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SCMP Reporter

Washington has moved to defend billionaire financier George Soros following renewed attacks over the weekend from Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

 Nicholas Burns, chief spokesman for US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, said the US Government 'respected him a lot. He is a very courageous man in a lot of ways'.

  Mr Burns' comments followed confirmation from Mr Mahathir that Mr Soros was the 'rogue' he was referring to behind a Western currency conspiracy to destroy ASEAN's success.

 Mr Mahathir branded Mr Soros as 'criminal' for plotting wild speculations on the Thai baht, the Philippine peso, Malaysia's ringgit and Indonesia's rupiah.

 'If you want to devalue the British pound or the US dollar . . . go ahead and do it. But if you do this against poor countries and you think you are doing a great job . . . a charitable job, I think you must be somewhat distorted in your ideas about things,' Mr Mahathir said at the weekend.

 Mr Burns said he did not want to speculate on Mr Soros' involvement.

 Washington, however, wanted stability returned to the region's markets and saw the movement as a reflection of economic forces, he added.

 Mr Mahathir's drive against Mr Soros gained momentum in a bitter opening address on Thursday at the 30th ASEAN ministerial meeting.

 The vitriol led to widespread debate among ASEAN foreign ministers and led to a communique warning of 'well co-ordinated efforts' to destabilise the grouping's currencies for 'self serving purposes'.

 The communique called for further intensification of ASEAN's co-operation to 'safeguard and promote' its interests, without giving details.

 Financial analysts in the region have been quick to point out that Malaysia's central Bank Negara was itself an aggressive currency trader until the early 1990s when it hit heavy losses.

 The ministers, meanwhile, formally noted 'satisfaction' at growing links between potential members of the East Asia Economic Caucus.

 The caucus will seek to boost economic ties between China, Japan and South Korea and the expanded nine-member ASEAN which now includes Burma and Laos.

 ASEAN sources said the grouping was now confident of formally setting up the caucus at a summit of leaders in Kuala Lumpur in December.

 Washington has privately expressed concerns at the move, fearing it will work against its interests.



US defends 'rogue' Soros as Mahathir expounds Western conspiracy theory