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Wired News on April 5 & 6, 1995



Attn: Burmese Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on April 5 & 6, 1995
---------------------------------------------

      BANGKOK, April 6 (Reuter) - Thailand's foreign minister Krasae
Chanawonge heads to Burma on Friday for a two-day visit following a period of
troubled relations between the neighbouring countries. 

    State-run Radio Thailand reported on Thursday that Krasae will meet with
Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw on Friday and pay a courtesy call on the
military government's head of intelligence, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, on
Saturday. 

    Thailand has long been a leading proponent of Southeast Asia's policy of
constructive engagement towards Burma's military government. 

    However, normally cordial relations have been strained since the
beginning of the year when a Burmese army offensive against minority
guerrillas forced thousands of refugees into Thailand. 

    Since then, Thailand has lodged several official complaints about Burmese
soldiers who crossed the border to harass refugees. 

    Last month, following a guerrilla raid on a northeast Burmese border
town, official Burmese media deplored Thailand's refusal to hand over a group
of guerrillas who had fled to Thailand after the raid. 

    Radio Thailand on Thursday referred to a letter sent to Krasae and other
senior officials from the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, which
called for a review of Thailand's policy towards Burma. 

    ``We humbly urge the minister to do all that is within your power to
ensure that the Burmese regime takes full responsibility for the deaths and
injuries of Thai people and the destruction of Thai property along the
border,'' said the letter, obtained by Reuters on Thursday. 

    The letter also called on Thailand to take immediate and clearly defined
steps to increase the safety and security of Thai citizens and Burmese
refugees along the border. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-04-06 06:44:13 EDT
**********

      By Robert Birsel 

    BANGKOK, April 5 (Reuter) - Shan guerrillas loyal to Burma's opium rebel
Khun Sa will launch attacks in towns and cities if Burmese government forces
try to capture Khun Sa's jungle headquarters, a guerrilla official said on
Wednesday. 

    Khun Sa's Mong Tai (Shan State) Army (MTA) fighters would attack targets
in towns, including possibly Burma's second-largest city Mandalay, if
government forces moved against Khun Sa's headquarters at Ho Mong in southern
Shan state, MTA official Khuensai Jaiyen told Reuters. 

    ``We will certainly not allow ourselves to become sitting ducks for the
Burmese to destroy,'' He said. 

    Last month MTA troops attacked Tachilek, a bustling trade town on the
border with Thailand, after Burmese government forces launched an offensive
against a nearby rebel base area, 180 km (120 miles) to the northeast of Ho
Mong. 

    Khuensai, speaking by telephone from the Thai-Burmese border, said the
military situation was now quiet with only sporadic shelling of rebel
positions by government forces in some areas. 

    Burma's military government has vowed to crush Khun Sa, who they call a
``Narcotics trafficking terrorist,'' And his well-equipped MTA. 

    Burmese forces launched a large-scale offensive against Khun Sa's main
areas of control in the Burmese section of the Golden Triangle opium growing
region at the end of 1993. 

    Fighting, at times heavy, continued last year and Burmese forces managed
to capture some MTA positions. 

    The government offensive against the MTA petered out when the rains set
in towards the end of last year but resumed again last month. 

    ``There are still three of four major strongholds left to take over. The
armed forces will continue the task to really clear up the troops in that
area,'' Burmese army intelligence officer Lieutenant Colonel Kyaw Win told a
news conference in Rangoon last week. 

    ``Next year or the year after we plan to attack Ho Mong,'' Another
intelligence officer, Colonel Kyaw Thein, told the news conference. 

    Khun Sa faces the death penalty if captured, they said. 

    ``We can give him the death penalty because we know he is a drug smuggler
and a drug kingpin,'' Kyaw Thein said. 

    Western anti-narcotics agencies say Khun Sa controls a significant
portion of Burma's opium output which was more than 2,000 tonnes last year. 

    Khun Sa denies he is a trafficker, saying he is fighting Rangoon for the
independence of Shan state and only taxes opium traders to finance his
political and military campaign. 

    Khun Sa has been indicted by a U.S. Court on narcotics trafficking
charges which he denies. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-04-05 04:08:40 EDT
*************

      SINGAPORE, April 6 (Reuter) - The Burmese economy continues to face
endemic problems linked mainly to a lack of domestic capital for investment,
the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Thursday in its latest annual
outlook. 

    The bank said energy shortages were also a major constraint on the
economy. 

    The ADB found economic growth in Burma fairly stable at 6.4 percent in
1994, compared with 6.0 percent in 1993. It forecast growth of about 6.0
percent for 1995. 

    But the bank noted that industry sector growth was much slower during
1994 at nearly 8.0 percent, down from 11 percent in 1993. The result was
offset partly by a rise in the services sector, mainly from tourism, and a
slight improvement in agricultural output, it said. 

    ``While the government has implemented economic reforms, sustaining
economic growth in the longer term will require more wide-ranging efforts to
improve the incentive structure for trade and industry, such as controlling
inflation, broadening the tax base, promoting competition in the economy and
strengthening the financial system,'' the ADB said. 

    The bank said the Burmese government also needed to address the problems
of a grossly overvalued official exchange rate and hefty trade controls. 

    ``The productivity of state economic enterprises, which account for about
one-third of public investment but contribute only one-fifth of government
receipts, also needs to be improved,'' the bank said. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-04-06 07:14:28 EDT
*************

	 RANGOON, April 6 (Reuter) - Burma's military government is 
moving to liberalise its economy but foreigners are still wary 
of making large investments because of poor infrastructure, an 
overvalued official currency and political uncertainty.
	 Although the military government has relaxed its foreign 
investment laws and opened up on the amount of foreign-owned 
ventures it will allow, diplomats say investors remain 
cautious.
	 "There are many problems here... At this moment the 
situation is not good enough to make new investments on a 
large scale in Burma," one diplomat told Reuters. "The 
potential for investment in the future is not bad. But many 
people are watching and waiting for conditions to improve."
	 Diplomats, who calmly sat through several power outages in 
the course of an hour-long interview, said the lack of 
electricity was just one of the problems the government needs 
to address.
	 There is also the issue of insufficient roads connecting 
major cities with the rest of Burma, poor port facilities and 
an underdeveloped telecommunications system.
	 A hugely over-valued official exchange rate also hampers 
growth, because investors are forced to pay their expenses in 
hard currency at the official exchange rate. 
	 The local currency, the kyat, trades at about six to the 
dollar at the official rate and at about 100 to the dollar on 
the black market.
	 Although the government is attempting to narrow the huge 
gap in exchange rates by issuing foreign exchange certificates 
which can be converted on the black market, diplomats say 
there is still a long way to go before the reforms can 
actually work to benefit investors.
	 Some foreign companies who have to answer to shareholders 
are also wary of investing in Burma because of its dismal 
human rights record and political uncertainty, observers said.
	 Most Western countries cut off financial aid to the nation 
after the military supressed a brutal 1988 pro-democracy 
uprising, leaving thousands dead or in jail.
	 The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which 
assumed power after the 1988 uprising, later refused to 
recognise elections in 1990 that were won overwhelmingly by an 
opposition, pro-democracy party.
	 The government has still not released opposition leader 
and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been 
under house arrest since 1989. Many nations have said her 
release is one of the prerequisites for a resumption of 
economic aid.
	 But at the same time the SLORC, which inherited the legacy 
of a disastrous 26 years of the "Burmese Way to Socialism" 
Doctrine, has tried to encourage foreign investment.
	 Soon after it assumed power the SLORC passed a Foreign 
Investment Law which permitted 100 percent foreign ownership 
in all but a few areas. Foreign companies were also allowed to 
form joint ventures with a private Burmese company or state 
enterprise as long as the foreign partner holds a minority 35 
percent equity share.
	 The most popular areas of investment in Burma are oil and 
gas and hotels and tourism, businessmen say.
	 Foreign-owned hotels, including big name international 
chains, are mushrooming throughout Rangoon ahead of Burma's 
"Visit Myanmar Year" Scheduled for 1996. Myanmar is the 
SLORC's name for Burma.
	 Under the Myanmar Investment Commission, a total of $2.38 
billion in foreign investment has been approved for 119 
different international enterprises from 17 countries as of 
January 31 this year.
	 Some diplomats note the figure means only that proposals 
have been approved. It doesn't mean the investment has already 
been made.
	 The top five countries with companies investing in Burma 
are France, which has a large oil and gas venture, Singapore, 
Thailand, the United States and Japan.
	 Diplomats say businessmen continue to visit Burma to gauge 
its potential as a place to invest. Some are putting a small 
amount of money into business now but most are holding off on 
large investments until the future.
	 "They are coming in big missions, but mostly to study," 
said one Asian diplomat. "Some are making small-scale 
investments... but they're waiting to make any big moves.
	 "The government needs to fix its problems first. I think 
they are stepping forward but the steps are still not fast 
enough."
***********************

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