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Acean Backlash from West likely ove



Subject: Acean Backlash from West likely over Burma 

Monday  June 2  1997

Asean 
Backlash from West likely over Burma 

WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok 
Asean's dealings with the West may suffer now Burma's repressive regime is to 
be admitted, diplomats said yesterday.

The 10-member group is expected to find Burma's presence in wider 
international meetings awkward and potentially debilitating, said one diplomat 
in Bangkok.

"The Asean big boys have been determined for some time to bring Burma in . . . 
but Europe, the United States and Japan are really fed up with SLORC," he 
said, referring to Burma's junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council.

Foreign ministers of the seven members of the Association of Southeast Asian 
Nations announced on Saturday that Burma, Cambodia and Laos would be admitted 
next month.

There are now doubts that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will attend 
the Asia Regional Forum and other international meetings on the sidelines of 
next month's Asean ministerial meeting.

The European Union is exploring new ways of bringing pressure to bear on SLORC 
- with the encouragement of a new British Government that has promised to 
inject a fresh morality into its international relations.

The British have already warned Asean the EU's ban on visits by junta leaders 
could lead to difficulties when London hosts the second Asia-Europe summit 
next year.

Japan's Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto underlined the West's fears when he 
said last week: "We hope membership will not give immunity to the military 
regime's actions."

The West's doubts appear to have merely goaded Asean's pacesetters - 
Indonesia's President Suharto and Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad 
- into expressing more support for Burma's junta.

A Thai foreign affairs expert, opposition MP Sukumbhand Paribatra, said 
yesterday: "Even Asean should have a minimum standard of legitimacy - and 
SLORC has no legitimacy."

He advocated "constructive intervention" by Asean in Cambodia "to help in its 
political, economic and social development".

But acting Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim insisted the grouping had 
adequate experience to deal with the junta, and again backed its policy of 
non-intervention and "constructive engagement".

Asean's key dialogue partners seek no rupture with an organisation they 
consider a potential counterweight to China's regional ambitions.

Yet one veteran diplomat said: "The West will not back down on Burma. 
Relations with Asean could now be slower."

"I think the West will be tougher knowing that the decision [on Burma's 
membership] was rammed through on a 'to hell with the West' basis."

Japanese commentators meanwhile warned the new members could become an 
economic as well as a political burden for Asean.

South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd.