NEWS - Taiwan-China Tensions To Ste

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Subject: NEWS - Taiwan-China Tensions To Steal Show At ASEAN Meet

Friday, Jul 23 
Taiwan-China Tensions To Steal Show At ASEAN Meet

                                         SINGAPORE, Jul 19, 1999 --
(Reuters)
                                         Taiwan-China tensions are
expected to
                                         steal the spotlight at this
week's
                                         meeting of Southeast Asian
foreign
                                         ministers in Singapore.

                                         Although regional territorial
disputes
                                         will be a key topic during
official
                                         meetings of the Association of
South
                                         East Asian Nations (ASEAN),
which
                                         begin on Friday, simmering
security
                                         issues such as Taiwan-China
tensions
                                         will be a focus on the
sidelines.

                                         In a security dialogue after
the main
                                         foreign ministerial meetings,
Tokyo is
                                         expected to urge ASEAN and its
                                         dialogue partners to help
persuade
                                         North Korea not to test-fire
another
                                         long-range missile.

                                         U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine
                                         Albright is scheduled to meet
her
                                         Chinese counterpart, Foreign
Minister
                                         Tang Jiaxuan, on the sidelines
of the
                                         32nd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting
                                         (AMM).

                                         Both nations are attending the
meeting
                                         as dialogue partners.

                                         Political analysts have said
the China-Taiwan spat will
                                         give the U.S. and Chinese
administrations a chance to
                                         begin talking to each other
following a deep freeze in

                                         relations since early May when
U.S. warplanes bombed
                                         China's embassy in Belgrade.

                                         An ASEAN official said Taiwan
Strait tensions were
                                         unlikely to be discussed within
the auspices of the
                                         regional grouping as China,
which sees Taiwan as a
                                         renegade province that must be
brought under its rule,
                                         regards it as a domestic issue.

                                         Still, the heightened tensions
between China and Taiwan
                                         will highlight one of the more
pressing issues for the
                                         ASEAN meeting -- that of
regional security.

                                         Disputes over ownership of the
potentially mineral-rich
                                         Spratly islands remains an area
of contention among
                                         ASEAN members and will be taken
on by this week's
                                         ministerial meeting.

                                         The Spratly islands lie in the
South China Sea and are
                                         claimed wholly or in part by
the Philippines, China,
                                         Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia and
Vietnam.

                                         ASEAN groups Cambodia, Brunei,
Laos, Indonesia,
                                         Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
                                         and Vietnam.

                                         The Philippines and Malaysia
argued recently over
                                         Malaysia's building of
structures on the reef, while
                                         relations between the
Philippines and China over the
                                         Spratlys were also strained.

                                         Philippines Foreign Secretary
Domingo Siazon will submit
                                         a code of conduct on the
Spratlys for discussion among
                                         ASEAN ministers.

                                         He said he expected general
agreement on the code
                                         except for a clause barring
construction or expansion of
                                         structures on the Spratlys.

                                         North Korea's missile program
is another issue likely to be
                                         raised by Japan at the ASEAN
Regional Forum (ARF), a
                                         key regional security dialogue
that will take place on July
                                         26 after ASEAN's main
ministerial meetings.

                                         A Japanese foreign ministry
official said Japan was likely
                                         to urge ASEAN and its dialogue

partners to cooperate
                                         with each other to persuade
North Korea not to test-fire
                                         another missile.

                                         The Regional Forum comprises
ASEAN and its 12
                                         dialogue partners. During a
Post Ministerial Conference
                                         from July 27-28 ASEAN will meet
its regional dialogue
                                         partners individually.

                                         ASEAN's dialogue partners are
Australia, Canada, China,
                                         the European Union, India,
Japan, Mongolia, New
                                         Zealand, Papua New Guinea,
Russia, South Korea and
                                         the United States.

                                         ASEAN's newer members, Cambodia
and Myanmar, have
                                         featured in the world arena for
domestic political
                                         developments, but the regional
grouping is likely to stick
                                         to its policy of
non-interference in its relations with
                                         member countries.

                                         Despite calls by Myanmar
opposition leader Aung San
                                         Suu Kyi for ASEAN to encourage
dialogue between her
                                         National League for Democracy
and the country's
                                         generals, and Amnesty
International's urging for pressure
                                         on Yangon over human rights,
ASEAN is not expected to
                                         shift from this stance. ((c)
1999 Reuters)