US threatens to boycott ASEAN meetings in 2006

US threatens to boycott ASEAN meetings in 2006

Agencies,
Washington/Vientiane

The United States has warned it might boycott ASEAN meetings when
Myanmar takes over the chairmanship of the Southeast Asian
grouping in 2006, unless the military-ruled state improves its
human rights record.

"The U.S. has made clear that the situation in Burma has
complicated our dealings with ASEAN," State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said on Tuesday in a written statement using
Myanmar's previous name.

He was responding to questions at a media briefing on U.S.
policy when Myanmar takes over the helm of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2006-2007.

The ASEAN chairman traditionally hosts a series of official
and minister level meetings with the 10-member grouping's key
trading partners, including the United States and the European
Union.

The United States has condemned the Myanmar military junta's
human rights abuses, particularly the continued detention of
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, and has imposed trade and
investment sanctions against the impoverished nation.

The ASEAN chairmanship is rotated annually among members
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

"The Secretary of State will have to decide whether it is
appropriate to participate at senior levels in meetings in Burma,
based on the situation that exists at the time in 2006-2007,
while that country holds ASEAN's chairmanship," Boucher said.

The U.S. stand was announced just as ASEAN leaders ended
annual talks in the Laotian capital Vientiane on Tuesday, with
Myanmar's immediate neighbor Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra urging Yangon to reform before it takes over the ASEAN
leadership.

Boucher said that ASEAN should do more to push Myanmar to
embrace democratic reforms.

"We think that more attention to the progress of democracy in
Burma is appropriate from the nations of the region, and we have
certainly been in touch with them in connection with the summit,"
he told the briefing.

Myanmar has been a lingering embarrassment for ASEAN ever
since it joined the grouping in 1997. Just as the ASEAN leaders
met this week, news emerged that Suu Kyi's house arrest has been
extended for another year.

The move has been condemned by United Nations chief Kofi Annan
and many governments, including in the United States, Britain and
Germany.

Annan made his appeal on Tuesday as Myanmar's Asian neighbors
issued similar calls at the ASEAN summit.

"The secretary-general reiterates his belief, which is shared
by ASEAN and the countries of the region, that Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi's continued detention is not in the interest of the process
of national reconciliation and democratization in Myanmar," chief
UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters.

"The secretary-general urges the Myanmar authorities to seize
the momentum created by the recent announcements to release some
9,000 prisoners by releasing her, as well as all those detained
for expressing their political beliefs, as soon as possible,"
Eckhard said.

Suu Kyi has been detained since May 2003 following a violent
clash between her supporters and a pro-junta mob. It was the
Nobel peace laureate's third period of house arrest since taking
up the democracy struggle in 1988.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) won 1990 elections but
was never allowed to rule. The party's offices have also been
shut down.

Meanwhile, sources told AP on Wednesday that Southeast Asian
countries came close to issuing a critical statement on the
Myanmar military government's treatment of detained pro-democracy
leader Suu Kyi at their summit, but the plan was shot down by
Thailand.

ASEAN's Senior officials, which includes Myanmar, drafted a
statement expressing concern over the decision by the country's
junta to extend Nobel laureate Suu Kyi's house arrest, said two
diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity.

They said the statement, which was to have been issued on
Tuesday at the end of the annual summit of ASEAN leaders in the
Laotian capital, also would have urged Myanmar's military regime
to stick to its pledges to move toward democracy.

The planned statement, although stillborn, is a reflection of
the deep frustration among Southeast Asian countries with
Myanmar's junta, which has failed to fulfill any of its pledges
to restore democracy in the country or to free Suu Kyi, who has
been detained since last May.

The Myanmar statement was drafted by senior diplomats of
ASEAN's 10 member countries for approval of their leaders on
Tuesday. However, it was abandoned after Thai officials
"expressed reservations," the diplomats said. As expected,
Myanmar also opposed it.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow said on
Wednesday in Bangkok that no such statement was proposed to the
ASEAN leaders.

Senior diplomats of Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore
who initiated the move then made an alternative proposal -- each
government would issue a separate statement criticizing Myanmar,
but that plan was also not carried, the diplomats said.

At least one government -- the Philippines -- went as far as
preparing a draft statement, a copy of which was seen by the AP.
It used strong language in expressing concern about Suu Kyi's
continued detention and the eroding credibility of ASEAN.

In keeping with ASEAN's noninterference policy, Myanmar's
politics were not discussed in formal sessions during the summit
in Laos, but have been raised in informal talks.