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Date: Thu, 22 Dec 1994 20:59:34 -0800

/* Written  3:49 PM  Dec 22, 1994 by mbeer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:soc.cult.burma */
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Contents
Khin Nyunt Meets Takleh 
article on china burma relations 
pirates (including burmese) in Bangladesh

   BBC Summary of World Broadcasts

    December 22, 1994, Thursday
SECTION: Part 3 Asia - Pacific; SOUTHEAST ASIA;
BURMA; FE/2185/B
LENGTH: 87 words
HEADLINE: INTERNAL AFFAIRS; Khin Nyunt meets Shan
leader
SOURCE: Radio Myanmar, Rangoon, in Burmese 1330
gmt 20 Dec 94
BODY: Text of report

   Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, chairman of the Work
 Committee for the Development
of Border Areas and
 National Races and secretary-1 of the State Law
 and
Order Restoration Council, met with U Takleh,
 chairman of the Shan State
Nationalities
 Peoples'Liberation Organization and party at the
 Defence
Services Guest House on U Yin Road in
 Yangon [Rangoon] at 1600 today
[20th December]. At
 the meeting discussions were held on the
 development
of arable land for regional
 development, transport and economic matters.


	BBC
 Summary of World Broadcasts

    December 22, 1994, Thursday
 SECTION: Part 3 Asia - Pacific; CHINA;
foreign
 relations; FE/2185/G
 LENGTH: 588 words
 HEADLINE: other reports;
Article views China-Burma
 relations ahead of Li Peng visit
 BODY: 'Ta
Kung Pao', Hong Kong, in Chinese 21 Dec
 94 p 3

   Excerpts from "political talk" column by Shi
 Chun-yu (2457 0689 3768):
"Li Peng to visit Burma
 by end of year"

   Revisiting a close neighbour by end of year

   The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
 announced on 15th December that
Li Peng, premier
 of the State Council, will visit Burma from 26th
 to
28th December...

   Linked by common mountains and rivers, the two
 countries and peoples
of China and Burma have got
 on well with each other in the past. As early
as
 the beginning of the 1950s, former Burmese Prime
 Minister U Nu and
the late Chinese Premier Zhou
 Enlai, together with India and other
countries,
 put forward the highly prestigious "Five
 Principles of
Peaceful Coexistence" xat the Bandung
 Conference...

   However, in recent years, Burma has been ruled
 by a military regime.
Both former President Ne Win
 and the current federal Prime Minister Than
Shwe
 are servicemen...

   China-Burma trade reaches 800m dollars annually

   Although China and Burma have different social
 systems, the two
governments have maintained
 good-neighbourly and friendly relations since
the
 founding of New China. Over the past decade,
 because of the great
impact produced by China's
 policy of reform and opening up,
nongovernmental
 trade along the China-Burma border has become
unprecedentedly prosperous. The volume of trade
 between Yunnan and Burma
has increased from 15m
 dollars 10 years ago to 800m dollars last year...
Such flourishing commercial exchanges in a
 Sino-Burmese border city have
never been seen in
 the past. China's policy of opening up has
 naturally
benefited its neighbouring countries.

   As everyone knows, the Burmese Than Shwe regime
 is a military regime.
However, Western countries
 support the female politician, Aung San Suu
Kyi, a
 Nobel Peace Prize winner. They have even adopted a
 policy of
economic sanctions and isolation towards
 Burma, which has greatly harmed
the economy and
 foreign trade of this country.

   With such a background, in view of the fact
 that both countries are
close neighbours and the
 two peoples have been getting along in a
friendly
 manner, it is a natural result that the Than Shwe
 government
wishes to further develop trade with
 China. Strictly observing the " Five
Principles"
 for handling state relations, China never
 interferes in any
affairs which belong to the
 internal affairs of Burma.

   Great significance of the new Yunnan-Burma
 highway

   Some years ago, an area in southern Ruili,
 Yunnan Province, was
designated as a "special
 economic development zone" and a bridge was
built
 across the river between Burma and Ruili. On the
 river bank, there
are several new high-rises and
 shopping arcades. China is extending the
substantive benefits and influences of its open
 policy towards Southeast
Asia and the Indochina
 Peninsula through Burma. This is being followed
with interest by the ASEAN countries.

   Kunming and Burmese Lashio are now linked by
 the Yunnan-Burma Highway
via Dali and Ruili. There
 is another highway linking Ruili and northern
Burma. Today's Yunnan-Burma Highway is much
 superior to the old
Yunnan-Burma Highway in
 wartime.

   Economically, Li Peng's Burma visit at the end
 of this month will help
further expand cooperation
 between the two neighbouring countries.
Politically, the direct contact between the two
 heads of governments will
help promote mutual
 understanding and dispel the groundless misgivings
of some ASEAN countries, who think China's
 economic development may
change China into a big
 military power.

    Deutsche Presse-Agentur

 December 21, 1994, Wednesday, BC Cycle 01:05
Central European Time
LENGTH: 1160 words
HEADLINE: Pirates roam the Bay of Bengal -
fishermen go jobless
BYLINE: By Ahmed Fazl
DATELINE: Barguna, Bangladesh, Dec 21
BODY: With Kalashnikovs hanging from shoulder
straps and walkie talkies in hand, Bangladesh's
new generation of pirates roam the waters of the
Bay of Bengal looking for fishing trawlers to rob.

    "They emerge from nowhere with their
glistening speedboats and jump on our trawlers,
forcing the fishermen to leap into the sea before
fleeing with the whole week's catch," said
Mosharraf Hussain, chairman of the Marine
Fishermen's Cooperatiove Society.

    Speaking in the quiet southern fishing port of
Barguna, Hussain said more than 50 fishermen were
lost at sea in October and November all drowned
after being made to "walk the plank" by the
pirates.

    Like a scene out of the novel "Treasure
Island", the pirates commandeer the trawlers after
taking the captains and the engineers prisoner.
The catch is removed and the nets destroyed before
the trawlers are left to drift on the high sea. 

    In early December at least 14 fishermen were
killed and fish worth two million taka (50,000
dollars) stolen by the pirates near the coastal
town of patherghata, 45 kilometres from Barguna.

    The piracy was discovered five days later
after two fishermen who survived the attack were
picked up by naval boats.

    "We were fishing pompfrets and bhetkis in the
bay when about 30 pirates in four speedboats
surrounded our trawlers," said Bachhu Mia, one of
the survivors. "They ordered us over loudspeakers
to leave the catch on board and jump into the
sea," added Mia, who is recovering in a local
hospital.

    Police said the pirates took away one of the
trawlers, the MV Aliya, with them after blowing up
the engines of two others.

    About 15,000 fishermen along the Barguna coast
live in fear of the pirates. Many are planning to
give up their profession after being robbed of
their catches several times.

    "They are swift, daredevil and ruthless," said
Mohammad Karim, a local police official.

    Coastal police stations regularly receive
complaints about piracy but these cases remain
within the yellowing covers of official files
because the land police do not have the boats and
equipment to chase robbers at sea.

    Hussain said many cases of piracy were not
reported to police because victims concluded there
was little chance of the pirates being caught or
the looted fish being returned.

    There are indications that the Bangladeshi
pirates have formed a link with Burmese and Thai
illegal trawlers that regularly poach from the
relatively underfished Bay of Bengal. Interior
Ministry officials in Dhaka say the pirates work
often as agents of drug smugglers.

    Bangladeshi naval ships arrested 157 foreign
fishermen and impounded at least 17 fishing
trawlers in November in the Bay of Bengal. Ten of
these trawlers were from neighbouring BURMA.

Police estimate that double that number of illegal
trawlers escaped because of the inadequate
surveillance by the weak navy.

    "Piracy and poaching are taking a heavy toll
of the marine fishing industry," said Abdul Huq,
owner of a fish processing plant in Barguna.
Offshore fishing had been developing into a
profitable export but the threats have forced many
frozen fish exporters to change business.

    More than 500 fishernen have lost their jobs
in the last two months in Barguna. The town 320
kilometres south of Dhaka is wholly dependent on
fishing.

    "There was plenty of work here and the town
was bustling with the business that the fish
brought," said Harihar Dey, a tea stall owner on
the waterfront. "The pirates have not only ruined
the fishermen but also my town."

    So serious is the piracy problem that the
government recently decided to form a separate
constabulary of coast guards to police the
800-kilometre-long coastline.

    But the fishermen in Barguna will need a lot
more convincing before they return to the sea with


happy holidays
michael beer
<mbeer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>