Singapore sees chance for ASEAN to rise with China, India

Oct 21, 2009, 2:56 GMT

   Singapore - Singapore urged the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Wednesday to stay on track with integration efforts so that the region could boom along with China and India.

   'Looking ahead to the 21st century, the re-encounter of China and India will be a very dramatic one and a lot of will be through South-East Asia,' Foreign Minister George Yeo told the Singapore Straits Times, ahead of the weekend 15th ASEAN summit in Thailand.

   'If we become not a place they fight over but a place where they meet and cooperate and link up, we will boom with them,' he said.

   One key topic is to connect South-East Asia with China and India by roads and railways, and also electronically 'so that your Blackberry or your iPhone can be singing and dancing all the way from Delhi, through South-East Asia and to Beijing,' he said.

   'We should also talk about open skies agreements for air travel, maritime links, even riverine links.'

   He said ASEAN could play a key role in securing peace in the region as it was non-threatening, had no nuclear weapons or cruise missiles, and could play peacemaker.

   'If we play it right, we in ASEAN can play a major role in securing another generation or two of peace in the region, by which time the transformation of Asia will change the world,' Yeo told the newspaper.

   Referring to the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights, which is expected to be launched during the summit, Yeo said that although 'it will not have teeth, it will have a certain moral authority to raise issues and this itself is helpful.'

   ASEAN has been under continuing criticism for being too soft on member state Myanmar's poor human rights record and its detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, although the group's new charter cites the importance of promoting human rights in the region.

'If countries are in breach, we can say: 'Look, you agreed to these things in the charter, it's on this basis that we have become a community. Could you please show some respect for what we've agreed to?'' Yeo said.

   ASEAN includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The annual summit with include related meetings of ASEAN plus Three (ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea), and the 4th East Asia Summit - comprising ASEAN plus Three and India, Australia, and New Zealand.