UPDATE 2-Another setback for ASEAN as China snubs forum. (ASEAN-(UPDATE-2,) 2005-07-27 07:01:39

UPDATE 2-Another setback for ASEAN as China snubs forum. (ASEAN-(UPDATE-2,) 2005-07-27 07:01:39

From Foreign wire stories (w/summaries):

(Recasts with Chinese foreign minister skipping meeting)

By Ben Blanchard and Ed Cropley

VIENTIANE, July 27 (Reuters) - A major Asia-Pacific security forum suffered another setback on Wednesday when Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said he would skip the meeting in favour of a surprise trip to Myanmar.

Im going to Myanmar tonight, Li told reporters on the sidelines of an Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Vientiane without offering any further details.

One of his aides said Li would not return to the Lao capital after his visit to Yangon -- which announced on Tuesday it would be skipping its turn as ASEAN chairman in 2006 -- because of an unplanned event".

Lis absence casts an even longer shadow over Thursday and Fridays ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), already missing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Japanese counterpart Nobutaka Machimura, who have more pressing interests elsewhere.

Machimura is in New York lobbying for a permanent Japanese seat on the United Nations Security Council. Rices office insists other essential travel is behind her absence from the ARF, a regular fixture for her predecessors.

Officials in New Delhi said Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh had also pulled out of the meeting -- another major blow to a security institution increasingly struggling for relevance.

In southeast Asia, theyve fallen back a little too easily on platitudes and generalities rather than delivering outcomes, said Ross Babbage of Canberra-based consultancy Strategy International.

The major external players want to talk substance and get on and get things done. Now ASEAN is paying the price."

He also said Lis decision to head for talks with the former Burmas military junta smacked of China seeking to firm up already strong ties with its internationally reviled but resource-rich southern neighbour.

This is a great opportunity for the Chinese to underline their special relationship with Burma, Babbage said.

NORTH KOREA THERE, BUT ELSEWHERE

The resumption in Beijing of six-way talks to resolve North Koreas nuclear crisis -- an issue that has always dominated ARF meetings, given the presence of top diplomats from Pyongyang and Washington -- has also pushed the forum into the background.

Before announcing his departure, Li said discussions involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States were going well.

The six-party talks started yesterday morning and I spoke at the opening ceremony. Its going on well now, I believe, Li told reporters.

Australia, which has been trying to foster closer ties in Asia, looks likely to complete a formalised friendship treaty with ASEAN in October, paving the way for its participation in a 16-country East Asia summit in December.

The treaty committee process should be complete by about October, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told reporters.

REUTERS Reut11:01 07-27-05

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