ASEAN

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Major Facts

Statistics:

Total Trade: $4.06 billion (2006-07)

Latest News:




Background

Diplomatic relations since: 1994

Member since: July 1997 (observer since 1995)

Burma Policy: Constructive engagement, non-interference, release ASSK and political prisoners

Major issues:

1. human rights

2. trade

3. investment

4. aid

5. cross border issues – refugees, drug trafficking

Statements


Treaties

25 July 1995 - acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation

1996 - joined the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)

Major Deals and Cooperation

Background to ASEAN’s relations with Burma

  • ASEAN’s outreach to Burma was an effort to counter China’s increasing influence over Burma
  • Constructive engagement policy: to influence the Burmese government’s thinking and policy through engagement. It has also been described as backroom discussions between national representatives away from the media.
  • Criticised the Junta after the Depayin incident in 2003, September 2007 uprisings and treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi
  • ASEAN members are divided over the approach to Burma with some supporting a softer approach while others believing a harder approach is needed. (The ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, which includes individual parliamentarians from six member countries represent a harder stance against the military regime.)
  • Inclusion of Burma in ASEAN has strained the bloc’s relations with Europe and USA.
  • In 2006 Burma forfeits its turn as ASEAN chair to concentrate on its national reconciliation and democratisation process; however observers believe that it was a result of intense Western pressure.
  • Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, was appointed as the group's envoy to deal with Myanmar 2006


ASEAN’s efforts on Burma

Member countries have been unable to agree on a regional initiative on Burma and have only been able to collectively support the role of the good offices of the UN Secretary General.

  • ASEAN Troika, Asean special envoy
  • Bangkok Process
  • Friends of Burma
  • UN roadmap and framework
  • Rangoon’s 7-point Road to democracy
  • Track 2: EPG on Burma, ASEAN-Isis, Parliamentarian Caucus on Burma
  • Japan’s comprehensive policy on Burma
  • Indonesia’s new peace plan on Burma (pending)
  • Support for Aung San Suu Kyi’s freedom

EVENT TRACKER
Date Details
2010.10.29 Japan and the five South-East Asian countries on the Mekong River issued a joint statement Friday calling for free and fair elections in Myanmar.
2010.10.07 ASEAN Secretary-General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan said that the ASEAN community expects a new era will emerge in Myanmar and believes Myanmar will be able to cooperate well with its neighbor countries after the election.
2010.09.24 United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made an appeal to the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to help him move Burma towards genuine democracy.
2010.09.24 A summit held between US President Barack Obama and leaders from Southeast Asia is being heralded as a potentially defining moment in relations between Washington and Southeast Asian governments, offering an opportunity “to align divergent policies ahead of elections” in Burma.
2010.08.26 The secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Surin Pitsuwan, said he hopes there will be freedom of speech and travel prior to the upcoming Burmese elections on Nov. 7.
2010.08.17 THE Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) said it welcomed Myanmar's planned November 7 elections
2010.07.21 Burma’s foreign minister Nyan Win told ASEAN secretary general Surin Pitsuwan that he will run for parliament in elections later this year
2010.07.19-29 ASEAN Foreign ministers urged Burma to hold free and fair elections at the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting and offered to send election monitors. They did not push for the release the of Aung San Suu Kyi. The election date is expected to be released after the registration process of parties is completed
2010.07.08 Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement U Maung Maung Swe received Special Envoy to the ASEAN Secretary- General Dr William Sabandar of the Coordination Office For the ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force at the Ministry
2010.06.06 Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on East Asia that “We don't have any clear signal that member states of Asean will be asked to help, but the offer is on the table”
2010.05.27 The nations of Southeast Asia and the European Union urged Burma to ensure forthcoming elections are "credible and transparent" in a communique following a ministerial conference in Madrid
2010.04.26 Surin Pitsuwan, Asean's secretary-general, said that ASEAN was not a magic wand and could not ensure free and fair elections in Burma. He also said that the decision by opposition parties not to participate in upcoming polls in Burma was a problem.
2010.04.09 Leaders at the annual ASEAN summit urged fellow member Burma to hold a fair election and include all political parties.
2010.03.08-09 Delegation led by the Chairman of the Tripartite Core Group (TCG), Chairman of the Civil Service Selection and Training Board U Kyaw Thu attended the seventh Meeting of the ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force (AHTF) for the victims of cyclone Nargis and its related meetings in Hanoi, Vietnam.
2010.02.24 ASEAN’s Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan claimed in an interview with the BBC program Hardtalk that Burma’s upcoming 2010 election would be a “new beginning” for the country plagued by four decades of military misrule and mismanagement.
2009.08.11 ASEAN issued a rare statement condemning the conviction of Burma's pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
2009.07.23 Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Thai Prime Minister has said that Asean will not expel Burma from the group and that Burma’s isolation may not be the solution to the problem.
2009.06.19 Representatives from ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) have urged ASEAN to reconsider Burma’s membership in the bloc
2009.05.28 Speaking at a meeting of EU and South East Asian ministers in Cambodia, the Burmese deputy foreign minister insisted that Aung San Suu Kyi's trial was not a human rights issue.
2009.05.24 Burmese government lodged a strong protest over a statement of the alternate chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) over a lawsuit against detained political party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, saying that the statement is an interference in the country's internal affairs.
2009.03.01 The heads of state at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Cha-am, central Thailand, raised Burmese issues at meetings, calling for the release of political prisoners and an “all-inclusive process” as the country moves toward a general election next year, the Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, said. They also decided to support the global body’s initiatives to bring political reform and improve the human rights situation in Burma, an admission of the 10-nation bloc’s weakness in dealing with its most difficult member
2009.02.27-03.01 ASEAN called for the release of Burmese political prisoners and an all-inclusive political process at its 14th summit

Last Updated on Monday, 29 November 2010 22:16