Thailand: ASEAN Grapples With Economic Crisis And Myanmar

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/21817?tid=37

2009-03-02 09:48

ASEAN leaders join in a traditional handshake at closing ceremonies Sunday, 1 March 2009, in Cha-am, Thailand, at the 14th ASEAN Summit. (Photo courtesy: AP Photo/David Longstreath)
CHA-AM, THAILAND: Southeast Asian leaders vowed Sunday (1 March) to push ahead with ambitious plans to become a European Union-style economic community by 2015 despite roadblocks posed by the global financial crisis and Myanmar's dismal human rights record.

The 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations concluded its 14th annual summit with a statement saying leaders had agreed to refrain from imposing new trade barriers and would stand firm against protectionism in their quest to create a single market in the next seven years.

The statement also called for "bold and urgent reform of the international financial system" that would take into account the needs of developing nations.

As the export-dependant nations of ASEAN grappled with the region's pressing economic woes, the bloc was forced, yet again, to confront the democratic shortcomings of Myanmar, whose military junta has ignored global demands to free an estimated 2,100 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The summit was the first since the group signed a landmark charter in Dec that makes ASEAN a legal entity, like the EU, and moves it a step closer to its goal of integration.

The summit aimed to highlight the charter's championship of human rights, but the issue suffered a setback when Myanmar and Cambodia refused to hold prearranged talks Saturday (28 Feb) with pro-democracy activists from their countries.



Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the leaders held an "open discussion" with Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein about the country's so-called roadmap to democracy, which is supposed to culminate in elections next year _ the first in almost two decades.

"ASEAN leaders encouraged Myanmar to continue to cooperate with the United Nations and make sure that the roadmap continues according to plan," said Abhisit, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN.

Myanmar made no public statement during the summit.

ASEAN's goal of forming a single market mainly involves lifting trade barriers but not, at this point, adopting a common currency.

The closing statement said leaders "reaffirmed their commitment to implement measures adopted in the ASEAN Economic Blueprint," which calls for economic and some political and security integration by 2015, adding that the scope for regional cooperation must be expanded.

"ASEAN countries are firmly committed to free trade and will do whatever we can to make sure that no countries resort to protectionist measures to try to ease their way out of the crisis," Abhisit told a news conference.

The pledge was echoed by Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who told reporters, "All of us are of one mind that we are anti-protectionism."

Philippine Trade Secretary Peter Favila told The Associated Press there was reluctance to push ahead with the goal of dropping all trade barriers by 2015.

"Some ministers during unofficial discussions on the sidelines were saying that in the light of the global meltdown of course the local industries were affected," he said. "But those are just sentiments. You know everybody has to follow the leaders' instructions: Do it by 2015."

Summit delegates also worked on the formation of the region's first official human rights body, but critics noted that the body, expected to begin functioning by October when the leaders meet for their next summit, would lack power to punish violators such as Myanmar with expulsion or sanctions. ASEAN has followed a policy of "engagement" with Myanmar and noninterference in its internal affairs.

Saturday's incident _ when leaders from Cambodia and Myanmar threatened to walk out rather than meet pro-democracy activists invited to the talks _ proved a ready-made example of ASEAN's impotence in regulating human rights.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel said no one has come up with a viable strategy to reform Myanmar's entrenched military regime.

"The sanctions based approach hasn't worked, the ASEAN engagement approach hasn't worked," Marciel said, reiterating recent comments by Hillary Rodham Clinton, the U.S. secretary of state. "There isn't any obvious way ahead."

Philippine Foreign Minister Alberto Romulo, whose country is one of ASEAN's more vocal critics of Myanmar, urged the junta to heed global demands for reform.

"For Myanmar, we continue to hope that because of the ASEAN charter and the forthcoming ASEAN human rights body that among other things they immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi," Romulo told AP, referring to Myanmar's pro-democracy leader who has been in detention for most of the last 19 years.

ASEAN's 10 members include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The bloc encompasses a region of more than 500 million people, including two communist regimes, two constitutional monarchies, a military dictatorship and fledgling democracies.

Its leaders are scheduled to meet again in Thailand 10-12 April with its three principle partners outside the region _ China, Japan and South Korea. (By JOCELYN GECKER/ AP)

Associated Press writers Jim Gomez and Ambika Ahuja contributed to this report.

MySinchew 2009.03.02