Senior officials endorse India and Myanmar for ARF
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Senior officials of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) yesterday gave the green light for India and Myanmar to join the 19-member multilateral security consultative forum.
"The Senior Officials Meeting has endorsed the proposal to admit India and Myanmar, subject to the approval of the ministers," the meeting's chairman, Indonesia's Izhar Ibrahim, said.
However all other applications are to be frozen until ARF ministers approve the criteria for new membership at their Jakarta meeting in July, he said.
Izhar was speaking at the end of the ARF meeting which was originally scheduled for two days. But due to the smooth conduct of yesterday's proceedings, delegates were able to wrap up their whole agenda in one day.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, formed the ARF in 1993. The forum also includes Australia, Cambodia, Canada, China, the European Union, Japan, Laos, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Korea and the United States.
Izhar, who is director general for political affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the final decision for new members will remain with the ministers when they gather in July.
Though yesterday's decision to endorse Myanmar's membership was unanimous, several countries have expressed concern about Yangon's human rights and domestic political records
The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, Winston Lord, when asked, admitted that relations between Washington and Yangon were "troubled".
"We have not hidden our concern about developments there, whether its human rights or the failure to carry out the mandate of a free election," he said.
Nevertheless, he acknowledged that given its geography and relationship to other countries in the region, Myanmar's membership in the ARF is of great interest to the security of the Asia Pacific region.
"We don't always agree on tactics with our friends out here, we have the same goals however and we worked very harmoniously together in discussing this issue," Lord remarked.
While the U.S. has taken up a more isolationist approach to Myanmar, ASEAN states have responded to Myanmar in a milder way, known as "constructive diplomacy".
Izhar defended India's acceptance due to its new position as a full dialog partner of ASEAN, while Myanmar is a prospective member of the association.
On the criteria for new ARF membership, Izhar said there were three main elements proposed.
Firstly a new member must be relevant to the security of the area. Secondly, it must adhere to the agreements previously taken by the ARF. Thirdly admission must be approved by a consensus of all ARF members.
Among those who have officially applied for membership are Britain, France, Mongolia, North Korea, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
The head of the European Union's delegation to the meeting, Francesco Scarlata, said yesterday the question of Britain and France's membership would be resolved internally among the Europeans themselves.
"We will discuss amongst the European states the participation of France and the U.K.," he said.
Two seats are allotted to Europe, with the European Union getting one and the European Commissioner the other.
Several ASEAN delegates privately said there was no real objection towards Britain and France. However there was concern that by already having two seats on the ARF, the additional two for Europe would proportionately sway the balance in their favor.
The senior officials also agreed to establish a new project on disaster relief which will be co-chaired by Thailand and New Zealand.