'U.S. should not impose its domestic policies on others'

'U.S. should not impose its domestic policies on others'

JAKARTA (JP): Southeast Asian countries have expressed concern
with what they see as the tendency of the United States to impose
its domestic economic policies on other countries, when the
policies may not even be consistent with World Trade Organization
(WTO) rules.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas conveyed the concerns
of members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
during a one-on-one session of talks with U.S. Secretary of State
Warren Christopher.

The discussion was part of a two-day ASEAN Post Ministerial
Conference which consisted of talks between officials from the
seven-member ASEAN and their 10 dialog partners.

Alatas was accompanied by senior officials from the other six
ASEAN member countries.

ASEAN is not the only one to have such concerns, said Alatas,
adding that similar statements have been conveyed by other
countries.

He cited the case of Cuba, upon which the U.S. has imposed
"very strict" laws.

"The U.S. restricts its trade with Cuba, then it says it will
impose penalties against everyone else doing business with Cuba.
This is an example of the extra-territorial implementation of a
domestic law," Alatas said.

"And this is inconsistent with WTO rules," he added.

Asked how the U.S. government responded, Alatas said: "They
know of these concerns, but they're not responding much."

Meanwhile, Christopher during the meeting brought up the issue
of illicit payments.

Christopher, who was accompanied by Under Secretary of State
Joan Spero and Assistant Secretary Winston Lord, urged that
"international action" be focused on the "persistent problem" of
illegal payments.

"Bribery and corruption undermine productive development,
discourage foreign investment, erode the rule of law, and prevent
fair competition on a level playing field," Christopher said.

"For all these reasons, I have called attention to this
problem in this and every region of the world, and led an effort
on behalf of the United States to establish common practices
among OECD nations," he said, referring to the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development.

He said ASEAN countries have the responsibility to promote
"transparent competition".

Resolving these issues, he said, would help improve the
region's business environment and benefit both the ASEAN nations
and their trading partners.

In response, Alatas told reporters that the issue was one of
the "new items" that the United States and other Western
countries have insisted on including on the agenda of the WTO's
inaugural ministerial conference in Singapore later this year.

"ASEAN considers that encompassing these issues will only
complicate the agenda of the WTO's first meeting, which is
already complex enough and very wide... They want these issues to
be more transparent. Our answer is that we don't want to discuss
issues like that," he said.

Earlier this week, ASEAN ministers said they would oppose any
link between trade and non-trade issues at the WTO ministerial
conference.

The ministers said that ASEAN was speaking on behalf of
developing countries, which are against the idea of including a
"social clause" in the Singapore meeting.

"Non-trade issues" generally refer to the environment, labor
rights, corruption and human rights.

Two-way trade between the U.S. and ASEAN reached US$101
billion in 1995, increasing nearly 50 percent in the last two
years.

The value of U.S. investment in ASEAN countries more than
doubled in a period of four years, from $11.79 billion in 1990 to
$24.5 billion in 1994. (pwn)