U.S. to keep Myanmar out of ASEAN

U.S. to keep Myanmar out of ASEAN

WASHINGTON (Reuter): The United States came out on Friday in open opposition to Myanmar joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and said it was lobbying the group to drop a proposal to admit Rangoon this year.

"We don't believe that ASEAN should take this step," State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said. His comments appeared to step up long-standing Western unhappiness about the plan to admit Myanmar, where Washington banned new U.S. investments on Tuesday in fresh sanctions over the human rights record of the military rulers in Rangoon.

The U.S. charge d'affaires in Myanmar, Kent Wiedemann, had said in an interview on Thursday that while Washington would find it "awkward" to deal with an ASEAN that included Myanmar its admission was "something ASEAN has to decide for itself."

"The United States has very strong concerns about the proposal by ASEAN to bring in Myanmar," Burns said. "We have no objection as to Laos and Cambodia. We have an objection to Myanmar.

But U.S. attempts to rally Asian countries against Myanmar have had little success. ASEAN opposes interference in the domestic politics of neighboring states and members say "constructive engagement" will work better than sanctions.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia, the current chairman of ASEAN, said on Wednesday the latest U.S. sanctions would not delay Myanmar's entry into the grouping. ASEAN plans to decide by July whether to admit Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. The issue is expected to be discussed at an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting on May 31 in Kuala Lumpur.