Burma's ASEAN accession may hinder

[FreeBurma@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Burma's ASEAN accession may hinder EU-ASEAN ties

 .c Kyodo News Service    

BRUSSELS, July 11 (Kyodo) - By: Miu Oikawa Dieter The planned accession of
Myanmar to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) later this
month is likely to strain relations between ASEAN and the European Union
(EU), which has been trying to place increasing importance on the region. 

Being ASEAN's third biggest trade partner, with trade at more than 70 billion
ECU between 1994 and 1995, and with the planned ASEAN Free Trade Area by 2003
in sight, the EU has been seeking to step up not only its economic ties with
the region but political dialogue as well. 

The two sides have regularly been holding EU-ASEAN joint ministerial
meetings, and in March 1996, EU, ASEAN and Asian leaders got together for the
first time to hold the first Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) to pledge boosting
bilateral ties. 

But in addition to the occasional strife between former colonial powers and
colonies, such as Portugal's frequent protest over Indonesian policy in its
former colony East Timor, Myanmar is a constant headache for the EU
policy-makers. 

The EU accuses Myanmar's military rulers of widespread human rights abuses in
cracking down on the pro-democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi. 

It has banned political contacts with Myanmar's junta and banned the issuance
of visas to enter Europe for members of the State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC). It also has stripped Myanmar's special trading benefits
after an investigation confirming the existence of forced labor in the
country. 

When ASEAN agreed May 31 to welcome in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, European
foreign ministers quickly reacted by issuing a statement expressing hope that
the move will help promote human rights in those countries, especially
Myanmar, ''where the situation continues to be of serious concern to the
international community.'' 

Dick Gupwell, secretary general of a Brussels-based think tank, says the
European Commission and the European Parliament have been quite clear in
expressing the EU institutions' dissatisfaction in having Myanmar admitted to
the seven-member Southeast Asian body. 

''It has been made clear the EU is not happy with that, and it's also going
to complicate EU-ASEAN relations,'' said Gupwell of the European Institute
for Asian Studies. 

The EU, which bases its economic cooperation and all other aspects of its
relations with ASEAN on the EC-ASEAN Cooperation Agreement, had no problems
extending the accord to Brunei when it became an ASEAN member in 1984. 

It is also in the process of extending the agreement to Vietnam, which became
part of an ASEAN in 1995. 

But Gupwell predicts Myanmar's membership will ''complicate matters'' for the
extension of the EC-ASEAN accord because no hurdles are foreseen for
broadening the agreement to the other two, Laos and Cambodia. 

He made the remarks before ASEAN's decision in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday to
indefinitely postpone Cambodia's entry to the regional grouping ''in light of
unfortunate circumstances which have resulted from the use of force'' in
Phnom Penh. 

Gupwell also said,''So long as there is such a military regime as it is
currently constituted in Burma (Myanmar), I don't think Burma is going to be
broadened to the EC-ASEAN Cooperation agreement.'' He added that the EU's
executive body, the European Commission, is unlikely to propose the extension
of the accord to Myanmar since there will be no support from member states. 

''Were the internal situation in Burma to be different, the EU institutions
would very much welcome the accession of Burma to ASEAN,'' he said. ''Burma
has its natural place in ASEAN.'' 

Also complicating the matters is the planned second ASEM summit meeting in
London early next year. 

The EU foreign ministers, in discussing the implications for the EU of the
country's entry to ASEAN, agreed in late June that the accession should not
give automatic membership to ASEM. 

''They made it clear that they will not risk inviting, from their side, Burma
to join the ASEM process,'' said Gupwell. ''I don't think that, for many
reasons, the British government will allow the representative to come to
Britain.'' 

AP-NY-07-11-97 1015EDT