U.S. and ASEAN hope for peace in Indonesia

Flags of ASEAN nations fly outside the venue for the meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam

By CNN's Kirsty Alfredson and wires

HANOI, Vietnam (CNN) -- The United States and a gathering of Asian foreign ministers have expressed concern over turmoil in Indonesia, expressing hope for a peaceful solution to the nation's leadership crisis.

The upheaval in Indonesia's capital Jakarta overshadowed the opening of the 34th Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ministerial Meeting in Hanoi, at which nine of the ten ASEAN ministers are present.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is en route to begin an 11-day Asian tour, pleaded with all parties involved with the crisis to exercise restraint.

AUDIO CNN's Maria Ressa reports on the latest from Jakarta (July 23) / AIFF or WAV sound   VIDEO Indonesia's assembly votes overwhelmingly to impeach President Wahid. CNN's Maria Ressa reports (July 21) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   EXTRA INFORMATION CNN Access: Wahid expresses confidence amid political battle     IN DEPTH Shadows over Indonesia     RESOURCES Message Board  Wahid impeachment?   COUNTRY PROFILE At a glance: Indonesia Provided by CountryWatch.com    CNN.com Asia More news from our Asia edition

"The United States is deeply concerned with President (Abdurrahman) Wahid's declaration of a state of emergency and his intention to suspend the democratically-elected Parliament and the People's Consultative Assembly," Powell said in a statement.

"We call upon all parties -- including the military, police and the people of Indonesia -- to…avoid incitement to violence and allow for a peaceful, democratic and constitutional process to unfold."

Powell is scheduled first to arrive in Tokyo, before flying to Hanoi and then the South Korean capital of Seoul, before arriving in Beijing where he will meet with Chinese President Jian Zemin and make preparations for U.S. President George Bush's planned October trip to China.

Focus on stability

Ironically, a key theme of the ASEAN meeting is maintaining greater stability in the region, but at the very moment the first sessions began there were moves underway to oust Indonesia's President Abburrahman Wahid.

The political unrest in Indonesia has prevented its Foreign Affairs Minister, Alwi Shihab, from attending.

Shihab is an ally of President Abdurrahman Wahid, who declared a state of emergency on Monday morning in an attempt to evade a move to impeach him.

Prior to the turmoil of Monday morning, Malaysia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Syed Hamid Albar, said all attending the ASEAN were concerned about the deterioration of stability in Jakarta.

"It will be of concern to us but we understand the situation they are facing," he said on arrival on Sunday night. "Indonesia is an important part of ASEAN, I think anything that happens in Indonesia is of concern to us."

With a population of more than 212 million people Indonesia is ASEAN's largest member by population, and one of the founding ASEAN member nations.

No interference

There is little likelihood ASEAN ministers will step in to quell the chaos gripping Indonesia, as Cambodia's Senior Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong emphasized there is a tradition of not meddling in domestic affairs.

"We have the fundamental principal not to interfere in internal affairs of an ASEAN member and we consider that what happened in Indonesia is purely an internal affair of Indonesia," he said.

He added, "we are all concerned about stability in the region" but sometimes principles had to be respected.

The withdrawal of the Indonesian minister is a bad start for the conference, which begins with the Ministerial meeting of the nine remaining members on Monday.

On Tuesday foreign ministers from China, Japan and North Korea were to join in but North Korea will not have ministerial representation after its minister, Paek Nam Sun said he was "too busy" to attend the session, dashing hopes of a sideline line meeting between him and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The U.S., the E.U, India, Australia, New Zealand and other nations attend post ministerial conferences on Thursday.

Development gap

"United, stable, integrated and outward looking" is the title theme for the Ministerial Meeting between the ministers of Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

The opening address by the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Phan Van Khai on Monday is expected to focus on narrowing the widening development gap between member countries.

The gap is highlighted by Vietnamese statistics that show Singapore has a per capita income of more than $25,000 while new member countries; Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam have an average per capita income of about $300.