Asean Ministers Meet to Discuss Thai-Cambodia Tensions, Myanmar

By Shamim Adam

July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Southeast Asian foreign ministers meeting today may focus on diffusing tensions over a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, and will deliver an assessment of humanitarian efforts to victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.

Thailand and Cambodia have sent more troops to a disputed border region near an 11th century temple called Preah Vihear, according to media reports. Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Singapore were briefed on developments yesterday, and urged the two sides to find ways to ``defuse the situation.''

``The situation has escalated dangerously with troops from both sides faced off on disputed territory near the Preah Vihear temple,'' Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said today. Asean cannot ``stand idly by without damaging its credibility.''

The 10-member bloc will also issue a report on the assessment of conditions in Myanmar areas hit by Cyclone Nargis. The regional group helped persuade Myanmar's junta leaders to allow foreign aid into the country and led humanitarian efforts after the cyclone struck in May.

Asean, which agreed to form a charter last year to make it a rules-based group, has long been criticized by Western nations for failing to press Myanmar to restore democracy and censure the junta for inflicting alleged human rights abuses.

Aung San Suu Kyi

The military, which has ruled the country formerly known as Burma since 1962, extended opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest by one year on May 27. It has kept her confined for 12 of the past 18 years. Her current period of detention began in 2003.

Asean foreign ministers yesterday discussed the issue of Suu Kyi's detention with their Myanmar counterpart Nyan Win, and repeated a call for her, as well as other political detainees, to be released, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said.

Nyan Win told the ministers that Suu Kyi's maximum six- year period of detention will be over in six months, Yeo said yesterday.

``I think that is not an inaccurate inference'' to say that she may be released in half a year, Yeo said.

Asean won't wait for all 10 member nations to ratify the charter before starting on the implementation of some programs, Singapore's Lee said today. At least three countries have yet to agree to ratify the Asean charter.

``The internal processes of member countries are different and some will be more difficult than others,'' Lee said. ``The pace of Asean integration should not be set by its slowest members, or else all will be held back by the problems of a few.''

Legally Binding

The charter is the group's first legally binding document since its formation in 1967. It will retain Asean's long- standing non-interference policy, and members found to be in violation of its rules will be referred to the leaders of the 10 Asean countries for action. The group will still rule by consensus, having rejected proposals to add voting, expulsion or sanctions on its members.

Officials will also talk about ways to tackle the impact of rising food and energy costs on the region's economies, according to a July 8 draft of a communiqué obtained by Bloomberg News that will be released today.

The ministers will discuss rising oil and food prices, ``which pose a serious challenge to our people's welfare as well as our countries' continued economic development,'' the statement said. They will stress ``the importance of international efforts to ensure efficient functioning of market forces, as well as to come up with longer term agricultural solutions.''

Diverse Protesters

Crude oil reached a record $147.27 on July 11, and rice, wheat and palm oil have surged to unprecedented levels this year. That's fueled inflation across Asia and spurred protests against price increases by groups as diverse as Japanese fishermen, Indian truck drivers and Indonesian students. The Asian Development Bank expects inflation in the region to reach a decade high this year.

``While the risk of rapid deterioration in the near term has somewhat abated, we stressed the importance of ensuring sound fiscal and monetary policies,'' the ministers will probably say today, according to the statement.

Southeast Asian nations are seeking ways to improve their competitiveness against neighbors China and India, the world's two fastest-growing major economies. The bloc last year agreed to implement changes to its individual markets to allow the region to be a European Union-modeled economic community, without a common currency, by 2015.

ASEAN includes Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. Formed in 1967, it has a combined gross domestic product of over $1.03 trillion and a population of about 570 million.