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.