Kuala Lumpur, July 26: India, which has been urged
to use its influence to bring democratic reforms in Myanmar,
today said one specific country cannot be isolated and chided
for not following democratic norms as there were others who
also fell into that 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 member a "new leaf".
"We do not choose our neighbours, we have to live
harmoniously. There are other neighbours too who are not
following democratic norms," Minister of State 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 said 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, 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 communique issued by the ASEAN Foreign
Ministers yesterday after their annual meeting here said that
the grouping recognised 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 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.
Bureau Report