Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, arrives at Hua Hin airport in Cha-Am, a resort town in southern Thailand on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009. Thailand has mounted one of its biggest security operations in recent history with more than 36,000 military and police to prevent anti-government demonstrators from overrunning a summit of Asian leaders who will gather Friday, an official spokesman said Thursday. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Sakchai Lalit,Pool)Friday October 23rd, 2009
Denis D. Gray
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHA-AM, Thailand - Southeast Asian leaders planned to launch a pivotal but sharply criticized human rights commission Friday and grapple with how best to achieve economic integration by 2015.
The three-day summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will also include talks with the leaders of Asia's major powers, including China and India.
The leaders of Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines were not expected to arrive in time for Friday morning's opening ceremony, officials said. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is hosting an official visit by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Indonesia is swearing in a new government and Malaysia's government was presenting its budget to Parliament, said Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was running late due to Typhoon Lupit, the third storm in a month due to hit the Philippines, her spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo said.
One of the first orders of business will be the inauguration of the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, which activists say will do little to deter human rights violators like ASEAN member Myanmar because it imposes no punishments and focuses on promotion rather than protection of human rights.
ASEAN officials respond that the commission is a work in progress and can be strengthened in the future.
Members of the 10-nation bloc have recently escalated their criticism of Myanmar. But the summit will again likely act by consensus, avoid confrontations and maintain that the group's approach to engaging Myanmar works better than the West's sanctions and threats.
The summit will also sign a declaration on climate change and discuss food security, bio-energy, disaster management and how trade barriers can be brought down to bring about a European Union-style grouping within the next six years.
The bloc will then meet with leaders of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
Thailand has deployed more than 36,000 military and police both in Bangkok and to guard the seaside summit of Asian leaders, working to prevent any repeat of the disruptions that shut down another meeting earlier this year, an official said Thursday.
The government is still smarting from the storming of the East Asian Summit in April in the seaside city of Pattaya, where anti-government protesters charged through thin police ranks and forced the evacuation of several leaders by helicopter and boat.
A main protest organizer said no new demonstrations are planned this week in Bangkok or at the summit venue, the beach resort of Cha-am, 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of the capital.
About half of the security forces mobilized have thrown a security cordon around this summit venue, and the others will be on alert in the Thai capital, said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn. He said 20 newly bought bulletproof SUV's will chauffeur leaders to their meetings.
"Security forces have also set up emergency escape routes by land, air and sea," he said. "We don't expect it to be necessary but we want to be ready and to assure leaders that they will be able to meet without distraction."
Security forces have also been empowered to impose curfews and restrict freedom of movement around Cha-am and Bangkok.
Thailand has been rocked by years of protests and counterprotests by supporters and opponents of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup on accusations of corruption, abuse of power and disrespect to the country's monarch.
The three-day summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will also include talks with the leaders of Asia's major powers, including China and India.
The leaders of Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines were not expected to arrive in time for Friday morning's opening ceremony, officials said. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is hosting an official visit by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Indonesia is swearing in a new government and Malaysia's government was presenting its budget to Parliament, said Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was running late due to Typhoon Lupit, the third storm in a month due to hit the Philippines, her spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo said.
One of the first orders of business will be the inauguration of the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, which activists say will do little to deter human rights violators like ASEAN member Myanmar because it imposes no punishments and focuses on promotion rather than protection of human rights.
ASEAN officials respond that the commission is a work in progress and can be strengthened in the future.
Members of the 10-nation bloc have recently escalated their criticism of Myanmar. But the summit will again likely act by consensus, avoid confrontations and maintain that the group's approach to engaging Myanmar works better than the West's sanctions and threats.
The summit will also sign a declaration on climate change and discuss food security, bio-energy, disaster management and how trade barriers can be brought down to bring about a European Union-style grouping within the next six years.
The bloc will then meet with leaders of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
Thailand has deployed more than 36,000 military and police both in Bangkok and to guard the seaside summit of Asian leaders, working to prevent any repeat of the disruptions that shut down another meeting earlier this year, an official said Thursday.
The government is still smarting from the storming of the East Asian Summit in April in the seaside city of Pattaya, where anti-government protesters charged through thin police ranks and forced the evacuation of several leaders by helicopter and boat.
A main protest organizer said no new demonstrations are planned this week in Bangkok or at the summit venue, the beach resort of Cha-am, 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of the capital.
About half of the security forces mobilized have thrown a security cordon around this summit venue, and the others will be on alert in the Thai capital, said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn. He said 20 newly bought bulletproof SUV's will chauffeur leaders to their meetings.
"Security forces have also set up emergency escape routes by land, air and sea," he said. "We don't expect it to be necessary but we want to be ready and to assure leaders that they will be able to meet without distraction."
Security forces have also been empowered to impose curfews and restrict freedom of movement around Cha-am and Bangkok.
Thailand has been rocked by years of protests and counterprotests by supporters and opponents of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup on accusations of corruption, abuse of power and disrespect to the country's monarch.
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