Yangon objects to East Timor bid

Yangon objects to East Timor bid

MYANMAR: Yangon has objected to a proposal to grant East Timor observer status to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Philippine officials said on Thursday.

Foreign ministers of the 10-member regional grouping discussed the issue at a meeting in the Thai resort of Phuket in mid- February, they said.

Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Lauro Baja said Myanmar in particular raised East Timorese leaders' "past dealings" with Myanmar opposition forces led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi when East Timor was still under Indonesian control.

Myanmar officials said these "solidarity" meetings apparently continued after East Timor voted for independence and came under interim United Nations administration, Baja added. --AFP

;REUTERS;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-THAILAND-KOREA Top N.Korea official starts four-day Thai visit JP/9/ASEAN

N. Korea official starts four-day visit

THAILAND: Kim Yong-nam, North Korea's President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, began a four-day Thailand visit on Thursday that will focus on bilateral trade and security issues, Thai officials said.

Bangkok hopes talks will boost Thai investment in the resource-rich but economically poor communist state and enhance its role in the reconciliation process between the two Koreas.

Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said last week one issue for Kim's visit would be account trades to allow North Korea to raise funds for repaying debts it owes to Thailand.

Account trade is a form of barter, with cash used only to make up the difference in the value of goods. --Reuters

;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Cambodia-rebels Court finds 18 Cambodians, US citizen, guilty of rebel attacks JP/9/ASEAN

Nineteen found guilty of rebel attacks

CAMBODIA: Amid tears and tight security, Phnom Penh's Municipal Court on Thursday found an American and 18 Cambodians guilty of terrorist attacks and sentenced them to up to life in prison.

Judge Sok Setha Muny said the court had found enough evidence to substantiate the charges despite the defendants' denials of involvement with the attacks or of being members of the outlawed Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF).

The U.S. citizen of Cambodian origin, Gilbit Sao Chum, 38, a computer engineer from Long Beach, California, was jailed for 10 years for being a member of the CFF -- which has claimed responsibility for the botched November 2000 coup attempt.

Ek Chan Y, 36, was jailed for life after he was found guilty of being the ringleader of terrorist attacks in the capital and a key member of the CFF operated by Chhun Yasith out of the United States.

At least eight people died and 14 were injured in the pre-dawn uprising in November 2000 in an attempt to oust Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government. --AFP

;REUTERS;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Vietnam-China Jiang warms Vietnam ties, but disputes unresolved JP/9/ASEAN

Jiang warms ties, disputes unresolved

VIETNAM: China's President Jiang Zemin wound up the serious part of a swan song visit to neighboring Vietnam on Thursday with vows to continue to work on improving ties, but leaving key disputes between the communist states unresolved.

After talks with Vietnamese leaders on Wednesday and Thursday in Hanoi, Jiang was bid an official farewell at the presidential palace and headed south to see the sights in central Vietnam.

Diplomats said the visit, Jiang's first to Vietnam since 1994 and his last before he is due to step down as Communist Party leader this year, would have helped build confidence with the Vietnamese leadership, and to bolster its position.

Festering territorial disputes over the Paracel and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea were touched upon, but there was, as expected, no obvious progress in resolving them. --Reuters

;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Thai-poll-raided Security officials raid Thai polling agency, seize confidential JP/9/ASEAN

Security officials raid polling agency

THAILAND: Security officials raided the premises of a leading poll agency and seized confidential responses to a poll critical of the Thai government, a pollster said on Thursday.

Plainclothes and uniformed policemen and officials from the ministries of defense and university affairs raided the office of ABAC agency at Bangkok's Assumption University on Wednesday, Thevin Koniewklang, chief of politic and social section at ABAC, said.

National police spokesman Maj. Gen. Pongsapat Pongchareon said he was not aware of any raid but would look into it. He said it would not be right for "police or anyone" to conduct such a raid without a court warrant.

Thevin said the responses seized were those to a poll of 1,302 Bangkok residents conducted Feb. 5-9 on the public image of Thaksin -- the founder of Thailand's biggest telecommunications conglomerate - and other ministers in his government.

The poll said 44.7 percent of the respondents people believed there was a conflict of interest in the government. Some 63 percent believed that the government had not been transparent in a recent public share-offering. --AP