ASEAN-related summits may be held in mid-June: Surin

JAKARTA, April 30 Kyodo -
The secretary general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations
said Thursday that ASEAN-related summits may be held in mid-June after they
were called off in April amid antigovernment protests in Thailand.
''The Thai government is still going through a consultation process (with other
ASEAN members) and we would like to have it no later than mid-June,'' Surin
Pitsuwan told Kyodo News in an interview.
''The first half of June is the best, but I've heard the dates of 17-20
(mentioned),'' Surin added.
Asian leaders who were to attend the regional summits on the weekend of April
11-12 abruptly evacuated the Thai beach resort city Pattaya on the first day
after hundreds of antigovernment protesters swarmed into a meeting venue.
ASEAN summit meetings with the grouping's dialogue partners such as China,
Japan and South Korea had been set for April 11 and the 16-nation East Asia
Summit for the following day.
Following the cancellation, ASEAN has been considering holding the meetings
outside Thailand.
Ever since political turmoil forced Thailand to postpone the hosting of the
ASEAN Summit in December last year to earlier this year, some ASEAN countries
have called for the meetings to be held in an alternative location, such as
Vietnam, which is to be the next ASEAN chair after Thailand, or at the ASEAN
Secretariat in Jakarta.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
China, Japan, South Korea are ASEAN's partners in the ASEAN-plus-three summit,
while the East Asia summit involves those 13 countries plus Australia, New
Zealand and India.
==Kyodo