Vietnam's admission brings ASEAN closer to goal

Vietnam's admission brings ASEAN closer to goal

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (AFP): ASEAN embraces Vietnam as its first communist member tomorrow, closing a long chapter of the Cold War and moving nearer to its goal of pan-Southeast Asian unity by the turn of the century.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is now stepping up efforts to integrate Burma, Cambodia and Laos as well into an organization originally established during the Vietnam War to keep communism at bay in Indochina.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, which are at the core of the world's fastest-growing economic region and serve as a lynchpin of stability in the Asia-Pacific.

ASEAN officials said Myanmar has just notified the group that it wants to accede to its 1976 Bali treaty of amity and cooperation, an initial step for membership. Cambodia's accession is to be formalized tomorrow, while Laos made the move years ago.

This week's ASEAN foreign minister's meeting here in Brunei's capital will also lay the groundwork for the group's December summit in Bangkok, where plans for a 10-member ASEAN by 2000 will get a further boost.

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam, speaking in Hanoi before departing for the ASEAN annual meeting, said the "period of confrontation" in the region was over.

"Now circumstances in the region have shifted, and many countries are trying through cooperation to develop themselves and to develop the entire region," he added.

ASEAN's role as the central venue for promoting regional stability will again come to the fore when its foreign ministers are joined by counterparts from Asia, North America and Europe for the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on Aug. 1.

French nuclear tests in the Pacific and the Spratly Islands dispute pitting China against four ASEAN members are expected to dominate discussions at the ARF.

During the ARF, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are expected to press their campaign to convince Paris to discard its "irrevocable" plan to conduct eight underground nuclear tests in the Pacific from September.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rodolfo Severino said the ASEAN foreign ministers' communique to be issued before the ARF will contain a blanket denunciation of nuclear testing without singling out France.

ASEAN sources said this was because naming France would leave out China, which also drew condemnation for a nuclear test in May and is worrying ASEAN members because of perceived territorial ambitions in the South China Sea.

On the sidelines of the ARF, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen are to discuss ways of arresting a sharp slide in bilateral relations.

U.S.-China relations are at their lowest level since the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing. Ties have been frayed in recent months by trade and human rights disputes and suspected Chinese exports of missile components to Pakistan and Iran.

Relations worsened after Washington allowed a U.S. visit by President Lee Teng-hui of China's rival Taiwan, and plunged further after Chinese authorities arrested Harry Wu, a Chinese- American activist investigating human rights abuses, on charges of espionage.