India warns Asian partners against isolating Burma

Press Trust of India: 26July, 2006

Kuala Lumpur: India, which has been urged to use its influence to bring democratic reforms in Myanmar [Burma], Wednesday [26July] said one specific country cannot be isolated and chided for not following democratic norms as there are others in the category.

At the same time, New Delhi underlined the importance of democracy after Australia asked it to use its influence on Myanmar to help turn the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] member a "new leaf".

"We do not choose our neighbors, we have to live harmoniously. There are other neighbors too who are not following democratic norms," Junior Minister for Defence Rao Indrajit Singh said, apparently referring to Pakistan.

Singh, who is here to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum, told Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer that New Delhi has always been a champion of democracy.

"We wish democracy would prevail, but we cannot isolate Myanmar, there are other countries too," Singh told PTI after meeting Downer and Vietnamese Foreign Minister Tham Gia Khiem at bilateral meetings ahead of the ARF.

India enjoyed good and peaceful ties with Yangon [Rangoon], Singh said adding, "we have to live with them."

He also credited Myanmar with squashing ambitions of terrorists from India's northeast who wanted to seek refuge there.

ASEAN has been disappointed with Myanmar's refusal to take steps towards democratic reforms and the continuing house arrest of Nobel laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi. Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said in an article in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that since Myanmar did not want to cooperate with ASEAN, countries like China and India which enjoyed good ties with Yangon could try and influence it.

However, a joint communiqués issued by the ASEAN foreign ministers yesterday after their annual meeting here said that the grouping recognized that Myanmar needed both time and political space to deal with its many and complex challenges.

On the issue of supplying uranium to India, Downer said Australia would have difficulty in doing so since they had not supplied to non-NPT [Non Proliferation Treaty] signatories so far.

"That is their constraint," Singh said adding, Downer noted that the outcome of the US-India nuclear deal may influence things.

On his meeting with Vietnam's new foreign minister, Singh said both countries felt the need to strengthen the warm ties they have had for several years. Vietnam has expressed keen interest in cooperating with India in the areas of investment and IT and wanted to have broader engagement with New Delhi.

Later, the ministers of the East Asia Summit's participating states had a luncheon meeting where it was noted that the 17 priority areas identified by the member countries when they met last year for the first meeting had been brought down to five. These are energy, finance, education, avian flu and national disaster mitigation.

However, Singh noted that the issue of counter-terrorism efforts which had been there in the earlier agenda was no longer there. The issue of a pan-Asian free trade area as envisaged by India and Japan too did not find place in the revised agenda.