Asean opens with Mid-East focus

BBc: 25 July, 2006

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi delivers his opening speech

South East Asian foreign ministers have begun their annual meeting, with the Middle East, Burma and North Korea set to dominate the agenda.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi opened the Asean conference by urging the region to take a tough stand against Israel's actions in Lebanon.

"We should not tolerate Israel's excessive military reprisals," said the moderate Islamic leader.

He added that the recent developments were a threat to international peace.

Foreign ministers from the 10 countries which make up Asean (the Association of South East Asian Nations) are holding talks in Malaysia until the weekend.

They will be joined later in the week by participants from other Asian nations for the Asean Regional Forum.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is also expected to attend the conference on Thursday, after her trip to the Middle East.

'Excessive force'

In a statement late on Monday, Asean ministers called for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East, and expressed concern over the "disproportionate, indiscriminate and excessive use of force by Israel" in Lebanon and occupied Palestinian territories.

Mr Abdullah, who as well as currently heading Asean is also chairman of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, went further in his opening address on Tuesday.

"I feel that we in Asean must make our voices heard, loudly and clearly, that we cannot continue tolerating the subjugation and repression of the Palestinian people by Israel," he told delegates.

Asean's members include the world's most populous Muslim nation Indonesia and mainly Muslim Malaysia.

In addition to the crisis in the Middle East, several other issues are likely to dominate discussion at the Asean conference.

One is the continued lack of progress in Burma, and the fact that pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest.

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest

Last Friday Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Burma's stance was jeopardising the region's relations with the rest of the world, and accused the military junta of holding its South East Asian neighbours "hostage" by refusing to reform.

Asean has come under intense pressure from the US and Europe to persuade Burma to move forward along the path to democratic change.

In his opening address, Mr Abdullah is quoted as saying that the situation in Burma is "impacting on the image and credibility of Asean".

But according to the BBC correspondent in Kuala Lumpur, Jonathan Kent, reports suggest that Asean might sidestep the issue, and water down a statement criticising the country's military government.

Secretive state

Another topic likely to be covered in the conference is North Korea - and its recent decision to test a series of missiles.

North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun is due to take part in the Asean Regional Forum, and representatives from the US, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea - the five nations engaged in talks with North Korea over its nuclear weapons programme - are also expected at the conference later this week.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said on Monday that the two Koreas would meet on the sidelines of the forum, but he added that the North was unwilling to join six-nation talks.

Chinese and Japanese foreign ministers are also due to meet on the sidelines of the conference, to discuss bilateral relations.