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Foreign Policy of Burma's Neighbors



N E W S    R E L E A S E

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  July 17, 1997	
Contact:   Dr. Thaung Htun, (212) 338-0048

The issue of the foreign policy of neighboring countries towards 
Burma was discussed at a meeting organized by the Burma UN Service 
Office. The discussion featured a presentation by Christina Fink of 
the Open Society Institute's Burma Project.

Thirty people gathered to hear Ms. Fink speak about the situation 
along the borders of Burma, as well as the current and future directions 
of neighboring countries with regard to their policies towards Burma.

An international debate has ensued as nations attempt to figure out 
how best to interact with the military regime now in control in Burma, 
(renamed Myanmar by the military), called the State Law and Order 
Restoration Council, or SLORC.

Dr. Thaung Htun, Representative for UN Affairs for the National 
Coalition Government of the Union of Burma and a Burmese expatriate 
forced to flee his country after the 1988 crackdown against student 
protests in 1988, chaired the meeting. "Burma has had a policy of 
non-alignment since independence from the British" he said. "The 
SLORC has shifted the country's policy towards a very pro-China policy. 
That shift has a lot of repercussions in the region as well as an impact 
on democratic development in Burma."
Ms. Fink has spent about five years in the border regions around Burma, 
mostly in Thailand. She recently spent a number of weeks in India along 
the Burma border and presented slides taken there.

Ms. Fink first outlined her views on the policy of the U.S. and other 
Western countries towards Burma and the region, giving a hierarchy of 
concerns that decide that policy.

"National security is the first concern, then economics; third would be 
human rights, and fourth would be drugs," she said.

"The U.S. has very little in Burma to concern itself regarding the 
first two", she continued, "so human rights and drugs are really the 
deciding factors motivating U.S. policy. However, neighboring countries 
have a lot more at stake. Issues of national security and economics are 
of major concern to countries like Thailand and India."

Ms. Fink discussed some of the specific issues such as energy imports 
via gas pipelines -- one under construction to Thailand, another being 
talked about into India. Numerous other projects were discussed, 
pointing to a deep regional interdependence that has led to the 
"constructive engagement" policy being followed by Burma's neighbors.

Ms. Fink expressed a bit of frustration at the observation that the 
SLORC is able to wag the dog when it comes to neighboring countries' 
policies, revealing perhaps, a bit of desperation to gain access to 
Burma's resources and strategic position. She questioned the inability 
of surrounding countries to set ground rules.

A lively debate followed regarding the constructive engagement policies 
of countries belonging to ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian 
Nations. ASEAN recently decided to admit Burma into its ranks as a full 
member contrary to the wishes of the pro-democracy movement, which sees 
admission into ASEAN as another step towards the legitimizing of the 
SLORC's rule.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy 
(NLD), has called for foreign countries and companies to cease investing 
in Burma until democracy can be restored. The NLD won 82% of the 
parliamentary seats in the 1990 elections, but the military refused 
to yield power, nullified the elections and arrested many of the NLD 
leaders. The military reshuffled the leaders and formed the SLORC.  
The regime has been called the most in the world, using forced labor, 
forced relocation, rape and torture to maintain its iron grip on power.
President Clinton signed U.S. sanctions into law in April, barring new 
investments by U.S. companies in Burma.

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