NEW YORK — Why are French, British and American warships, but not Chinese or Malaysian warships, sitting near the Burmese coast loaded with food and other necessities for the victims of Cyclone Nargis?
Why has the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) been so slow and weak in its response to a natural calamity that ravaged one of its own members?
French junior human rights minister Rama Yade declared that the United Nations' principle of the "responsibility to protect" should be applied to Burma, forcibly if necessary. And Malaysian opposition leader Lim Kit Siang has said that Asian countries' inaction "reflects dismally on all ASEAN leaders and governments. They can definitely do more."