29/9/97:NEWS FROM ASEAN-REGIONAL-FO

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Subject: 29/9/97:NEWS FROM ASEAN-REGIONAL-FORUM "BEATINGS"

29/9 -- MALAYSIAN PM PLAY DIVERSIONARY TACTICS AT ARF
29/9 -- CANADIANS THREATENING TO MOUNT SANCTIONS ON BURMA
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	ASIA: CURRENCY, RIGHTS KEEPS ASEAN SPOTLIGHT OFF BURMA
ASEAN NIGHTLEAD
   By Bill Tarrant of Reuters
	   KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 Reuter - Two issues not in the script -- 
"rogue" money speculators and the UN human rights declaration -- 
stole the limelight at annual meetings between the Association of 
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Asian and Western powers, 
which ended today.
	   The two topics took some of the heat off Burma, which joined 
ASEAN along with Laos last week, much to the dismay of Western 
nations led by the United States and the European Union, who wanted 
to put Rangoon's military rulers beyond the pale over their record 
on human rights and democracy.
	   Malaysia's outspoken Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, fresh from 
a two-month trip abroad, touched off the biggest fireworks at the 
meetings when he said in an address to ASEAN last week that "rogue 
speculators" bent on ruining ASEAN's fast-track economies were 
driving down regional currencies.
	   He later named American fund manager George Soros as the chief 
culprit.
	   Then at a meeting yesterday with US Secretary of State Madeleine 
Albright, Mahathir called for a review of the 1948 Human Rights 
Declaration, saying it needed to be updated with the times.
	   Clashing views over whether the declaration should be reviewed 
dominated a news conference attended by 19 foreign ministers or 
their deputies, who had come to the Malaysian capital for the 
annual ASEAN meetings.
	   US officials with Albright said it was highly unusual for the 
host of a multilateral conference -- in this case Malaysia -- to 
criticise one of the participants.
	   Cambodia's turmoil was not meant to be part of the script 
either. It was supposed to have joined ASEAN with Burma and Laos 
last week, fulfilling the group's dream of having all 10 Southeast 
Asian nations as members on its 30th anniversary.
	   ASEAN now comprises Brunei, Burma, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, 
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
	   The ASEAN foreign ministers were joined by their counterparts 
from major Asian and Western states for the series of meetings.
	   Cambodian strongman Hun Sen's ouster of rival co-premier Prince 
Norodom Ranariddh in a bloody putsch three weeks ago put his 
country's admission on hold.
	   Talks on how to find a solution to Cambodia's chronic political 
turmoil was a dominant theme in many of the bilateral talks held on 
the fringes of the ASEAN meetings.
	   Western and Asian nations at the meeting -- including China, the 
United States and Japan -- endorsed ASEAN's primary role in 
mediating a solution to the conflict.
	   A ray of light emerged with the arrival of a faxed letter from 
Cambodian Foreign Minister Ung Huot saying Hun Sen would welcome 
the ASEAN mediating mission headed by Indonesian Foreign Minister 
Ali Alatas and including the foreign ministers of Thailand and the 
Philippines.
	   The endorsement of ASEAN's leading role reflected its new weight 
in the diplomatic arena, diplomats said. The newly enlarged group 
now has a combined population of 480 million and a total gross 
domestic product of $US632 billion ($A860 billion). ASEAN has 
emerged as a key geopolitical bloc in Asia that can act as a 
counterweight to China and Japan, diplomats said.
	   Western nations led by the United States and the European Union 
had wanted the spotlight at the meetings riveted on Burma.
	   Albright led a chorus of unusually strong attacks against Burma, 
which participated for the first time as a full member at a weekend 
meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, the main vehicle for political 
and security talks in Asia.
	   "We are increasingly concerned that Burma's drug traffickers, 
with official encouragement, are laundering their profits through 
Burmese banks and companies -- some of which are joint ventures 
with foreign businesses," she told the meeting on Monday.
	   "Drug money has become so pervasive in Burma that it taints 
legitimate investment and threatens the region as a whole," she 
added.
	   Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw said Burma was taking action 
on a national and regional level to deal with the problem of poppy 
cultivation, which began under British colonial rule.
	   He also tried to answer criticism at the meeting about the slow 
pace of political reform in Burma -- Australian Foreign Minister 
Alexander Downer likened it to "glue flowing up a hill".
	   The European Union's current president, Luxembourg Foreign 
Minister Jacques Poos, said Ohn Gyaw's presentation "was not 
credible".
	   Some diplomats and analysts at the meeting said Mahathir, a 
master of the diversionary technique, may have deliberately sparked 
the debate on currency speculators and the UN human rights 
declaration to deflect attention away from Burma.
	    ASEAN insists that its policy of "constructive engagement" is 
the best way to reform Burma from within the family fold.
	    ASEAN officials privately say it is important to have Burma -- 
which shares borders with China, India and Thailand -- to keep it 
out of Beijing's sphere of influence.
	   REUTER  ts

	ASIA: CANADA TO IMPOSE SANCTIONS ON BURMA
ASEAN BURMA
   By Hari S Maniam of the Associated Press
	   KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, July 29 AP - Canada plans to impose 
sanctions on Burma's government after being turned down in attempts 
to encourage that country to make democratic reforms, Canadian 
officials said today.
	   The officials said they are considering a halt to investment and 
limits to trade, perhaps through higher tariffs.
	   Canadian officials said they had sought progress in a variety of 
ways in a meeting today with Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw, but 
the Burmese was "unambiguously unresponsive."
	   "We didn't see any willingness to engage," the Foreign Minister 
Lloyd Axworthy said in an interview with Voice of America radio. 
"Therefore, in this case ... a broader level of international 
censure, I think, is necessary."
	   Another Canadian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, 
termed the Canadian decision to impose sanctions "political censure 
rather than economic censure because our trade relations are not so 
big."
	   The foreign ministers met during talks in Kuala Lumpur between 
developed nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on 
security issues.
	   At a closing news conference, Ohn Gyaw was asked to respond to 
criticism from other foreign ministers that his presentations had 
been neither credible, nor adequate.
	   "What I'm providing is what is actually going on in the 
country," he said. "What I'm presenting is true facts, real facts."
	   He said wrong impressions about the situation are gathered from 
talking to "people who are against the government."
	   "We are proceeding toward democracy," he said, adding that there 
were differences of opinion on "whether that democracy accords with 
the outside world's perception or our in accordance with our own 
values."
	   Responding to Ohn Gyaw, US undersecretary of state Stuart 
Eisenstat said, "Our view is that Burma's top drug traffickers have 
become leading investors in the economy and leading lights in the 
new political order." He said that situation poisoned the 
atmosphere of any investment in the country, and was a basis for 
the US ban on all new investment there.
	   The United States is seeking international cooperation to 
isolate Burma economically and politically to pressure its military 
government into making democratic reforms.
	   The Philippines' foreign minister, meanwhile, criticised the US 
sanctions, saying they would have no more effect than the American 
attempt to isolate Cuba.
	   In unusually pointed comments, Foreign Minister Domingo Siazon 
also criticised the way in which US Secretary of State Madeleine 
Albright advocated progress toward democracy and human rights in 
Burma, which has been called Myanmar by the military government 
which took power there nearly 10 years ago.
	   "We feel that the dialogue with Myanmar in the last few days has 
been quite fruitful, despite the rather high-level decibels in 
which some of the statements have been made," said Siazon, who will 
become ASEAN's new chairman.
	   The regional group admitted Burma to its ranks last Wednesday, 
ignoring the disapproval of the United States and Europe, which 
said reforms in Burma should have been a prerequisite for 
membership.
	   "Economic sanctions on a country that has very little external 
trade and that has been closed from the outside market will not 
really work," Siazon said.
	   He said neighbouring countries would continue to trade with 
Burma, dulling the impact of economic sanctions imposed by other 
nations.
	   "You have the case of Cuba, which has been under economic 
sanctions forever," he said. "And the natural resources available 
in Myanmar are very much more than the natural resources available 
in Cuba." He also referred to "hundreds of years of colonialism 
during which there no democracy had been given."
	   Siazon also expressed dissatisfaction with the US practice of 
calling Burma by its historic name. The United States and other 
countries do not recognise the name change that the military regime 
imposed when it took power. Albright referred to the country as 
Burma throughout the talks in the presence of Ohn Gyaw.
	   "I don't know why people keep calling that country by a name 
it's not supposed to be called," Siazon said.
	   Eisenstat, who continued to use the name "Burma" in the closing 
news conference that included Siazon and Ohn Gyaw, told reporters 
afterward, "It's important to back up our words with actions." 
Eisenstat was speaking for Albright, who left the meeting before 
the final news conference and lunch, to fly to Singapore for 
bilateral meetings.
	   It's no longer appropriate to blame things on colonialism, 
Eisenstat said. "We're living on the cusp of the 21st century. 
Democracy and human rights are now established principles.
	   "When people ask for cooperation with a country and call that 
country by some other name ... you're talking to the wall," he 
said. "I think it's just appropriate that we call a country by its 
proper name, whether you like it or not."
	   Siazon spoke at a joint news conference with Australian Foreign 
Minister Alexander Downer, who has made strong statements about the 
lack of progress in Burma. At the news conference Downer referred 
to the country as "Burma-Myanmar," and agreed with Siazon that 
sanctions are not the best way to improve human rights conditions 
in Burma.
	   "The Australian government has argued for quite some time that 
we didn't regard sanctions as being likely to be very effective," 
Downer said.
	   But he added that, "We've gone for 12 months now since the last 
ASEAN Regional Forum and the lack of progress in Burma-Myanmar 
since then is, I must say, very, very disappointing."
	   ASEAN consists of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the 
Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, and Burma.
	   The Southeast Asian nations meet annually in a Regional Forum 
and a Post-Ministerial Conference with 10 Dialogue Partners: The 
United States, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Canada, India, 
the European Union, New Zealand and Australia.
	    AP  ts