Page 10 - EU_ASEN Relations: Perspectives From Malaysia

suspension of defence co-operation in 1991, and the suspension of all bilateral

aid other than strictly humanitarian assistance. The EU additionally introduced
a visa ban on members of the military regime, members of the government,

senior military and security officers, and all their family members.

The case of Myanmar divided the EU and ASEAN. Whilst the EU favoured

harsh measures and sanctions, ASEAN accepted the full membership of
Myanmar under the ASEAN principle of mutual non-interference in domestic

affairs. It took the EU more than 20 years to finally suspend its sanctions

against Myanmar which eventually occurred in May 2012. Until then, the EU-
ASEAN relations suffered due to the unequal treatment towards the military

government by the two regional organisations.

Another issue that arose was the East Timor crisis in 1999, creating further

friction between the EU and ASEAN. Previously, Portugal which has been an
EU member since 1986 and is the former colonial ruler of East Timor (Timor

Leste in Portuguese language), had repeatedly complained at several EU-
ASEAN ministerial meetings about the annexation of the island by Indonesia

in 1976. When violence erupted after a UN-sponsored independence

referendum in 1999, the European Union (EU) decided on an embargo of
military sales to Indonesia in September of the same year (this embargo against

Indonesia was then suspended in May 2000).

The economic boom in many ASEAN states after the year 2000 displays the

increased interest of the EU to invest in the rapidly growing market of more
than 500 million people in Southeast Asia. Therefore, and also as a result of

internal struggles within the EU, the Europeans were willing to place aside
sensitive political issues such as human rights violations and dictatorships in

the ASEAN countries. The EU member countries then returned to a pragmatic

course of focusing on economic issues such as during the time before 1990.

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