Clinton in SE Asia for talks on N. Korea, Myanmar

Following a five-day visit to India, Clinton flew to Bangkok where she will meet Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, before heading Wednesday to the island of Phuket for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF).

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Clinton's talks with Abhisit would focus on “cooperation on climate change and counter-terrorism, regional security, and Thailand's leadership role as ASEAN chair.”

Clinton touched down in Thailand and headed straight for her meeting with Abhisit, without making any comment on the flight from New Delhi, an AFP correspondent said.

U.S. officials said a key thrust of her debut appearance at the ARF would be how to crank up the pressure on North Korea to return to multilateral nuclear disarmament talks after its missile and nuclear weapons tests.

They said Clinton would meet one-on-one with her counterparts from South Korea, China, Japan and Russia — which along with the United States were North Korea's partners in six years of disarmament negotiations.

North Korea withdrew from the talks after the United Nations censured its long-range missile test in April. The showdown with the international community took another turn for the worse when it staged a nuclear test in May.

Pyongyang's foreign minister has declined to attend the security forum, instead sending a roving ambassador to the grouping of 27 nations including the United States and European Union.

The U.S. State Department has been coy on whether Clinton would meet any North Korean delegates in Phuket. The forum will also face the perennial challenge of Myanmar, which has sparked international outrage by putting pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on trial over an incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside house.

Myanmar, ASEAN's most troublesome member since joining the bloc in 1997, showed its defiance earlier this month by refusing to allow U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to visit the opposition leader when he visited the country.

Clinton is also expected to discuss the region's economy and joint action on tackling swine flu, and will hold an unprecedented meeting with counterparts from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia to discuss health and environmental issues concerning the Mekong River.

ARF will also tackle terrorism after deadly suicide blasts Friday at two hotels in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, a key ASEAN state that Clinton visited in February on her first overseas tour as secretary of state.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email