AP-Asian Conference Ends With Tensi

[tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: AP-Asian Conference Ends With Tensions

Tuesday July 27 1:50 PM ET

Asian Conference Ends With Tensions
By TOM RAUM Associated Press Writer

SINGAPORE (AP) - Asian foreign ministers wrapped up a session with their
Pacific and European counterparts Tuesday with tensions still high over a
new China-Taiwan conflict, prospects of a North Korean missile test and
lingering financial uncertainties.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright raised yet another concern, making a
pitch for cleaning up the environment in the region. She cited ``pollution
from uncontrolled forest, peat and coal seam fires.''

``There is no more basic a human right than the right to breathe. But the
haze has sometimes made exercising this right a dangerous proposition,'' she
said on the final day of a meeting hosted by the Association of Southeast
Asian nations.

But some Asian officials questioned the U.S. commitment to the region.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar suggested the United States and
U.S. businesses have shown little financial interest in Southeast Asia,
despite the rhetoric. He said overall U.S. investment in the region amounts
to only 4 percent of its overall foreign direct investment.

Southeast Asian hopes ``that the U.S. would put more serious efforts in its
development cooperation activities,'' he said.

Even so, for Albright, the forum presented an opportunity to mend fences
with both China and Russia in the aftermath of the NATO bombing campaign
against Yugoslavia.

She held talks with foreign ministers of both nations on the sidelines of
the Asian conference, and statements issued afterward by the Chinese and
Russian ministers were generally positive.

But the session happened amid fresh volatility in Asian stock markets,
suggesting the Asian financial crisis still had not run its course.

And two new crises captured most of the attention of participants - new
tensions between China and Taiwan and the prospect that North Korea would
soon launch another multistage missile capable of achieving orbit.

Even China, North Korea's traditional ally, joined in a resolution urging
North Korean restraint.

The foreign ministers of the United States, Japan and South Korea issued a
joint appeal Tuesday for North Korea to abandon its missile program.


``Should they go ahead with the test launch, they will suffer serious
negative consequences,'' said Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura.

South Korea still wants to push for closer engagement with North Korea
despite rising tensions between them, South Korean Foreign Minister Hong
Soon-young said.

``Some argue for disengagement. But it is far more dangerous to leave North
Korea alone and let it run its course toward collapse or resort to
adventurism,'' Hong said.

Most participants in the conference, including the United States, took
China's side in the new dispute with Taiwan over sovereignty claims by
Taiwan's president for the island, which China views as a renegade republic.

U.S. officials are hopeful that support for China in the dispute with Taiwan
will help mollify some of China's anger over NATO's mistaken bombing of the
Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

Albright also used the forum to bring up human rights abuses in
military-ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma.

``Just as democracy fosters prosperity, so repression in Burma has generated
economic disaster,'' Albright told the session, made up of foreign ministers
from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and Canada.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung complained that the forum was being used
to interfere with others' internal affairs. He did not name anyone.

Albright has been persistent in criticizing Myanmar's human rights abuses
and participation in drug smuggling.

Albright left the conference early, skipping a wrap-up dinner that included
humorous skits by participants.

She left early to fly to Rome to prepare for a tour of Kosovo and later in
the week join President Clinton at a conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on
Balkans reconstruction.