South-east Asian leaders said on Sunday they were considering allowing Burma to chair the 10-member Asean group in 2014, backing away from an earlier draft statement that said they had already agreed to the country’s request.
A communique issued at the end of a two-day Asean leaders’ summit in Jakarta said: “We considered the proposal of Myanmar [Burma] that it would host the Asean summits in 2014, in view of its firm commitment to the principles of Asean.”
It added that Asean leaders supported the “steady progress and political developments in Myanmar” after it held general elections and formed a new government in March, calling the ballot “successful”.
A previous draft communiqué said Asean had already “consented to the proposal” to chair the bloc in 2014.
Burma held elections earlier this year to switch from military to civilian rule, leading the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) to push the United States and Europe to drop sanctions against it.
But many observers dismissed the election as a sham that has kept the generals in power behind the scenes.
Any decision to allow Burma to chair Asean would provoke protests from Western governments and rights groups, and would complicate efforts by Asean to work more closely with the United States and the European Union. – Reuters