Brussels, 09/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - Reinforcement of multilateralism, reform of the United Nations and security challenges were the main themes under discussion at the 7th meeting of ASEM foreign ministers. During their meeting in Kyoto on 6 and 7 May, the ten representatives of the Association of South East Asian Nation states (Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam), Japan, China, South Korea and the European Union urged North Korea to resume the six-way talks and to put an end to its nuclear programme. As no concerted response has been forthcoming from the Asian partners, the EU is continuing its critical dialogue with the Burmese military junta. Following the guidelines drawn up by the Heads of State at the Europe-Asia summit in Hanoi last October (EUROPE 8804), the foreign ministers sought to deepen and consolidate the dialogue between Europe and Asia. “EU firmly believes in the need to focus work on a limited number of themes, to which our forum can give true added value”, the Luxembourg foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, said, mainly planning to rekindle the ASEM “economic pillar”, for example in terms of energy security. Between now and the sixth ASEM summit to be held in Finland in 2006, discussions should determine the areas concerned in a more precise manner. Enhancing the institutional mechanism (the creation of a virtual ASEM secretariat, better coordination between the successive presidencies, etc.) will also be discussed.
After having pulled out of the six-party negotiations with South Korea, United States, China, Japan and Russia a little over a year ago, Pyongyang recognised in February that it possessed nuclear weapons. Speaking before the press, Jean Asselborn stressed on Saturday the European Union's concern at the worrying declarations made by North Korean authorities regarding the possession of nuclear weapons, the suspension of the moratorium on missile testing and their refusal to reintegrate six-way talks. In a press release, the EU highly recommends that the People's Democratic Republic of Korea (PDRK) should “unconditionally and immediately return to the negotiating table”. This appeal was reiterated by the United States on Saturday, recalling that the US had a powerful “dissuasion capability” against North Korea. During a visit by George Bush to Latvia, the White House spokesperson cited by Reuters said that the US had a solid dissuasion capability and that no-one should make any mistake about it.
Although the EU stresses the lack of progress made in favour of human rights by the North Korean regime, the matter also remains without answer in Burma. “We have not noted any significant progress”, Mr Asselborn confided to AFP on Saturday. The day before he had met his Burmese counterpart, Nyan Win, for the first time. Engaged in critical dialogue with Rangoon, the EU did not convince its Asian partners to speak out against their neighbour, which is to take over the ASEAN presidency next year. The joint statement recalls that ministers hope to lift all restrictions and to progress in the democratic process “as soon as possible”.