USA will raise rights issues at WTO

Thu, 25 Jul 1996, 00:00 WIB | Source: JP

JAKARTA (JP): The U.S. said yesterday it would raise issues
such as human rights and labor at the World Trade Organization
(WTO) ministerial conference in Singapore this December.

This could set the stage for confrontation with ASEAN and
developing countries, which have flatly rejected the inclusion of
non-trade issues at the conference.

U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher said a dialogue on
the relationship between trade and labor would be one of
Washington's priorities at the meeting.

"Our approach recognizes that different countries have
different comparative advantages, including different wage
rates," Christopher said during the start of the two-day ASEAN
Post Ministerial Conferences.

Yesterday's meeting brought together ASEAN members -- Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam -- and their 10 dialog partners -- Australia, Canada,
China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia, the United
States and the European Union.

Earlier this week, President Soeharto asked fellow members of
ASEAN to resist the West's pressure to link environmental and
human rights issues with international trade talks.

Christopher stressed that "workers everywhere should have the
benefit of internationally recognized basic workers rights that
we have all endorsed, such as freedom of association and an end
to child labor exploitation and forced labor".

He said ensuring such protection was essential to maintaining
a consensus for further trade liberalization in the United States
and elsewhere in the world.

Supporting Christopher's view, Manuel Marin, vice president of
the European Commission, said the European Union would continue
to press for the "respect of fundamental social rights,
particularly concerning the banning of forced labor".

Marin, however, said it was "in no way intended to put into
question the comparative advantage developing countries enjoy
because of their lower labor costs".

The Singapore conference will be attended by more than 120
countries to take stock of the progress towards global free trade
under a timetable set by the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade
talks and also examine future challenges.

ASEAN foreign ministers, who ended their annual meeting here
last Sunday, resolved to oppose "any attempt to include issues
which were not trade-related" in the Singapore meeting's agenda.

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said
yesterday that the first WTO ministerial conference "should not
be trammeled by the introduction of issues extraneous to trade".

He warned that such issues would "not only complicate an
already complex WTO agenda, it would also denigrate the
developing countries and eventually debilitate the organization
itself".

Developed countries contended that competition from products
made with cheap labor in Asia is leading to job losses in their
markets. Developing nations, on the other hand, argue that
efforts to link labor with trade issues will blunt their
competitive edge.

Japan, however, is an exception. Minister of Foreign Affairs
Yukihiko Ikeda, who represented Japan at the dialogue with ASEAN
yesterday, did not mention anything related to labor issues in
his statements.

"I think our position is in between. We are not so much
interested in discussing labor standards or human rights (at the
WTO meeting). But we are very much interested in having subjects
related to investment," Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Taizo
Watanabe told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

ASEAN has opposed a multilateral investment treaty being
pushed by the developed countries. It contended that the
agreement would lay down guarantees for the protection of foreign
investments in recipient nations, but neglect the interests of
the latter.

Speaking of security concerns, Indonesia's Alatas yesterday
noted that while there has been relative security in the Asia-
Pacific, "the world as yet is not really a peaceful place".

He pointed to the continuing international adjustments being
made in this new global climate, but noted that issues such as
disarmament had yet to be resolved.

"ASEAN is concerned that the disarmament agenda is not
advancing as expeditiously as it should," Alatas said.

He cited ASEAN's efforts to conclude a nuclear Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty and the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone
Treaty signed in Bangkok in December.

Washington has continued to refuse to accede to the treaty's
protocol, citing concern over several elements of the treaty.

Despite this, Warren Christopher asserted that the U.S. was
committed to non-proliferation and welcomed ASEAN's strong
support for a global non-proliferation regime.

"We remain committed to examining ways to resolve our
differences over the proposed Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free
Zone," Christopher said. He then reaffirmed that "the United
States is and will remain a Pacific Power".

While the United States remains ambivalent in its clear
support, Russian Foreign Minister Y. Primakov said his country
"fully supports" ASEAN's nuclear free zone.

"We intend to continue cooperation in refining the text
protocol of the treaty," he said

South Korean Foreign Minister Gong Ro-myung noted the
importance of consultations such as the one currently being held
given that in the region, "there still remains elements of
instability and potential conflict".

He pointed to tensions in the Korean peninsula, territorial
disputes in the South China Sea as well as the overall military
buildup in the region.

After yesterday's plenary session, the ASEAN members,
represented by the foreign ministers, held concurrent meetings
with individual dialog partners. (rid/pwn/mds)