The door for Australia to Association of Southeast Asian Nations can be opened

Officials in Canberra have given a cautious welcome to a decision by the &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2002/04/01/27276.html ' target=_blank>Association of Southeast Asian Nations to let Australia join a regional summit. The invitation, however, would require Australia to sign a regional non-aggression pact - something Canberra says would conflict with its 54-year-old defense treaty with the United States. The door appears to be open for Australia to attend this year's inaugural East Asian Summit in Malaysia. There is, however, a significant catch. Participation in this key regional meeting is conditional on Canberra signing a non-aggression treaty with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN. Australian Foreign Minister &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2002/07/12/32348_.html ' target=_blank>Alexander Downer would not say if Australia would agree to that condition but hinted that it probably would not. Just last week, Prime Minister John Howard said his government would not sign such an accord. Mr. Downer said Tuesday he is confident that if Canberra does not ratify the treaty, it would not automatically be excluded from the East Asian Summit, publishes VOA News. The summit could pave the way for the creation of an East Asian Economic Cooperation, reminiscent of the European Economic Community of earlier days, which could in turn evolve into an economic and monetary union in 15 or 20 years. The grouping is expected to become even more relevant as interest in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) grouping, which Australia initiated in the mid-1980s, has been waning of late. Throughout most of the 1990s, Australia and the conservative government of Prime Minister &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/war/2003/03/27/45146.html ' target=_blank>John Howard strived to move ever closer to the United States. In the process, it distanced itself from its closer Asian neighbors. Its decision to lead a United Nations peacekeeping force into East Timor in 1999 sent its relations with Indonesia to an all-time low, as the Muslim giant saw it as an interference in its domestic affairs, informs the Washington Times. NR

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