HANOI (AFP) - The European Union said it would slap tougher sanctions on Myanmar after the military-run state failed to heed EU demands including the release of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The 25-nation bloc had warned last month that it would bolster the sanctions unless Myanmar's junta met the demands ahead of an Asia-Europe (ASEM) summit opening in Hanoi on Friday.
Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country holds the bloc's rotating presidency, said EU nations were reluctantly attending the ASEM summit partly "to exert pressure directly on the regime".
"Secondly (to say) that we will impose a new set of sanctions and also make that crystal clear at the same meeting," he said in Hanoi.
Bot said the decision to impose the tighter sanctions, on top of a visa blacklist already in place against Myanmar leaders, would be taken at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday.
"I think it is also very important not only to give a political signal to Myanmar itself but also to other countries participating in this ASEM meeting that the European Union does not condone this behaviour," he added.
The EU foreign ministers are expected Monday to lengthen the visa blacklist, ban EU companies from financing state-owned firms and oppose lending by international institutions such as the World Bank.
A Dutch diplomat in Brussels, without giving figures, said some EU states have a "substantial interest in Burmese state-owned companies".
The 25-nation bloc has also vowed to clamp down on illegal logging, said to be a mainstay of Myanmar's economy.
But Bot said that at the same time, the EU would step up targeted aid to Myanmar's people in the fields of health and education.
"We think the Burmese people as such should not suffer from these measures," the Dutch foreign minister said.
Aside from the continuing detention under house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, the EU has also decried harassment of her National League for Democracy and a lack of open debate in a national convention launched by the junta in May.
The Myanmar question is casting a long cloud over the two-day ASEM summit.
The EU had threatened to boycott the gathering, but agreed to attend on condition that Myanmar's top generals stay away. Lower-level junta officials in Hanoi stayed tight-lipped on the prospect of tougher EU sanctions.
Britain, Myanmar's former colonial power which has been at the forefront of the EU's diplomatic offensive against the junta, was represented at ASEM by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
"We will be taking the opportunity of the summit to underline -- not least to the regime itself -- our concerns about the unacceptable situation in Burma and its continued lack of progress towards democracy," Prescott said.
However, Myanmar's partners in Asia have proven more sympathetic to the junta's arguments that it cannot be rushed into democratic reform, and that it will not be hectored by outside powers.
Japanese deputy foreign ministry spokesman Akira Chiba said in Hanoi that the regime should be given time to deliver on its promises of change.
"Japan is also of course interested in further democratization in Myanmar and we hope that Myanmar will cooperate with the international community to democratize their country according to the agenda they have shown us," he said.
The Dutch foreign minister, however, said Europe and Myanmar's Asian partners should work together to effect change.
"We urge Myanmar to change its ways... and hope that closer cooperation between Asia and the European Union will lead to a better dialogue so that Myanmar will change its policy in the near future," he said.