Rice urges ASEAN to push Myanmar for democratic reform
Rice urges ASEAN to push Myanmar for democratic reform
P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse/Phuket, Thailand
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Southeast Asian nations on Monday to press Myanmar's military rulers to reform, as she toured the reconstruction in tsunami-hit southern Thailand.
After meeting with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on the resort island of Phuket, Rice said Myanmar's release of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest could "be a possible case for reconciliation".
"We talked about the need for the Burmese government to make progress," she told a press conference, referring to Myanmar by its former name, Burma.
"We hope there will be progress. We are encouraging all our partners who have contacts with Burma to press the case for human rights, for openness," she said.
"I asked our Thai friends, who have dialogue with Burma, to press the case for those who are being held, including Aung San Suu Kyi," Rice added.
Yangon said it released some 400 prisoners last Wednesday. The opposition National League for Democracy said most of those freed were prisoners of conscience, but party leader Suu Kyi remains confined to her home.
Rice's Thai counterpart Kantathi Suphamongkhon, who attended the meeting, said Bangkok also wanted to see reforms take hold in neighboring Myanmar.
"We do want to see democracy and the national reconciliation process completed in Burma as soon as possible," he said.
Concerns about Myanmar have become a sticking point in U.S. relations with the region, as the junta in Yangon is set to take the helm of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year.
Rice said she would not attend the group's annual meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in the Lao capital of Vientiane later this month, saying she had a scheduling conflict.
"I am very sorry I am not able to go to the ASEAN meeting this year and to the ARF. This is a vital organization and I have external travel at that time," she said.
Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick will represent the United States at the meeting, she said.
A State Department official traveling with Rice said the secretary was expected to be traveling to Africa during the ASEAN meeting, although plans have yet to be finalized.
The meeting, starting from July 28 to July 29, includes a post-ministerial 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.
Rice's decision not to attend the meeting has drawn expressions of concern within Southeast Asia, with Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar calling the move "regrettable".
"I hope it is not an indication that the US is giving less importance or showing less interest in ASEAN, while focusing on the Middle East," he said.
The United States, citing Yangon's dismal human rights record, including its refusal to free Aung San Suu Kyi, has warned that if Myanmar chaired ASEAN, the grouping's image would be smeared.
The chairmanship is determined by alphabetical rotation among member states, which also include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Officials and parliamentarians from some ASEAN member states also fear that Myanmar's chairmanship will damage the group's image and international links, although Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are backing Yangon.
After meeting with Thaksin, Rice left on a helicopter tour of areas still recovering from the Dec. 26 tsunami that killed some 5,400 people, roughly half of them believed to be foreign holidaymakers. More than 2,800 others are still listed as missing.
From Phuket, Rice flew to neighboring Phang Nga province, which suffered the vast majority of the deaths and the destruction. She then left Thailand for Japan, the third stop on her Asian tour, having already visited China. Her final stop is South Korea.