Asian, Western officials discuss Cambodia, drugs
July 28, 1997
Web posted at: 11:06 a.m. EDT (1506 GMT)KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia(CNN) -- Foreign Ministers from Southeast Asia and the West on Monday renewed their attempts to solve the Cambodian political crisis and the region's drug trafficking problem.
Ministers of the nine members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met with their so-called dialogue partners: the United States, China, Russia, Japan, the European Union, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, India and South Korea.
Addressing Cambodia's political crisis, ASEAN said it would send a three-member delegation to the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, if the leader of the recent coup, Co-Prime Minister Hun Sen, agreed to ASEAN mediation.
Hun Sen, who ousted Co-Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh in at the beginning of this month, had rejected a previous ASEAN mediation effort, telling ASEAN not to intervene in Cambodia's domestic affairs.
ASEAN members stood by their stated goals of non-confrontation and constructive engagement with both Burma and Cambodia.
In a related diplomatic move Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright pressed an initiative to create a group called "Friends of Cambodia" to support ASEAN efforts to resolve that country's political crisis.
Albright said the purpose of the new group would be "to support the ASEAN (peace) initiative and to work to achieve free and fair elections in 1998."
ASEAN includes Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and newly admitted members Burma and Laos.
Albright also stepped up her attack on Burma's role in international drug trafficking. She said that narcotics production in Burma has grown year after year, defying every international effort to solve the problem.
"As a result, drug traffickers who once spent their days leading mule trains down jungle tracks are now 'leading lights' in Burma's new market economy and 'leading figures' in its new political order," Albright said.
The United States was joined by the European Union and Australia in pushing Burma for pro-democracy changes, including improving the human rights situation.
But Burma said change would take time, particularly the writing of a new constitution.
"We need time because when the constitution is drafted or taken into action in a very hasty manner, there could be flaws and the military government would not like to come in now and again as in the past," responded Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw.
Referring to recent currency turmoil in Asian financial markets, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Monday again accused Western speculators of deliberately forcing Southeast Asian currencies lower for political reasons.
And the country's Foreign Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, continued the attack by saying, "It is really the height of international criminality that the fate of millions could be subject to the mercy of a few unscrupulous traders."
However, U.S. Commerce Undersecretary Stuart Eisenstat said that investigations of past monetary fluctuations showed they were caused by economic forces, and not individual traders.
The currency fluctuations mainly hit Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, on Monday commented on the importance of strong ASEAN economies.
"ASEAN economies are very big economic partners of ours and any speculation against ASEAN economies or any weakening of ASEAN economies will be a matter of great concern in Australia," Downer said.
Another issue addressed at the talks was a ban on anti-personnel land mines.
Canada urged all nations to join in a worldwide ban on land mines. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy invited all nations to endorse an international ban at a conference in Ottawa in December.
Axworthy said that in Cambodia and Laos, people were still being killed or injured by land mines laid during the countries' wars.
Correspondent Maria Ressa and Reuters contributed to this report.
- Message Board: Cambodian Conflict
- Newsmaker Profile: Pol Pot - Cambodian Communist Leader
- Newsmaker Profile: Norodom Sihanouk - Cambodian King
Related stories:
- Burma, Cambodia dominate Southeast Asian talks - July 27, 1997
- ASEAN rejects Cambodian membership - July 23, 1997
- Cambodia's Ranariddh to accept ASEAN peace proposal - July 18, 1997
Related sites:
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- ASEAN - the official website of Association of the Association of South East Asian Nations
- ASEAN InfoSite - summary of pertinent information to ASEAN, as well as informative links of interest
- ASEAN - Institute - Institute for the Promotion of Scientific, Economic and Technical Cooperation with ASEAN Countries
- ASEAN Information Superhighway
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