S'pore comments on ASEAN rejection

S'pore comments on ASEAN rejection

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore Premier Goh Chok Tong considers it
natural for East Timor to prefer joining a South Pacific grouping
instead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Goh was commenting on statements by some East Timorese leaders
that they did not want the territory -- which voted in August for
independence from Indonesia -- to join ASEAN.

Speaking on local television, Goh said the East Timorese
leaders' decision should not be linked with any perception about
an erosion of confidence in the ASEAN grouping.

It is natural that the East Timorese identify themselves more
with the South Pacific nations with whom they share common
geographic and ethnic ties, he said on Channel News Asia.
Goh said he did not regard East Timor as an ASEAN problem.