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Myanmar skips 2006 ASEAN chairmanship
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-27 09:41

Southeast Asian foreign ministers focused on ties with China, Japan and South Korea and an anti-terrorism pact Wednesday, a day after Myanmar freed their 10-member bloc from a standoff with the West by agreeing to skip the group's 2006 chairmanship.

The U.S. and European Union issued statements overnight welcoming the move by Myanmar to forgo its chairmanship next year of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win told fellow ASEAN ministers during a retreat Tuesday in the Laotian capital that the junta would relinquish the 2006 chairmanship - and with it the right to hold that year's summit meeting - because it wanted to focus instead on "national reconciliation," an ASEAN joint statement said.

EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana welcomed the move as "going in the direction the European Union wants."

The United States, while welcoming the deferral of the chairmanship, noted that Myanmar remains far from its stated goal of a peaceful transition to democracy.

ASEAN ministers, holding a six-day annual conference in Vientiane, were meeting Wednesday with counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea. A pact with South Korea to cooperate in anti-terrorism efforts was on the agenda.

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

The Southeast Asians will be joined on Thursday and Friday for the security-oriented ASEAN Regional Forum by Australia, Canada, China, European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

The ARF is Asia's top annual security meeting.

On Tuesday, the Southeast Asian nations invited Australia, New Zealand and India to attend the inaugural East Asia summit in Malaysia later this year, bringing them on board a drive to create a trade bloc rivaling Europe and North America.

Australia and New Zealand were cleared for participation only after they agreed to sign a nonaggression pact this year with ASEAN - a condition Canberra had long shunned. India signed the pact in 2003.

New Zealand is scheduled to sign the pact Thursday and Australia will sign a document of intent to join the pact, acceding to the treaty before the Malaysia summit in December.

Australia free to launch pre-emptive strikes despite Asian peace deal 

Australia is still free to launch a pre-emptive strike to defend itself against a terrorist attack despite agreeing to sign a regional peace treaty, but such a military operation would be highly unlikely thanks to increased cooperation among Southeast Asian nations, the foreign minister said Wednesday.

After months of hedging, Australia agreed Tuesday to sign a nonaggression pact with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in return for an invitation to an inaugural East Asian summit later this year.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said Australia will sign a declaration of intent to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation during ASEAN's annual security-oriented forum in Laos this week. Australia's formal accession will take place in December, just before the East Asia summit.

Canberra has long shunned the treaty, saying it would infringe on existing defense pacts with the United States and bar Australia from launching pre-emptive strikes if terrorists in neighboring nations were planning an attack.

However, Downer said he is confident the deal will not conflict with Australia's right to launch pre-emptive strikes in self defense.

"We have a commitment in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, as we do in international law, to abide by the United Nations Charter and under the United Nations Charter we have a right to self defense," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television late Tuesday.

"If we were to be in some way or other attacked by some group which happened to be based in an ASEAN country, we would expect that ASEAN country to deal with that situation immediately and ensure that in no circumstances we were ever subject to an attack," he said. "I can't imagine a circumstance where an ASEAN country itself wouldn't stop any such action."

Downer denied suggestions that Australia has a doctrine on pre-emptive strikes, but said the government would take any steps necessary to protect its citizens or land from a foreign attack.

Responding to criticism over his remarks, Downer said the debate over pre-emptive strikes was purely hypothetical.
"We're not planning to launch attacks against any of our neighbors, obviously," Downer told ABC radio on Wednesday.

"Short of there being some kind of completely unexpected and radical revolution in some country, which I'm sure isn't going to happen, then to declare hostile intent toward Australia, I don't think this debate really means very much."

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