Thai Openly Backs Myanmar

[NBH03114@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Errors-To:owner-burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx
FROM:NBH03114@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Burmese Relief Center--Japan
DATE:April 30, 1995
TIME: 2:07PM JST

Los Angeles Times WORLD REPORT

Saturday, April 29, 1995

Produced in Cooperation with The Yomiuri Shimbun

THAILAND OPENLY BACKS MYANMAR PIPELINE

Asia: Nation major investor in controversial project co-funded
by Unocal.

By Evelyn Iritani 
TIMES staff writer 

  From the vantage point of Deputy Prime Minister Supachai
Panitchpakdi, the difference between Thailand and its more
controversial neighbor, the renegade nation of Myanmar
(formerly Burma), is a few miles and several decades of
development.
  That's why Thailand makes no apologies for its role as a
major investor in a controversial natural gas pipeline project in
Myanmar that has prompted widespread protests against Los
Angeles-based Unocal Corp.
         Back in the mid-1970s, it was Thailand's military leaders
who were criticized for crushing a democratically elected
government and promoting economic development at the
expense of political freedom.  Today it is the military regime-
in Myanmar that is under attack from abroad for its repression
of political dissent and h treatment of ethnic minorities.
         Then, as now, it was foreign companies such as Unocal that
offered these developing countries badly needed hard currency
and technology, according to Supachai, who was interviewed
in Los Angeles last week during a conference sponsored by the
U.S.-Thailand Business Council.
         Today, Thailand is one of Asia's fastest-growing economies. 
It anticipates spending $60 billion on infrastructure projects in
the next few years.
         That history, and a shared border, are why Thailand is the
top investor in Myanmar and a partner with Unocal and Total,
the French energy giant, in building a $1-billion natural-gas
pipeline across that country, according to the Thai diplomat. 
Thailand, where Unocal has been producing natural gas since
1981, will be the major customer for the gas from the Myan-
mar.
  As a close neighbor of Myanmar, Thailand has a lot more at
stake than a steady supply of energy.  Thousands of refugees,
fleeing the fighting between Myanmar's military and a
collection of rebel groups, live in camps in Thailand.
         "We can't turn our back on our neighbor," Supachai said.
         For the Clinton administration, Myanmar is yet another spot
where its efforts to promote democracy and expand U.S.
commercial interests abroad have collided.
         Human rights groups want Unocal and other U.S. companies
to withdraw from Myanmar, arguing that they are propping up
a repressive military regime that has imprisoned the country's
legitimately elected leaders, including Nobel Prize Laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi.  They also cite reports from refugees that
the Burmese military is displacing villagers along the pipeline
route and is using forced labor to clear the area.
         Federated Department Stores, the owner of Macy's,
announced last week it will halt clothing production in
Myanmar within three months because it has become
unprofitable.  Eddie Bauer, Liz Claiborne and Levi Strauss
pulled out of the country earlier, citing concerns over human
rights abuses and political instability.
         Unocal executives argue their pipeline project will benefit the
people of Myanmar by providing jobs and eventually the
power needed to develop the impoverished country.
         Unocal spokesman David Garcia denied reports that forced
labor is being used in connection with the pipeline project.  He
said the route is still being surveyed, and the final path has not
even been selected.
         Supachai said he meets regularly with Myanmar's leaders
and Thai business people who work in that  country and has
found no evidence of forced labor being used on the pipeline
project.  He said as the country attracts more tourism and
business travel, it becomes difficult to hide widespread human
rights abuses.
         He expressed optimism that Aung San Suu Kyi will be
released soon.
         "Our prime minister asks about this every time he meets with
the Burmese leaders," he said.
         Supachai, whose government is a leading advocate of a
"constructive engagement" policy with Myanmar, argues an
economic boycott would send that country "back to the dark
ages." An increase in foreign trade and tourism, on the other
hand, will force the military to give people more freedom as it
relaxes border controls and encourages entrepreneurship, he
said.
         Something as simple as Thailand's construction of a road
across Burma into China will increase contact between the
Myanmar people and their neighbors, Supachai said.
         "Eventually, the (Myanmar) government can't avoid giving
more choices to their people," he said.
         Thailand also supports bringing Myanmar's leaders into the
international arena by involving them more closely with their
neighbors in the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations, the region's
major economic group.
         As Myanmar attracts more foreign investment and expands
its economy, it will naturally lead to the creation of an
educated middle class that will be able to push from within for
expanded political and economic freedoms, Supachai said.
         "Burma's situation is much like Thailand a couple of decades
ago.  It will change not because of outside pressure, but
because of changes from within."