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ASEAN ministers say new members mee



Subject: ASEAN ministers say new members meet criteria / but not when!

ASEAN ministers say new members meet criteria

                     31 May 1997
                     Web posted at: 00:22 JST, Tokyo time (15:22 GMT) 

                     KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Reuter) - Foreign ministers of the
                     Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Friday
                     shrugged off international pressure to defer membership
for Burma,
                     saying the three new members were ready to join. 

                     "We believe that not only Myanmar (Burma), but also
Cambodia
                     and Laos do fulfill the criteria applicable here --
ASEAN's criteria
                     for a new member," Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali
Alatas said
                     after arriving in Kuala Lumpur. 

                     "We in Indonesia are prepared to have them as soon as
possible,"
                     Alatas said. "But whether it'll be in July or the end
of the year, I
                     can't say for sure." 

                     ASEAN decided last year to give membership to the three
                     countries some time in 1997. Saturday, the foreign
ministers from
                     Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand
                     and Vietnam will decide exactly when that will happen. 

                     A senior Burmese government spokesman told Reuters
Friday it
                     was confident ASEAN would not be swayed by outside
                     interference when it made its decision. 

                     "Myanmar (Burma) is confident that the ASEAN member
                     countries will collectively decide on what is good for
the region as
                     a whole...will decide on the future of the region on
their own
                     wisdom without giving in to outside interference," the
spokesman
                     said. 

                     The United States has asked ASEAN to delay Burma's entry
                     because of the ruling State Law and Order Restoration
Council's
                     (SLORC) poor human rights record and suppression of the
                     opposition led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

                     An official source said Burma's authorities would bar
entry to Suu
                     Kyi's home and blockade her party's headquarters until
after the
                     ASEAN meeting. 

                     The source said the military government wanted to avoid
clashes
                     with members of the National League for Democracy (NLD),
                     which has urged ASEAN not to admit Burma. 

                     ASEAN nations have objected to what they see as
Washington's
                     interference in its affairs. Malaysia, this year's
chairman, has been
                     pressing for the induction to take place at ASEAN's annual
                     meeting on July 24-25. The admission ceremony is
tentatively on
                     the schedule then. 

                     Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

                       
Type Bits/KeyID    Date       User ID
pub  2048/C4098A4D 1997/05/21 Burma Centrum Nederland <bcn@xxxxxxxxx>

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