Restore democracy, Myanmar told Ind

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Subject: Restore democracy, Myanmar told India

Restore democracy, Myanmar told
India supports ASEAN mediation in Cambodia

The Hindustan Times (New Delhi), 28/7/97

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HT Correspondent
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KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 
India made a strong plea for the restoration of democracy in Myanmar and
Cambodia at the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) meeting held here today.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram who led the Indian delegation urged
Myanmar and other countries to take note of the strength of public and
parliamentary opinion in India with regard to democracy and freedom.

All the countries of the world were treading on the road of freedom and
democracy, he said adding that Myanmar must "come on to that road as
quickly as possible."

Taking note of the Myanmar Foreign Minister's statement that Yangon
intended to usher in multi-party democracy, Mr Chidambaram said, "it was
our hope that all parties in Myanmar be allowed to participate in the
elections."

The reference here was obvious to Aung San Suu Kyi although he refused
to disclose it to the journalists.

Myanmar should evolve a constitutional Government and polity which
reflects the aspirations of the people, said Mr. Chidambaram.

He said that with Myanmar joining Asean India had come very close to the
region as "we share a 1600 km border with ASEAN now."

Mr Chidambaram expressed India's concern over the recent developments in
Cambodia. "We hope that the issue is resolved peacefully," he said.

India supports the ASEAN mediation to resolve the Cambodia crisis as all
the constitutional Governments must be restored he said.

Meanwhile the Cambodians have gone back to their original stand that
they had welcomed ASEAN mediation to resolve their crisis. This was
stated by the Cambodian Foreign Minister Ung Huot at the meeting.

Defending the Indian stand on CTBT issue, Mr Chidambaram said "We do not
believe that, the partial approaches will address the core issue but
will only serve limited non-proliferation objectives".

"India had participated actively in the CTBT negotiations and the at
final result was very disappointing to us," he added.

The final draft was neither complete nor linked to the process of global
nuclear disarmament, he alleged. The need was to undertake multilateral
negotiations and any decision that emerges should have as its objective
the elimination of nuclear weapons within a fixed time-frame, he said
adding that only then will the CTBT be come meaningful.

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright also took up the Myanmar and
Cambodian issues at the meeting.  She took strong exception to the
statement made by the Myanmar Foreign Minister that it would take time
to restore the democratic process as many groups were interested in
coming to power.

"We-insist that the Government in Phoom Penh live up to its obligation
to respect the democratic principles that were at the core of the Paris
Peace Accords," she said referring to Cambodia.

"The international stability is more than the absence of gunfire across
borders," she remarked.  "Every nation in this region felt the
consequences of Cambodia's agony before the Paris Peace Accords were
signed and every nation has an interest in seeing that the promise made
in those accords is realised today, she said.

Albright to visit IMU: US Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright has
accepted Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's offer to visit India this
year.  She will be the first US Secretary of State to visit India after
George Schultz's visit in the early eighties.

Mr Chidambaram said that he had a 20-minute meeting with Ms Albright
today and was able to "sensitie" her on several issues of India's
concern. These include the expansion in the permanent membership of the
UN Security Council and the schedule for lifting of the trade quota
restrictions which has to be taken up with the World Trade Organisation
(WT0). He also reiterated the invitation to President Bill Clinton to
visit India.

The Finance Minister also explained to the US Secretary of State why
India needed a five to seven year time-frame for completely-lifting
quantity restrictions on trade. He stated that India is committed to a
liberal trade regime and has already opened up its economy to a great
extent.

Mr Chidambaram disclosed that Ms Albright had a very keen interest in
16dia as she had spent part of her childhood in India when her father
was posted in the military mission in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that
she was rather sentimental when she recalled her early years in India
and even remarked, "I have grown up reading about Gandhi and Nehru and
have always wanted to visit India."