U.S. respects ASEAN's decision to admit Myanmar

U.S. respects ASEAN's decision to admit Myanmar

PETALING JAYA, Malaysia (JP): The United State said yesterday
that it respected ASEAN's decision to admit Myanmar but called on
the organization to persuade Yangon to open political dialog.

State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said Washington had
"strong views" about the admission of Myanmar but "the issue is
over" now that Myanmar is a full member of ASEAN.

Burns said Washington hoped ASEAN members would exert their
influence on the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC) to hold talks with the opposition National League of
Democracy, headed by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

"The SLORC government is responsible for what happened in
Burma (Myanmar), not ASEAN, but since it is a member of ASEAN, we
think that it's important that ASEAN leaders try to influence it
in a positive direction," he said.

"We are hoping that ASEAN will pay attention to the human
rights situation in Myanmar," he said, adding that the U.S. would
like to cooperate with ASEAN to make a positive difference for
the Myanmar people.

Burns is accompanying Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to
attend today's fourth ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). The ARF is a
loose consultative political-security forum for ASEAN and its
dialog partners.

Western states had been calling on ASEAN to delay Myanmar's
membership because of its human rights record. ASEAN insisted on
pursuing its "constructive engagement" with Myanmar.

The issue of Myanmar has taken a back seat in the current
series of ASEAN meetings because much of the attention has turned
to Cambodia's recent political turmoil.

Yesterday, Albright met with the recent ASEAN mission on
Cambodia, headed by Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali
Alatas.

Albright refused to comment on the 45-minute talks, merely
saying that "we had a very useful meeting".

The ASEAN mission, which included Thai foreign minister
Prachuab Chaiyasarn and Philippine foreign minister Domingo
Siazon, traveled to Beijing, Phnom Penh and Bangkok to meet
individually with King Norodom Sihanouk and the two premiers --
Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen.

Alatas said of the meeting with Albright that "what's
important is they support ASEAN's position and leading role in
the matter."

Endorsement

Alatas said that Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer
and Japanese foreign minister Yukihiko Ikeda also endorsed their
support for ASEAN's role during separate bilateral meetings,
respectively on Friday and yesterday.

Burns noted that ASEAN, like the U.S. and other parties, had
played a role in the 1991 Paris Peace Accords which restored
peace in Cambodia and, therefore, had a responsibility to help
bring back stability to Cambodia.

"ASEAN is perfectly positioned to be the leader ... in the
mediation effort and the U.S. firmly supports ASEAN," he said.
"We just hope Hun Sen is open to effective mediation by ASEAN."

He added that like ASEAN, Washington wanted to see Ranariddh's
FUNCINPEC faction return to the country.

Burns maintained that Hun Sen must hold fair and coercion-free
elections at the National Assembly, due to open tomorrow, if they
wanted foreign minister Ung Huot to be the first prime minister
to replace Ranariddh, and to maintain the coalition government of
FUNCINPEC and Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party.

Commenting on the U.S.'s 30-day sanction of Cambodia, Alatas
said the matter was touched on briefly with Albright.

"But basically, ASEAN's stance is clear. We thing it is always
very risky to use aid as a kind of weapon," he said.

The foreign ministers had a relaxed day yesterday before the
start of today's ARF, with many using the opportunity to go to
the golf course and hold bilateral meetings.

During the evening, the Malaysian foreign minister Abdullah
Badawi, hosted an informal working dinner at the Sunway Lagoon
Resort Hotel, the venue for today's meeting, which is located
some 30km outside Kuala Lumpur.