---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- The Australian 24 July 99 Big three's bungles cloud Asia recovery >From South-East Asia correspondent PETER ALFORD in Singapore STRESSES in the US-China-Japan "triangular relationship" posed a significant=20 threat to South-East Asia's security environment and its nascent economic=20 recovery, Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong warned yesterday.=20 Opening the Association of South-East Asian Nations annual foreign ministers=20 conference, Mr Goh identified the underlying issue that would dominate the=20 ministers' talks with their American, Chinese and Japanese counterparts next=20 week.=20 "We were fortunate that when the economic crisis first broke (in mid-1997),=20 the triangular relationship between Japan, China and the US was stable," Mr=20 Goh said.=20 "Our current recovery also depends on the continued stability of the=20 relationship.=20 "Regional stability enables us to concentrate on domestic (economic) reforms= ,=20 but the triangular relationship itself is under stress."=20 US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko=20 Komura and China's Foreign Affairs Minister, Tang Jiaxuan =96 along with=20 Australia's Alexander Downer and six other foreign ministers =96 arrive here=20 today for ASEAN Regional Forum security talks and a series of=20 "post-ministerial" discussions with their South-East Asian counterparts.=20 Two issues will predominate: the row between China and Taiwan over Taipei's=20 new "two-States" policy, and ASEAN's latest attempt to establish a unified=20 position on South China Sea territorial disputes.=20 However, Mr Goh's emphasis yesterday was on the larger danger of frictions=20 between China, Japan and the US over a large and growing range of issues=20 destabilising the regional security environment. He also pointed to the=20 serious risks posed to South-East Asian nations' tentative recoveries by the=20 individual conditions of the big three economies.=20 A sudden end to Wall Street's bull run could "derail US growth and have tida= l=20 effects on Europe and Asia's recovery"; Japan's slow recovery was hampering=20 the prospects for the region; as would the already apparent deceleration of=20 the Chinese economy.=20 Mr Goh also warned that although ASEAN nations were on the road to recovery,=20 they could not afford to leave financial reforms half-completed or retreat=20 from "inexorable" global trade and financial liberalisation. "The only real=20 long-term solution is to strengthen our economies to cope with global=20 competition," he said.=20 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 23 Jul 1999 jam 20:25:59 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
