel open to humanitarian aide to the people there.
ASEAN however has said it hopes "that the EU will not allow the developments in Myanmar to keep ASEAN-EU ties hostage."
ASEAN also remains hopeful its policy of engaging Myanmar, instead of isolating it, will bear the desired democratic reforms.
The EU, and even more so ASEAN, are openly concerned at the lack of ministerial contact hindering economic and political relations in recent years.