1/3/99:AAP NEWS ON EU-ASEAN MEETING (r)

[drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

POSTED 1-MAR-99, 6:00AM

AAP NEWS ON ASEAN-EU MEETING

21/02/99: AFP/EU-ASEAN TALKS APPEAR DOOMED
23/02/99:AFP/THAI FM PREPARES FOR NEW TALKS ON ASEAN-EU ROW
23/02/99:AP/DOWNER ON INDONESIA/BURMA
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BURMA-EU EUR: EU-ASEAN TALKS APPEAR DOOMED IN MYANMAR ROW
DATE: 13:36 21-Feb-99
EUR: EU-ASEAN talks appear doomed in Myanmar row BURMA EU

By Angus MacKinnon

BRUSSELS, FEb21 AFP-- At least six European Union countries have opposed
Burma's participation in an EU-ASEAN summit scheduled for next month,
making it highly likely the talks will have to be scrapped, diplomats in
Brussels said.

At a meeting of EU Foreign minister in Luxembourg tomorrow, Britain,
Denmar, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden will all oppose
any relaxation of the EU's sanctions on Burma to allow the meeting of
foreign ministers, due to take place in Berlin on March 30, to go ahead.

The sanctions include a visa ban which prevents senior figures in the
military regime of Burma from entering the territory of any EU country.

ASEAN has made it clear that it will boycott the talks unless the EU
agrees to make an exception to the rule to allow Burmese Foreign
Minister Win Aung to attend.

Germany, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, has
signalled that it is willing to be flexible. But bonn can only act if
all 15 EU countries agree, which now appears highly unlikely.

German diplomats have been seeking to win a commitment from Burma to
begin a human rights dialogue with Europe as a gesture that could be
used to justify easing the sanctions.

But even if Rangoon agrees, Britain and its allies are unlikey to go
along with this approach.

"We would want to look at the content of any dialogue that did not
contain concrete steps very closely," one senior official said.

"Burm has had a dialogue with the United Nations for the last nine years
but if anything the human rights situation has got worse in that time."

The EU hardliners argue that an easing of the bloc's stance on Burma
will lift the pressure on Rangoon to start moving towards a dialogue
with the democratic opposition and, at the ssame time, damage the
credibility of its foreign policy.

Indonesia, malaysia and Singapre all insisted last week that ASEAN would
standfirm in the stand-off with the EU. Thai Foreign Minister Surin
Pitsuwan is due to visit Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden this week
for talks aimed at navigating a way out of the current impasse.

The EU and ASEAN have been at loggerheads over relations with Burma's
military dictatorship since the summer of 1997, when the country was
brought into the South-East Asian grouping in the face of intense
opposition from the United States and Europe.

Since then there has been no formal contact between the two blocs. An
attempt to mend fences with a meeting of senior officials in Bangkok
last month broke down in an acrimonous dispute ofer the terms of Burma's
"presence".

Even if the lEU-ASEAN ministerial meeting is cancelled, the original
ASEAN members will still travel to Berlin for a meeting of the broader
ASEM grouping.

The forum brings together seven ASEAN states, China, Japan and South
Korea and the 15 EU countries.

AFP sk

ASEAN-EU-THAILAND ASIA: THAI FM PREPARES FOR NEW TALKS ON ASEAN-EU ROW
DATE: 00:00 23-Feb-99

ASIA: Thai FM prepares for new talks on ASEAN-EU row ASEAN EU THAILAND

BANGKOK, Feb 22 AFP--Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan was to leave
here for Europe to night in a bid to salvage planned ASEAN-EU summit
thrown into doubt by a long-running dispute over Burma, official said.

Surin will visit Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany, which holds the
European Union(EU) presidency, for talks on trade and the diplomatic
impasse over Burma's participation at the planned ASEAN-EU ministerial
summit in Berlin in March.

It will be his second visit to Europe this month as efforts to rescue
the inter-bloc meeting intensify.

Several EU states have vowed to boycott the meeting if Burma, criticised
around the world for alleged human rights abuses, is represented at the
meeting.

Diplomats in Brussels today said the planned meeting was unlikely to
proceed and indicated they expected ASEAN to pull out soon.

"ASEAN would like to see a complete conference group-to-group, so we
have to find a way we can discuss together and spend time together,"
Surin told reporters late on Friday after meeting with his visiting
Burmese counterpart, Win Aung.

I think Europe would like to see a complete conference as Europe and
ASEAN can see its importance."

Surin said further lower-level meetings would likely be necessary before
EU ministers would agree to meet with their ASEAN counterparts in a full
ASEAN-EU ministerial forum.

A planned ASEAN-EU Joint Cooperatin Committee meeting in Bangkok last
month was cancelled because of Burma's disputed status.

Burma was admitted to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN)
in 1997 to the chagrin for the EU and the United States, which maintain
tight sanctions aganist the junta there.

ASEAN members are holding fast behind Burma, saying the military state
must be included on an equal footing in all inter-bloc meetings.

European sources have said they are looking for a "humanitarian gesture"
from Burma, such as the release of political prisoners, to break the
deadlock.

Officials said the main reason for Surin's latest European trip was to
introduce himself to his counterparts. He will spend one day each in
Sweden and the Netherlands, with the remainder in Germany before
returning to Bangkok on February 28.

Surin will begin his first leg in Sweden, where he will meet Deputy
Prime Minister Lena Hjelm-Wallen and Deputy Foreign Minister ZPierre
Schori.

In the Netherlands he will meet Foreign Minister Jozias van Aarsten. In
Germany he will hold talks with Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher, as well
as Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Heidemarie
Wiezcorek-Zeul.

Other issues on Surin's agenda include trade, investment and economic
cooperation, particularly Thailand's objections to EU non-tarrif trade
barriers under the Generalised System of Preferences.

AFP was

TIMOR-DOWNER ASIA: INDONESIA SHOULD LEARN FROM TIMOR
DATE: 17:25 23-Feb-99<ABRIDGED>
ASIA: Australia's Downer: Indonesia should learn from Timor

By Jasmina Kuzmanovic

SINGAPORE, Feb 23 AP -- Indonesia should learn a lesson from its 23-year
long occupation of East Timore if it wants to keep its other provinces
from seeking more autonomy, Australia's Foreign Minister said today....

<texts abridged>
Downer repeated that Australia will assist East Timor, which is likely
to have its GDP of $US100 million($A156.84million) cut in half if
indonesia withdraws.

He said he hoped an independent East Timore and Australia could reach an
agreement on the Timore Gap Treaty. Under the 1989 accord, Indonesia and
Australia agreed to divide oil tracts between East Timore and Australia
into three sections, taking one each and sharing revenues from the
middle one.

Downer also criticised the European Union for letting the issue of Burma
interfere with its relations with the rest of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations.

The EU opposes Burma's 1997 admission to the Southeast Asian group
because of the country's poore human rights record, and last year
canceled a planned meeting between the two grops.

"When Asia is working to make itself more democratic, it's not a good
time for Europe to turn its back to Asia,:" Downer said.

He said a proposed path of EU would be to "certainly encourage reform in
Myanmar(Burma), but don't let that issue hold hostage the rest of (EU)
relations with ASEAN".

Downer and other high Australian officials have been in Singapore since
yesterday for the second Singapore-Australia Joint Ministerial Committee
meeting.

Later today Downer will travel to Jakarta Indonesia. He is expected to
mme with Indonesia's President BJ Habibie and with jailed East Timorese
resistance leader Xanana Gusmao.

AP jnb

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