Five-day visit of Brunei crown prince postponed

Brunei has postponed the five-day official visit of Crown Prince Al Muhtadee Billah to Manila which was scheduled from May 9 to 13, sources in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

No reason was given for the cancellation of the Crown Prince’s visit but sources said it was "presumably" because of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak.

The Crown Prince’s Father Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah earlier ordered all officials to defer unnecessary overseas travel due to the increasing deaths and cases of SARS.

"But we hope the visit of the prince will push through some other time, at a mutually auspicious time for both sides," a DFA official said.

Another DFA official said Association of Southeast Asian Nations member countries should be "careful" in handling SARS cases and cautioned against banning the entry of nationals from SARS-affected countries.

"Like in China, it is difficult to get consensus on (a travel ban) because it will also touch on tourism and trade which would have to suggest deeper consideration on the subject," the official said.

"That is one thing they are attempting to avoid, sort of banning Asean nationals. We could have a collective action," the official added.

The Philippine government earlier postponed the visit of a high-ranking Chinese official, which coincides with the Association of Asian Parliament for Peace (AAPP) meeting in Manila, reportedly due to SARS.

Upon the request of Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. the government re-scheduled the visit of Wu Bangguo, China’s chairman of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, and the AAPP meeting to last week of July. Wu is ranked sixth in the hierarchy of the Chinese government.

Wu, accompanied by a delegation of about 100, was supposed to visit Manila May 6 to 12 for the turnover of the chairmanship of the Asian Parliamentary Union to De Venecia and to attend the AAPP meeting.

The government also cancelled the scheduled visit on April 27 to 30 of Vietnamese Vice President Truoan My Hoa reportedly also due to SARS. Truoan was invited by the Philippine government and was set to meet with key government officials.