U.S. Holds Back on Suppor

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/* Written  1:48 PM  Jul 28, 1994 by wov.central@xxxxxxx in igc:soc.cult.burma */
/* ---------- "U.S. Holds Back on Suppor" ---------- */
Subject : U.S. Holds Back on Support for Burma Dialogue

   BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuter) - The United States Wednesday
stood firm on its policy of continued isolation of Burma's
ruling junta despite an apparent shift by other Western
countries.
   U.S. Undersecretary of State Joan Spero told the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that Washington could only
build a productive relationship with Burma if it began genuine
efforts on political and human-rights reform.
   "While we share the same overall objective for Burma,
namely the developing of open and political systems, we have
some differences on how to achieve this end," she said in a
statement to six-member ASEAN.
   The U.S. stance contrasts with the ASEAN policy of
"constructive engagement," which included the presence at last
week's ASEAN ministerial talks of Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw.
   He was invited as a guest of Thailand in a move that angered
human-rights groups and a number of Western countries.
   In talks after the ASEAN meeting, the European Union,
Australia and Canada edged towards the ASEAN view that more
could be achieved in Rangoon through constructive contact.
   "Generally, they feel isolation is not the answer ... I
would like to say unanimously but I dare not to, they feel that
the constructive engagement of ASEAN is the right answer," Thai
Foreign Ministry spokesman Suvidhya Simasakul told reporters on
Tuesday.
   ASEAN, comprised of Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, said last week that it
eventually wanted Burma and the three Indochinese countries,
Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, to join.
   Most Western allies have differed with ASEAN on the best way
to encourage change in Burma since the military brutally
suppressed a pro-democracy uprising in 1988 and subsequently
detained without trial dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
   But this week, while deploring Burma's human-rights record
and continued political detentions, some Western countries were
reassessing their stand on the country.
   Canada, while still waiting to see evidence of real
commitment to political reform, said it was not in favor of
isolating the regime.
   Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said there was a
general recognition in Tuesday's ASEAN talks with dialogue
partners that there had been some progress in Burma over the
past couple of years.
   But Washington stressed that its approach had not changed.
   Spero, under secretary of state for economic, business and
agricultural affairs, quoted President Clinton on the conditions
for building ties with Rangoon.
   "As President Clinton said, 'That process can begin only if
the regime enters into a substantive dialogue with Aung San Suu
Kyi to resolve Burma's political impasse and to set it on a path
to successful national development with the free and full
participation of all its people'."


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