UK's Cook to talk human rights, business in Asia

UK's Cook to talk human rights, business in Asia

LONDON (Reuter): British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook starts a visit tomorrow to four Southeast Asian countries to deepen business and political ties while stressing the importance Britain attaches to human rights.

Cook's whistlestop tour -- his first to the region -- will take him to Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore.

Officials said Cook, determined to map out a more ethical foreign policy, would make it clear that Britain expected its partners to respect human rights and was ready to help where it could.

"This is the central question he'll be trying to develop during the visit to the four nations. There are problems in all of them of some sort or another," an official said.

Whatever his criticisms, Cook will also make clear that Britain wants to deepen its ties to an economically vibrant region and also expand its influence there.

"One objective is to show the priority the government wants to give this region," the official said.

He will need to tread carefully for fear of offending sensibilities in a quartet of nations which took 4.3 billion pounds ($6.9 billion) of British exports last year and where Britain is the single largest European investor.

"If he has a robust message to deliver, he'll do so constructively. On human rights, it is not just a case of saying 'Do better'," the official said.

"He will come up with practical ways of how Britain can help things go better," he said, but gave no concrete details.

Cook will in particular tell Indonesia that more has to be done to achieve peace in East Timor.

"The questions of human rights in Indonesia and East Timor are high on his agenda -- he certainly won't be shying away from them," the official said.

Upon taking office Cook vowed to ban arms sales to countries with poor human rights records, but campaigners accused him of backtracking when he refused to withdraw more than 21,000 existing export licenses to Indonesia.

These included one for the sale of 16 British Aerospace Hawk jets and another for armored vehicles.

Activists say both kinds of equipment have been used for internal repression.

Cook also plans to discuss the recent violence in Cambodia, how Southeast Asia can deal with the gradual emergence of China as a regional superpower as well as the situation in Myanmar, where the military government has clamped down on pro-democracy activists.