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SINGAPORE - Southeast Asian leaders have signed a landmark charter to promote free trade and human rights, but troublesome neighbour Myanmar undercut their ambitious goal of establishing an EU-style bloc.
The long-overdue Asean Charter will formally turn the 40-year-old organisation - often derided as a toothless talk shop - into a rules-based legal entity if ratified by all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. That means Asean can sue and be sued under the charter, and will be held accountable for all the treaties and agreements it signs. It will also set up enforceable financial, trade and environmental rules.
But the pact must be ratified by each member nation and some have said they would have trouble accepting it unless Myanmar restores democracy and frees opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.
Asean leaders have rejected calls to suspend Myanmar from the bloc to punish the junta's crackdown on pro-democracy protesters that left 15 people dead in September, and its refusal to free Nobel laureate Suu Kyi.
The Charter must be ratified by a Cabinet decision, referendums or by parliaments of member nations, a process likely to take a year. The pact will collapse if one country fails to ratify it.
"Asean Leaders will strive to prevent the Myanmar issue from obstructing our efforts to deepen integration and build an Asean Community," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told the summit. He reiterated Asean leaders had urged Myanmar's junta to open a "meaningful dialogue" with Suu Kyi, free all political detainees and work toward a "peaceful transition to democracy."
Asean Secretary General Ong Keng Yong insisted the body was not kowtowing to Myanmar by shelving Gambari's scheduled address on Wednesday. "We live to fight another day," Ong told reporters. "We don't want to come across as being too confrontational in a situation like this."
One of the most significant pledges in the charter is to set up a regional human rights body. Critics note, however, that it will have limited impact, given that it will not be able to punish governments that violate the human rights of their citizens.
Negotiators have watered it down by dropping earlier recommendations to consider sanctions, including possible expulsion, in cases of serious breaches of the covenant by member nations.
"It seems that Myanmar is getting VIP status in Asean," said Hiro Katsumata, a regional analyst with the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore. "What is lost here is the reputation and credibility of Asean. It's a tradeoff for Asean to maintain its unity and keep Myanmar happy."
The one-day summit was further marred by a diplomatic blunder when Asean leaders abruptly withdrew an invitation to UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari to address Asian leaders after Myanmar objected. Gambari - whose invitation to address Asean was reneged while he was en route from New York to Singapore - salvaged the diplomatic faux pas by meeting privately with officials from Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The envoy told Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that "on balance," the United Nations was making progress, said Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo.
"For instance, that he was able to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi," Romulo said. "Of course, that is not yet (her) release, which is what we are asking for."
Asean was founded during the Cold War years as an anti-communist coalition, evolving into a trade and political bloc. It consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
They will hold a second conclave Wednesday, known as the East Asia Summit, with leaders of China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. They will then face more fire on Thursday when they meet with ministers from the EU, which has adopted sanctions against Myanmar.
- AP
