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Dispute threatens bold line of ASEA



South China Morning Post
Friday  July 10  1998

Burma 
Dispute threatens bold line of ASEAN 

GREG TORODE in Bangkok 
A regional row is fast developing over problems in Burma, threatening the
drive for a far more politically aggressive Southeast Asia.

Rangoon has dismissed warnings from Thailand and the Philippines that
restraint is urgently needed to counter rising tensions between the ruling
junta and Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

Burma's Foreign Ministry described such statements as"presumptious".

The statement came a day after Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders were
temporarily stopped from driving outside Rangoon to meet party colleagues.
At one point, officers lifted up their car, turned it around, and tried to
force it back to Rangoon.

Tensions are on the rise as universities reopen after an 18-month shutdown
and preparations begin for the 10th anniversary of a bloody student
uprising.

Thailand has warned that more trouble in Burma could drag down the region's
economic recovery and spark a vast tide of refugees, while the Philippines
has called for urgent dialogue between the junta and the opposition.

Both positions mark a radical change in the stance of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - of which Burma is the newest member.

Traditionally the grouping has kept to a controversial code of
"non-interference" in each others' affairs but now Thailand and the
Philippines are trying to force an engagement to prevent troubles spilling
into other states.

The issue could come to a head during the forthcoming ASEAN foreign
ministers' meeting in Manila.