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Bkk Post-CURTAIN-RAISER / VISIT BY



Subject: Bkk Post-CURTAIN-RAISER / VISIT BY BURMA'S THAN SHWE

March 8, 1999
CURTAIN-RAISER / VISIT BY BURMA'S THAN SHWE

Drugs top talks in first visit by junta leader
He has called on the leaders of most other member nations of Asean and now
Gen Than Shwe is coming to Thailand, where talks are expected to cover a
wide range of topics.

NUSSARA SAWATSAWANG

Thailand appears to be trying to justify its engagement with the roundly
condemned, Rangoon military regime by raising cooperation in the war on
drugs as the key issue of the visit beginning today of Gen Than Shwe, the
Burmese prime minister.

The Thai decision to focus on drugs also gives Burma the opportunity to show
that it is taking part in a constructive activity that its international
critics will find hard to denounce.

Thailand is receiving the Burmese leader close on the heels of a boycott by
several Western countries of an Interpol conference on drug suppression in
Rangoon.

Chuan Leekpai, the prime minister, will receive his Burmese guest in the
northern province of Chiang Rai, which forms part of the Golden Triangle -
where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma meet - one of the world's
biggest opium producing areas.

Mr Chuan is expected to seek special attention to the problem of
amphetamines, which is endangering the health of school children as well as
adults in Thailand, while his Burmese guest may ask for Thai help on the
arrest of a prominent ethnic Wa commander who has become Rangoon's most
wanted drug baron since Khun Sa surrendered in early 1996.

The timing is "ripe" for Gen Than Shwe to seek the assistance as Rangoon has
failed to arrest Wei Hsueh-kang despite putting in a great deal of effort,
said Pornpimol Trichote, a Burma analyst with Chulalongkorn University's
Institute of Asian Studies. The Wa drug baron is based in the northern part
of Shan state bordering Thailand's Chiang Mai province.

Gen Than Shwe is the first leader of the military junta in Rangoon to pay an
official visit to Thailand since the generals crushed a pro-democracy
uprising in Burma in 1988. Gen Than Shwe visited other Southeast Asian
neighbours, including Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and

Brunei, between 1995 and 1997.

Though Prime Minister Chuan is yet to visit Rangoon, his predecessors,
Banharn Silpa-archa and Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, went there in 1996 and
1997 respectively.

Gen Than Shwe is coming to Thailand at a time when Burma is in need of
friends beyond its colleagues in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
which it joined in 1997.

Besides the boycott by the United States, Britain, France, Denmark, Belgium,
and Italy of the Interpol conference in Rangoon two weeks ago, Burma also is
facing stiff resistance to it joining talks on economic cooperation between
Asean and the European Union.

The 15-strong EU remains strongly opposed to Burma taking part in a
ministerial meeting between the two groups later this month although
Thailand believes the Europeans might agree to allow Burma to join a more
junior level meeting of the joint cooperation committee.

"Burma needs help from Thailand to seek a consensus to allow it (to attend
the meetings) while facing such an EU blockade," said Ms Pornpimol. Bangkok
is a coordinator between the two blocs.

Gen Than Shwe's visit to Thailand also reflects Burma's need to look
outwards following the collapse last year of the Suharto regime in
Indonesia, a regime it upheld as a model of political stability.

Indonesia's ruling Golkar party was the model for Burma's
five-million-strong political force, the Union Solidarity Development
Association (USDA), and former President Suharto is a long-time friend of
veteran Burmese leader Ne Win.

For Thailand, Gen Than Shwe's visit will help raise the momentum towards
solving bilateral problems along the 2,401-km-long common border and the
fostering of economic cooperation.

According to Surin Pitsuwan, the foreign minister, Thailand is seeking
coordination at "all levels" to reduce border tensions and mistrust as well
as illegal migrations.

For his part, Gen Than Shwe may take the opportunity to raise Burmese
concerns over the delay in payments by the Petroleum Authority of Thailand
for gas piped from the Yadana natural gas project, according to officials
and analysts.

The Yadana development consortium, led by Total of France, involves the
development of 525 million cubic feet of gas a day from a field off Burma's
coast. The PTT, the sole buyer of the gas, has yet to pay for the purchase
of an estimated five million cubic feet a day it has received since July.

Under the contract, the PTT is committed to pay for supplies whether it
takes delivery or not.

But the PTT has been negotiating with the Yadana developers to relax
penalties for the late purchase of gas due to the delay in delivery and the
incomplete construction of the power plant in Ratchaburi. The PTT also is
seeking re-adjustment of the gas price, which is now higher than the
domestic price in the wake of the economic downturn and drop in power
consumption.

The delay in the payment has diminished Rangoon's hopes of earning foreign
income to make up for a severe shortage of foreign exchange, although it
earlier withdrew some money from the consortium.