Sharp divisions remain ahead of ASEAN-EU talks

Sharp divisions remain ahead of ASEAN-EU talks

VIENTIANE (AFP): The European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations remained at odds on a series of key issues on Sunday as the two sides prepared to resume ministerial talks after a three-year hiatus.

Senior officials held an unscheduled second day of negotiations to thrash out a draft joint declaration ahead of Monday's opening meeting after they failed to reach agreement on the thorny questions of Myanmar, human rights and southeast Asian instability on Saturday.

Delegates said the talks on the draft document were set to continue into the evening and would go on into the night if necessary.

Both sides put a brave face on the outstanding differences, insisting there was a determination to make the necessary compromises to ensure a successful relaunch of talks suspended by the EU since Myanmar's admission to ASEAN in 1997.

"We have not met for three years and on both sides we want to make it a positive relaunch," said the European Commission's acting director for Asian affairs Jonathan Scheele.

The EU official hailed the progress he said had already been made on the most contentious issue between the two sides -- Myanmar.

Agreement had already been reached on the need for national reconciliation between the military junta and the outlawed opposition, as well as support for the mediation mission of the UN rapporteur, Scheele said.

Yangon had also agreed to the principle of a new visit by the EU troika in January, although discussions were still continuing on the conditions.

Right up to the eve of the talks, some ASEAN member states had insisted they would brook no discussion of the Myanmar issue at all.

Myanmar's political situation was "its internal affair and will not figure on the agenda of the Vientiane meeting," the current holders of ASEAN's rotating presidency, Vietnam, insisted Friday.

Scheele said differences also remained on how much detail to go into on the mounting instability in Indonesia, and whether to make specific reference to troubled regions like Aceh or Irian Jaya.

There was also disagreement over Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) membership for ASEAN's three newest members, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, and the role of civil society in development cooperation.

ASEAN officials said wider differences remained on the general issue of human rights.

For the European side, the meeting was being held as a key summit in the French city of Nice tried to settle bitter disputes over reforms and the admittance of new members.

It was not even clear that the four European foreign ministers scheduled to join their ASEAN counterparts here would make it in time for Monday's opening as the summit in the French resort continued into an unscheduled fourth day Sunday.

On the ASEAN side, the battle to present a common front in its relations with the EU took on special significance amid open questioning of the bloc's relevance.

ASEAN was in danger of becoming a "sunset organization" as outsiders continued to view it as "weakened and drifting," Singapore's deputy premier Lee Hsien Loong warned late last month.

In another development, reports from Bangkok said that the exiled royal family of Laos has urged European nations to help bring democracy to the communist-run country which is hosting the landmark meeting of EU-ASEAN ministers this week.

The royal family, which has lived in exile in France since the communists seized power in 1975, is represented by Prince Regent Sauryavong Savang and the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Soulivong Savang.