TOKYO, June 18 Kyodo choiceed ed...

TOKYO, June 18 Kyodo

choiceed editorial excerpts from the Asia-Pacific press:

ASEAN point outs SIGNS OF BARING ITS CLAWS (Bangkok Post)

through the past two days, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has exhausted with its tradition of noninterference in member states' affairs at questioning Burma about the occurrences of May 30 when opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was attacked and she was placed in detention.

This is a major departure for the 36-year-old fraternity a grouping linking mainly individual party-rule states averse to criticism, unruffled from fellow club members...With the whole world watching, common can only hope that this will lead to Rangoon's hard-liners coming to their faculty of perceptions sometime soon.

In discussing Burma this week, ASEAN has admitted that the question is international and reflects poorly onward the grouping as a whole.

Her latest arrest has bring forward Burma high on the agenda of the ASEAN Regional Forum, which takes place today in Phnom Penh And the reaction from Western members athwart the past two weeks has sparked fears of a bitter East-West confrontation.

U President George W Bush l the calls for the release of Suu Kyi, drawing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra into a similar statement while he was in Washington last week. U Secretary of State Colin Powell subsequently wrote an article published in a regional newspaper condemning the ''thugs'' Rangoon allegedly had occupyed against Suu Kyi and her supporters.

Beyond the calls for the release of Suu Kyi, Asian leaders are playing their cards finish to their chests. But the impression is that the couple sides are sticking to their positions -- the West to sanctions, and Asians to the softer approach of humanitarian aid, trade and, in Thailand's case, preferential trade.

Having tolerated the situation in Burma for 13 years since Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won elections, and achieved little within their different approaches, perhaps the pair Asian and Western powers should examine something new. This might require sacrifices from Burma's larger neighbors, China and India. They might be reluctant to displease the generals, given the strategic and economic interests, if it be not that Beijing and New Delhi should recognize the long-term benefits of using their leverage. Thailand, for its part, must stop appeasing the generals, and maintain a consistent stand in dealing with them.

The discussions in Phnom Penh today could reach [i]or[/i] attain any place [i]or[/i] point up with a prescription for ''shock and awe'' or for soft-soaping the junta in Burma. Whatever the choice, it should achieve something cake The wish list is clear: a national reconciliation proces that is charted by way of a cross-section of Burmese society, including members of the junta, the pro-democracy opposition, and the country's ethnic minorities.

(June 18)

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