U.S. wants ASEAN to push Myanmar - Suu Kyi talks

U.S. wants ASEAN to push Myanmar - Suu Kyi talks

JAKARTA (JP): The United States is hoping that ASEAN can
persuade the Myanmarese government to hold talks with Aung San
Suu Kyi, the country's freely elected leader who has been under
house arrest by the Yangon regime for five years.

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific
Affairs Winston Lord said in a satellite news conference called
"Worldnet Dialog" yesterday that although Washington respects the
approach taken by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN ) to Myanmar, it has a different stance on the issue.

"A very good outcome will be if the Burmese (Myanmarese)
government would talk to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize
winner and freely elected leader of Burma (Myanmar) who, as of
tomorrow, will be five years in jail," Lord said during the
dialog, which was observed by panelists in Jakarta, Bangkok,
Manila and Canberra.

Foreign ministers of the six ASEAN member countries --
Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and
Thailand -- will start their annual meeting this week in the
Thai capital. Next week they will meet with their dialog partners
from the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia,
New Zealand, and the European Union.

Myanmar will be attending the ASEAN ministerial meeting as a
guest but will not take part in the talks between the regional
grouping and its dialog partners.

Other topics discussed during yesterday's "Worldnet Dialog"
included the role of ASEAN in the overall strategy of the Clinton
administration, human rights and the forthcoming meeting of the
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Indonesia in
November.

APEC, an economic cooperation forum , groups Canada, China,
Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, South
Korea, Taiwan, the United States and ASEAN.

Lord said that ASEAN is very important to the United States
because the member countries of the regional grouping comprise
some of the most dynamic economies in the world. ASEAN
collectively constitutes the fourth largest export destination
for the U.S. and is viewed as important in relation to President
Clinton's priority of rebuilding America's economy.

"Therefore, when one talks about exports, jobs and
investments, obviously ASEAN is very important," Lord added.

Touching on APEC, he said that the U.S. is anxious to develop
the cooperation as the cornerstone of freer regional economic
trade and investment, while respecting the views of other
countries.

"APEC is a consensus organization and we don't think it should
be a trading bloc," he said.

He also pointed out that there are countries in the group
which want to move the cooperation forward very rapidly, while
others want to advance cautiously.

APEC

He praised Indonesia, which currently chairs APEC, for its
realistic objectives. "We think Indonesia's showing a good
balance of a forward-looking vision but also making sure that
there is a full support for the pace that is applied," he stated.

"We think it will have some concrete accomplishments as well
as some bold visions of freer trade in the future. And Indonesia
is showing very constructive leadership in this."

When asked about the U.S. stance on human rights, Lord replied
that Washington remains consistent with its policies on the
issue.

"We will continue our policies on human rights, but we
recognize that there are many other interests -- economic,
security and environmental -- and we have to take different
approaches to various countries, depending on the nature of the
problems and the other interests that are included," he said.

For panelists in Jakarta, yesterday's dialog was held in the
United States Information Services auditorium at the American
embassy.

Watching the satellite-conveyed program were U.S. Ambassador
Robert L. Barry, embassy officials and a number of Indonesian
journalists. (ego)

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