ASEM Summit Starts Amid Myanmar Discord
October 8, 2004
On the day before Friday's official start of the gathering, the Asia-Europe forum inducted 13 more members into its informal ranks: 10 from Europe, three from Asia, including Myanmar, formerly Burma. The inclusion of that country, which has been condemned for its lack of democracy and detention of human rights activist and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, caused deep disquiet among EU leaders.
On Friday, leaders of the ASEM called on Myanmar to improve its human rights record and take steps toward democratic reforms, but it appeared to stop short of demanding the release of Suu Kyi, who is being held under house arrest.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder told delegates in a closed door session that human rights must be improved in Myanmar.
"We should continue the dialogue about human rights in our countries and the universal standards which should be kept. I expect further improvements from Myanmar as a new ASEM member."
New sanctions
As EU leaders gathered in Vietnam's capital Hanoi ahead of the meeting, they said that, despite Myanmar's inclusion in the group, the EU would tighten its sanctions against the country after it failed to meet demands by the EU to release Suu Kyi.
Her party, the National League of Democracy, won elections in 1990 by a landslide but they were ignored by the country's military rulers.
"These conditions have not been met. As a result, the EU will, at a meeting on Oct. 11, impose stricter sanctions on the regime in Myanmar," Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot, who is attending the meeting, said in a statement. The Netherlands currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
The sanctions include a visa ban, a prohibition on EU-registered firms from financing state-owned companies in Myanmar and voting against international organizations extending loans to the country.
"We will be taking the opportunity of the summit to underline -- not least to the regime itself -- our concerns about the unacceptable situation in Burma (Myanmar) and its continued lack of progress towards democracy," British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said in a statement.
Strengthening contacts
The summit, ASEM's fifth biennial gathering, consists of two days of talks on various issues, such as trade, North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Iraq, United Nations reform, disease control and cultural diversity.
Since Thursday's enlargement, the bloc has 39 member countries: 25 from Europe, 13 from Asia and the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. The members represent about 60 percent of world trade and around three billion people. Both Asia and Europe see the group as a way to promote trade and security.
In the wake of the Iraq war, France in particular is hoping to position ASEM as a way of promoting a more "multipolar" agenda regarding world affairs and less dependence on the United States. ASEM is one of the few large international groups that does not include the US as a member.
China is hoping to convince the EU to lift its arms embargo, in place since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. It has the support of French President Jacques Chirac, who on Friday said the 15-year-old arms embargo on China made no sense. He indicated that the EU could lift the ban next year despite US objections.
Human rights concerns play large
Still, the issue of Myanmar and other human rights concerns, such as a crackdown by the Vietnamese government on a Buddhist group, have threatened to overshadow other topics.
As the leaders convened in Hanoi, the European Parliament called for the immediate and unconditional release of the leaders of the outlawed Buddhist church who are being held in detention.
In an editorial in Thursday's International Herald Tribune, Suu Kyi's fellow Nobel prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu accused world leaders of ignoring Myanmar's plight.
"There in Hanoi, state terrorists from Myanmar will sit and dine with you leaders," he wrote.
The EU had originally threatened to boycott the summit rather than sit with Myanmar's leaders, but a compromise was found when the country agreed to send a lower-level delegation.
While European leaders have used stern talk with Myanmar, its Asian neighbors have been more sympathetic of military rulers' claims that they cannot rush democratization nor will they allow outside forces to interfere in what they see as an internal affair.
And despite the sometimes forceful language by the Europeans in public, Reuters obtained a draft final summit statement that suggests the overall group will not mention Suu Kyi's name directly at the end of the meeting on Saturday.
"The leaders welcomed the assurance by Myanmar that restrictions placed on specific political parties are provisional, and looked forward to the withdrawal of these restrictions at the earliest time," the statement said.