Free trade to highlight ASEAN-Australia talks

Australian Prime Minister John Howard is leaving for Laotian capital Vientiane next Monday to attend a regional summit where both discussion on a free trade process and a possible task to iron out a political row are waiting for him.

He is the first Australian prime minister to attend a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since 1977. The 10-member ASEAN leaders will discuss with Howard and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark on a speedy timeframe for a free trade agreement.

Australian officials have said the summit will agree to negotiations next year for an ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA, which would be negotiated over two years and be fully implemented within 10 years. The deal would aim to double Australia-ASEAN two-day trade and investment by 2010. It was worth 50 billion dollars (about 40 billion US dollars) last year.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Its total annual trade is worth around 700 billion US dollars.

Local economists have pointed out that Australia's prosperity depends on the success of its economic integration into its own region. And Howard's government has been trying to increase Australia's links with Asia's markets through bilateral free trade agreements. Australia and New Zealand had lobbied for more than a decade before having gained the invitation to an ASEAN summit.

Australia has already signed bilateral free-trade agreements with Singapore and Thailand and is preparing for negotiations on more with China and Malaysia.

Apart from trade deals, a political row over Australia's refusal to sign a non-aggression treaty with its Asian neighbors may possibly catch attention at the summit.

On the eve of the summit, Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer have reiterated Canberra's stand not to sign the Treaty of Amity and Co-operation, a 1976 ASEAN pact to bind contracting parties to settle regional disputes amicably.

Downer said the treaty could undermine Australia's alliance with the United States and curb Canberra's ability to criticize human rights abuses. Howard also reaffirmed his policy of pre-emptive strikes on foreign nations to prevent an imminent terrorist attack, a practice which would contradict the treaty.

Although Australia-Asia links have got closer over the years, Australia has become under criticism from the region now and then for its role of "US Deputy Sheriff," its attack on neighbors' human rights and aggressive security policy in the region.

Despite ASEAN officials asked Canberra to accept the peace treaty on a number of occasions in the past few years, Downer downplayed the issue. "I hardly get the sense that this is a big issue," he said. "But if ASEAN wants to make submissions to us on this issue we're happy to listen to what they have to say."

Howard government's reaffirmed reluctance to accede to the treaty before the summit has evoked blasts from within the country.

Opposition Labor party's foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said the government is erecting an obstacle to the development of the country's broader political, economic and security relationship with ASEAN.

Leading Australian newspapers on Saturday carried reports saying Australia will be isolated at the meeting as the only one to say no to the peace treaty, while other US allies in the region, namely Japan and New Zealand, have joined others to have signed or hinted to sign the document.

The Weekend Australian Financial Review said "the refusal will be seen within the region as confirmation of the Howard government 's continuing reluctance to accept Asia on its own terms and to extend Australia's engagement with the 10 ASEAN nations."

The Sydney Morning Herald said in an editorial that "the problem was entirely created by Australia," and "it is not only the first time Australia has been invited, it could well be the last."

ASEAN officials said the issue will be raised again with Howard in Vientiane. Deputy foreign minister of Laos Bounkeut Sangsomsak told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio "We hoped that at least during this summit meeting between the two sides, Australia and New Zealand could consider to accede to the treaty." "At least we need to see their interest to one day join the treaty, if not during this ASEAN summit."

However, senior Australian officials have denied Australia's reluctance to sign the treaty would affect the proposed free trade agreement.

Source: Xinhua