JAKARTA : An ASEAN Concern

The U.S. decision to open direct talks with Vietnam and drop its support at the United Nations for the three-faction Cambodian resistance coalition is expected to dominate this week’s annual meeting of the six-member Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations in Indonesia.

Leaders from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Singapore will be able to question U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III directly when he arrives for the end of the conference.

ASEAN considers an end to the 11-year-old war in neighboring Cambodia vital to its efforts to create a stable and prosperous region and has taken a leading role in so-far fruitless efforts to broker a peace agreement. Delegates will also try to reverse U.S. opposition to forcible repatriation of Vietnamese “boat people.”