Clark prompts moves on Myanmar

Asean Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong believes Prime Minister Helen Clark's robust approach to human rights has prompted Southeast Asian foreign ministers to "get tough" with Myanmar.

Mr Ong indicated Helen Clark's willingness in previous conversations to frankly tackle Myanmar's failure to implement democratic reforms had emboldened some Asean members to depart from their sacrosanct non-interference policy and fire a salvo at the military regime.

"She had things to say on Myanmar which resonated with some of our members," Mr Ong told the Herald.

"In a certain way that has allowed our Asean countries to say, 'Okay, well Myanmar, are we just going to carry on like this? Is this behaviour acceptable or do we need to do something about it?"'

He paid a glowing tribute to Helen Clark: "We understand where Helen is coming from and respect her views. We like her, she is very positive."

Helen Clark is not expected to raise Myanmar or the plight of its pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in direct discussion at the East Asia Summit.

The Asean leaders have already made an ultimatum to Myanmar to deliver tangible results in implementing democracy and release all its political detainees.

Mr Ong said it was necessary for the leaders to "go over the top" and make public their call instead of relying on their message being conveyed upwards by Myanmar's foreign minister. "This way we can be sure the message is read from the wires, newspapers, radio or television."

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is official host for today's meeting, has already announced that the emergence of a single East Asia community with a common goal is envisioned.

Mr Ong told the Herald the new free-trade area would progress in stages, as some Asean members were not yet favourable to New Zealand and Australia being included.

"We should not be overly hung-up on our baggage with the geography ... Australia and New Zealand are far away," he said. "The message Asean is putting forward is 'We now have all the Asian countries participating in the summit ... let's start with that'.

"We're aware that some of our countries tend to look at geography. But we don't define who is here. We want to get the first meeting going and find the interest of the leaders then we find a way later on how to address this point."

He admitted some of the opposition was because of a perception that New Zealand and Australia were friendly to American interests. But he noted that some Asean countries also enjoyed strong US links.

Mr Ong said Asean's key preoccupation was to emphasise its role as the driving force behind the proposed free-trade area.

"Wherever possible we don't talk about East Asia but Asean and China, Japan and South Korea.

"But we are also emphasising the future. In light of the dynamic growth in this region, do you see a future without New Zealand and without Australia or does the future mean a very integrated economic area?"

He said the purists and sceptics wanted definition. But the summit organisers would ensure the 16 political leaders at today's summit "do not spend too much time haggling over geography".

Mr Ong expects a small huddle of Asean economic and trade ministers will ultimately investigate how to merge the various existing bilateral and regional deals, including Afta-CER (New Zealand and Australia), into a mega free-trade area. But it will take many years to achieve.

He said the Asean-CER deal was quite positive but was "not as quick as would like it".

Both countries are in fact hanging out for a meaningful binding deal, which is a step up from some of Asean's current agreements.

He said Japan and Korea, which are members of Asean's current "plus three" agreement would welcome Australia and New Zealand.

"They want to help and reflect they are open economies and also to counter the two big boys, China and India.

"China will not want to say no, otherwise everyone will think there is a secret agenda for China."

He said that Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines also strongly supported New Zealand and Australia's claims to be part of the region.