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Reuters-Activists blast Thais on My



Subject: Reuters-Activists blast Thais on Myanmar minister's visit

Activists blast Thais on Myanmar minister's visit
03:25 a.m. Feb 19, 1999 Eastern
BANGKOK, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Human rights advocates criticised Thailand on
Friday for accepting a visit by Myanmar's foreign minister despite his
country's human rights record.

Speakers at a seminar in Bangkok organised by the Asian Forum for Human
Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) accused Thailand of being more
interested in extracting economic gain from Myanmar than making a stand on
human rights.

``Thailand has been exploiting Myanmar's natural resources, including
fishery, forest and natural gas,'' said Withaya Suchairthangrugse, of
Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

``This exploitation has made it turn a blind eye on human right abuses or
whatever happens in Myanmar.''

Forum-Asia activist Debbie Stothard said human rights abuses were still
rampant in Myanmar despite some cosmetic changes in the government,
including the appointment last year of Win Aung, an urbane career diplomat,
as foreign minister.

``Win Aung is singing the same song as his predecessors, the dictatorship
song composed by the Burmese military junta,'' she said.

Win Aung was due in Thailand on Friday evening to wind up a four-nation tour
of ASEAN countries that has taken him to Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore.

He has found himself at the centre of a dispute between ASEAN and the
European Union over Myanmar's participation in a bloc-to-bloc meeting
scheduled in Berlin next month.

The European Union is unwilling to accept Win Aung at a meeting of foreign
ministers from the two blocs unless Myanmar shows ``significant'' progress
on human rights. ASEAN says all of its ministers must be allowed to attend
or none at all.

Thai journalist Kiatichai Pongpanich told the forum Thailand had made a
mistake by including Myanmar in ASEAN in 1996.

``Since then (Myanmar) has created the political and economic confrontation
with the West, especially EU,'' he said.

``ASEAN and Thailand should realise that what is happening in Myanmar is
unacceptable in the rest of the world.''

Vithaya said Win Aung's visit to Bangkok should help soothe strained
relations between Thailand and Myanmar, including a dispute over fishing

rights. However he said this would be at the expense of relations between
ASEAN and the West.