[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Nuclear Tests, Myanmar Dorminates A



Nuclear tests,Myanmar dominate Asian security meet

By Ruben Alabastro
MANILA, July 27 (Reuters) - Dismay over nuclear tests in South Asia and a U.S.
warning of the risk of social explosion in Myanmar dominated an Asian security
conference on Monday. 

The United States threw the spotlight on Mynamar, expressing grave concern
over the health and safety of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and saying it
would hold Yangon's military regime responsible if anything happened to her. 

India, clearly annoyed, dissociated itself from a closing conference statement
which slammed nuclear tests in the South Asia region in May, although it did
not specifically name India and rival Pakistan. 

"The ministers expressed grave concern over and strongly deplored the recent
nuclear tests in South Asia, which exacerbated tensions in the region and
raised the spectre of a nuclear arms race," the statement said in the 21st
paragraph. 

Diplomats said they feared the tit-for-tat nuclear tests by India and Pakistan
might provoke North Korea into the same path. 

India's Jaswant Singh, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, said his
government could not accept the wording of the statement which he acknowledged
had been much diluted from the original. 

"India has therfore regretfully had to dissociate itself from paragraph 21,"
Singh told reporters. 

Pakistan is not a member of the 21-member ASEAN (Association of South East
Asian Nations) Regional Forum (ARF) which held the Manila meeting. 

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright endorsed the conference statement
on the nuclear issue. 

"(It) made all the important points and I think underlines the continuing
conern of the international community for the actions taken by India and
Pakistan," she said. 

At a news briefing, Albright attacked the Myanmar government's refusal to
allow Suu Kyi to travel freely over the country during the last three days. 

"We believe freedom of movement is fundamental and its denial can only
increase the already dangerous state of tension in Burma (Myanmar)," she said.

"We are gravely concerned about the health and safety of Aung San Suu Kyi and
will hold the Burmese authorities directly responsible for ensuring her health
and welfare." 

Suu Kyi was spending a fourth day in her car at a southwestern village in
Myanmar to protest against moves to stop her meeting members of her political
party. 

Earlier, with the foreign minister of Myanmar sitting in the same conference
hall, Albright said in a speech: 

"With each passing day the likelihood of a social breakdown -- or explosion --
that would undermine regional stability grows higher; the likelihood that a
future government will be able to tackle Burma's problems becomes smaller." 

The conference statement said the ministers believed the Asian region
continued to benefit from stability despite its economic slowdown. 

"...They welcomed the assurances of Japan that it will revitalise its economy
as well as the assurances of China that the value of the yuan will be
maintained," the statement added. 

But Thai Foreign Minister surin Pitsuwan was less sanguine, saying that the
financial turmoil sweeping the region created an entirely new security problem
for Asia. 

"I believe that what we are facing now is nothing less than a total war, total
insecurity," he told the meeting. 

China also used the word "war" when desribing the damage wrought by the
economic crisis. 

"The East Asian financial crisis broke out ferociously and has caused such
tremendous damage which is no less than that of a war," Chinese Foreign
Minister Tang Jiaxuan said in his speech to the conference. 

Participants in the 21-member forum included all nine members of ASEAN --
Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand and Vietnam -- along with ASEAN observers Cambodia and Papua New
Guinea. 

The other 10 members are ASEAN's dialogue partners, Australia, Canada, China,
the European Union, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea and the
United States 

17:12 07-27-98