Monday, November 19, 2012
Saturday, November 17, 2012
ASEAN seeks to heal territorial rift
ASEAN seeks to heal territorial rift
PHNOM PENH: Southeast Asian foreign ministers sought on Saturday to heal a rift over territorial rows involving China, aiming to build unity ahead of a leaders' summit in which rights and trade will also dominate.
The hot-button South China Sea issue was one of the top items for the ministers as they held a day of talks in the Cambodian capital, following months of acrimony over how to tackle China's claims to nearly all the waters.
"We wish that we would be able to solve this problem together," Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, told reporters at the start of the meeting.
"We hope that if there is anything we can do to help to build this new culture of norms... of new habits of working together we would like to help."
The foreign ministers' meeting is to pave the way for the annual ASEAN leaders' summit in Phnom Penh on Sunday, which the bloc is hoping will push forward policies on human rights and free trade.
US President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and leaders from six other nations are scheduled to then join their ASEAN counterparts for the two-day East Asia Summit starting on Monday.
Some of the countries involved in the talks have seen diplomatic relations plummet this year because of a raft of maritime territorial rows, and analysts said those disputes would likely overshadow proceedings in Phnom Penh.
ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, as well as Taiwan, have claims to parts of the South China Sea, home of some of the world's most important shipping lanes and believed to be rich in fossil fuels.
China insists it has sovereign rights to virtually all of the sea, and the Philippines and Vietnam have expressed concerns that their giant Asian neighbour has become increasingly aggressive this year in staking its claim.
An ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Phnom Penh ended in July without issuing a joint communique for the first time in the bloc's 45-year history because of divisions over how to handle the South China Sea issue.
The Philippines and Vietnam had wanted the communique to make specific reference to their disputes with China.
But Cambodia, the hosts of the talks and a close China ally, blocked the moves.
Surin said Saturday that such a public spat would not be seen this weekend.
"I don't think it's going to be confrontational, I don't think it's going to be overly contentious," he said.
But adding to the tensions, analysts said Obama was expected to raise the issue while in Phnom Penh.
Obama is likely to reiterate that the United States has a fundamental interest in freedom of navigation in the sea, while urging ASEAN and China to agree on a code of conduct for the area, according to analysts.
China has long bristled at what it perceives as US interference in the South China Sea, and was upset at last year's East Asia Summit in Indonesia when Obama succeeded in having the issue discussed there.
Chinese vice foreign minister Fu Ying warned on Saturday that China did not want a repeat and that the South China Sea should not be on the agenda at the East Asia Summit.
"Discussion of the South China Sea issue should return to the framework of China and ASEAN. Discussing the issue in other forums will interfere with the direction of cooperation," Fu said.
Meanwhile, ASEAN leaders are aiming to endorse on Sunday a declaration they say will promote human rights within their 10 countries but which has drawn widespread criticism.
More than 60 rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, issued a statement on Thursday urging ASEAN to revise a draft of the declaration.
ASEAN members are also aiming to kickstart negotiations in Phnom Penh over a giant free trade zone with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
The 16 nations account for roughly half the global population and around a third of the world's annual gross domestic product.
~News courtesy of Channel Newsasia~
Friday, November 16, 2012
US worries on Cambodia rights
US worries on Cambodia rights before Obama trip
File photo: The Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (AFP/File - Hoang Dinh Nam)
WASHINGTON: The United States said on Thursday it was pressing Cambodian leader Hun Sen to reverse his "very worrying" direction on human rights as President Barack Obama prepared to visit for a regional summit.
Obama will on Monday become the first sitting US president to visit Cambodia, where human rights groups accuse the government of stepping up a crackdown on dissidents and on protests, many linked to land disputes.
Samantha Power, a White House official in charge of human rights, told reporters on a conference call that Obama was visiting for the "important" East Asia Summit and related meetings hosted by Hun Sen.
"But our message to him on a bilateral basis is very much about human rights abuses that are being committed within Cambodia's borders and urging him once and for all to actually start to take these concerns seriously rather than continuing to move in very worrying directions," she said.
Power said that the main US message to Hun Sen will be to hold free and fair elections, to end land seizures and to protect human rights more broadly.
A dozen US senators and members of the House of Representatives last month urged Obama to speak out over Cambodia's "deteriorating human rights situation."
Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, earlier said that if Obama does not speak out over concerns, "his visit will be seen by the government as an endorsement and deepen the sense of inviolability."
～News courtesy of Channel Newsasia～
Cambodia arrests 8 for 'SOS Obama' stunt
Cambodia arrests eight for 'SOS Obama' stunt
PHNOM PENH: Cambodian police arrested eight people Thursday for displaying portraits of US President Barack Obama next to the word "SOS" on their roofs ahead of his much-anticipated visit to the nation.
The stunt was carried out by residents living near Phnom Penh airport in protest at their threatened eviction, a local human rights group said, in the latest of a slew of bitter land disputes across the impoverished country.
The charges against the six women and two men were not immediately clear.
"They put Obama's picture on their roofs and painted 'SOS' next to it," said national police spokesman Kirt Chantharith, adding "we are questioning them about their reason for doing this".
Obama will become the first sitting US president to visit Cambodia when he flies into the capital next week to attend the annual East Asia Summit with regional leaders.
The detentions are the latest example of officials trying to suppress criticism or polish Cambodia's image ahead of the high-profile event, said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.
"It says quite a bit about this government and its intention to put on a good face in front of the international community," he told AFP.
Over 180 families living near the airport have been served with eviction notices to make way for its planned expansion and are demanding fair compensation.
Forced evictions across the country have displaced thousands of families and prompted a number of protests and violent clashes between residents and armed security forces.
In preparation for the summit, city officials have rounded up nearly 100 beggars, drug addicts, sex workers and street vendors to make the capital "beautiful" and "for public order", municipal hall spokesman Long Dimanche said.
Many were sent to social affairs centres -- effective detention centres much criticised by rights campaigners in the past -- while some street children were taken to local charities, he added.
~News courtesy of Channel Newsasia~
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