Mainichi: ASEAN applies double sta

[carol@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Mainichi:  ASEAN applies double standard to Cambodia

Mainichi Daily News, Sunday, July 20, 1997

ASEAN APPLIES DOUBLE STANDARD TO CAMBODIA

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With Respect
By Peter Hadfield
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It is hard to figure out exactly what criteria the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) uses in welcoming new members.

One overriding principle of the Association, we are always reminded, is that
it does not interfere in the internal affairs of member nations.

So why has Cambodia's membership of ASEAN, fully approved earlier this year,
suddenly been put on hold?

Surely not because of the purely /internal/ power struggle going on between
joint prime ministers Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranariddh.

But yes, that seems to be exactly the reason.  At an ASEAN meeting in Kuala
Lumpur, the foreign secretary of the Philippines said that countries that
signed the Cambodian peace accords in Paris "would not be happy seeing the
results of those elections set aside, especially by the use of force."

Yet during that same meeting, the ASEAN foreign ministers welcomed
membership of another regime which had set elections aside by the use of
force -- in Burma.

ASEAN never asked the legitimate government of that country, elected in a
landslide victory seven years ago, whether or not it wanted to join the
Association.

Instead ASEAN dealt with a corrupt, tyrannical regime in Rangoon that seized
power in a far bloodier coup than was seen in Cambodia two weeks ago.

This double standard will do nothing to alleviate outside criticism of ASEAN
and it policy on human rights.  Oh, I forgot, we are not supposed to
criticize ASEAN for fear of interfering in its delicate internal affairs.