Cambodia ASEAN Membership

Don't rush Cambodia's entry, Asean told.
3 December 1998
Straits Times

TOKYO - Visiting Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan has said that Asean should not rush into admitting Cambodia as a member.

He told Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura on Monday that the issue needed to be "sufficiently" and "cautiously" studied by the regional grouping's foreign ministers before it makes a decision, reported Asahi Evening News.

"There is no reason to hurriedly admit Cambodia," said Dr Surin, according to a Japanese official familiar with what was discussed.

The official said Dr Surin's stance on the issue was "more cautious than we expected".

According to Foreign Ministry sources, some Asean countries are concerned about a possible future power struggle in the Cambodian leadership.

Such a development would make the domestic situation unstable, the report said.

Earlier, Philippine officials said the entry of Cambodia into Asean was "premature" and would depend on whether the new coalition government showed it could last.

"The Philippines is looking for a government being formed, and a working coalition that is lasting and enduring," said a Department of Foreign Affairs official.

Mr Komura told Mr Surin that Japan would welcome a decision by Asean to admit Cambodia at its summit meeting this month in Hanoi.

Cambodia had been scheduled to join Asean in July last year, but its admission was suspended after then Second Premier Hun Sen ousted First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh amid bloody clashes in Phnom Penh.

On Monday, Cambodia's new coalition, cobbled together by Mr Hun Sen and Prince Ranariddh, was approved by Parliament.

Foreign Ministry officials said Tokyo supported the new coalition government because it reflected the results of a general election held in July.

Mr Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party narrowly won the election.

Earlier this month, the two leaders clinched a coalition deal that made the prince president of the National Assembly and gave his Funcinpec party nearly half of the positions in Hun Sen's Cabinet.

ASEAN split shuts out Cambodia.
By PETER ALFORD
10 December 1998
The Australian


CAMBODIA'S attempt to join the Association of South-East Asian Nations at next week's Hanoi leaders' summit will fail unless ASEAN foreign ministers can reach a last-minute agreement tomorrow.

The foreign ministers, who must unanimously support Cambodia's application for it to be accepted by the nine leaders, remain split despite attempts to mediate an agreed position this week by Singapore's S. Jayakumar.

A private dinner tomorrow, ahead of the ministers' formal meeting on Saturday, looks to be Cambodia's final chance this year to crown the formation of a new Phnom Penh government with the laurels of ASEAN membership. However, officials say the likely outcome of the Hanoi summit is that Cambodia's entry will be deferred to the next ASEAN regional meeting and foreign ministers' conference next July. The application is strongly supported by summit host Vietnam, along with Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma and Laos. But The Philippines, Thailand and Singapore remain unpersuaded, despite this week's UN decision to give back Cambodia's general assembly seat.

First, these countries want to see full implementation of the coalition agreement between Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party and Prince Norodom Ranariddh's Funcinpec. Thailand has been reluctant to publicly state its position, but Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan confirmed this week views among the foreign ministers are "still diversified". Mr Surin downplayed the division, saying Cambodia's eventual entry was already a fait accompli: "The only issue is timing and formalities."

Cambodia's UN seat and its scheduled ASEAN entry in July 1997 were suspended after Prince Ranariddh and his supporters were ousted violently by the CPP. A new coalition was formed last month, but only after a sometimes violent standoff following elections in July.

Since the 1997 entry of Burma and Laos, Cambodia has been the region's only non-member of the strategic grouping.

Mr Hun Sen's keenness to join the club reflects more than national prestige. Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries, is hugely reliant on foreign aid, much of which was suspended after the coup.

Most humanitarian aid has resumed, but structural assistance programs funded by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have not. They await proof of a legitimate government able to undertake economic reform. ASEAN membership is an important stamp of that legitimacy.

Cambodia fails in bid to join ASEAN during summit (Picture)
14 December 1998
Agence France-Presse

HANOI, Dec 14 (AFP) - Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) failed Monday to reach the consensus needed to allow the immediate admission of Cambodia into the organization during a regional summit here, ministers said.

"No, it's not going to happen during the summit," Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said after an informal dinner of the heads of state or government of the nine-member organisation.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon, asked if the leaders had reached a consensus allowing Cambodia to join the summit as a full member, shook his head and said "it's still the same."

He said Cambodia, currently an ASEAN observer, would not be sitting as a member when the ASEAN two-day summit starts Tuesday.

ASEAN leaders declare plans to admit Cambodia in Hanoi.
21 December 1998
Asian Political News

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders issued a declaration Wednesday officially announcing their decision to admit Cambodia as the group's 10th member at a ceremony to be held in Hanoi at an unspecified date. ''We have decided to admit the Kingdom of Cambodia as the 10th member of ASEAN and instructed the foreign ministers to organize special ceremonies of admission in Hanoi,'' the declaration adopted at the end of a two-day summit in Hanoi said. The declaration did not specify any date, nor did it contain wording that the ceremonies would be held as early as possible, which is what Vietnam had said the leaders had agreed to when they decided Monday to delay Cambodia's admission until after the summit. Vietnam, backed by Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar, had been pushing hard for Cambodia's admission at the summit, but the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand blocked a consensus. ''It was a good compromise,'' Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas told reporters. ''We decided to admit Cambodia in Hanoi, but on the other hand the ceremony, so to speak, was put off to a bit later, so everybody's happy.'' ''We hope (Cambodia's formal admission) can be done as fast as possible,'' he added. An ASEAN source said Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, in a meeting Wednesday morning between ASEAN leaders and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, reiterated his country's stance that admission must await the creation of a Senate and the appointment of senators, which was a part of the power-sharing deal reached last month between Cambodia's former warring factions. The source said Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, meanwhile, told Hun Sen in the meeting another factor is the repatriation of Cambodian refugees along the Thai-Cambodian border. ''So those are two, if you may call them, conditions,'' the source said. On the timing of the admission ceremony, the source said Goh told the Cambodians ''much...now depends on Cambodia.'' Goh later told reporters, ''As I put it to them, it is like a marriage between a couple. First we'll have to register at the civil marriage registry, which is what they have done, they have registered Cambodia as a member of ASEAN. Then they must complete the second ceremony, which is religious.'' ''So we are now awaiting the next step. When that will be held depends very much on whether the couple is ready.'' Alatas, meanwhile, said Indonesia disagrees with Singapore that Cambodia's admission should await creation of the Senate and appointment of senators. ''We believe that is an internal matter,'' he said. ''We have been given to understand...(the Senate's formation) will cause no problems, so it should not be put up as another additional criterion.'' Hun Sen, in a statement at his meeting with ASEAN leaders, told them the creation of the Senate has already been approved by King Norodom Sihanouk and said it ''will be established soon in conformity with our amended Constitution.'' The Constitution has yet to be amended, however. Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Manh Cam, briefing reporters Tuesday afternoon on the outcome of the first day of talks, argued the ASEAN leaders' decision Monday meant Cambodia, for all intents and purposes, was now a member of ASEAN and the admission ceremony was merely ''a procedural question that must be settled.'' But Goh and Thai Prime Minister Chuan stated in their summit speeches Tuesday that ASEAN remains a nine-member group and has yet to encompass Cambodia. In terms of protocol, moreover, Cambodia attended the ASEAN summit as an observer, a status it has held since 1995. The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand had objected to immediate membership for Cambodia on grounds that more time is needed for Cambodia's new coalition government to prove its stability. The three countries had expressed concern the coalition government formed last month between Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party and Prince Norodom Ranariddh's FUNCINPEC may again unravel. The two parties' previous coalition collapsed in bloodshed in July 1997 when Hun Sen ousted Prince Ranariddh as co-premier.