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BurmaNet News: October 7, 2000 (Eng
- Subject: BurmaNet News: October 7, 2000 (Eng
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 07 Oct 2000 06:44:00
Subject: BurmaNet News: October 7, 2000 (English)
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
_________October 7, 2000 Issue # 1634__________
INSIDE BURMA _______
*AFP: Myanmar opposition a threat to development: state media
*MICB: SPDC junta forces Muslim students to learn Buddhism and jails
Muslims in Burma
*AP: Strong earthquake hits Myanmar-China Border
REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*AFP: EU deplores Myanmar decision to cancel visit
*FEER: After two decades treating refugees from Burma
*Bangkok Post: ASEAN / Chiang Mai Meeting, Tackle Burma on human rights,
German MP says
*Inter Press Service: Rights--Activists Target Cheney for Involvement
in Burma
*Bangkok Post: DRUGS - Rangoon urged to fight menace
ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*AFP: Burma, China sign petroleum deal
*Xinhua: Thai Exports to Myanmar Look Promising
OPINION/EDITORIALS _______
*The Hindu (New Delhi): India?s security and China
OTHER________
*Burma Campaign UP: Job vacancies at The Burma Campaign UK
The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
AFP: Myanmar opposition a threat to development: state media
YANGON, Oct 7 (AFP) - The opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD), in league with external forces, is threatening Myanmar's
political and economic development, state media said Saturday.
"The ones who are disturbing peace and stability, and economic and
food, clothing and shelter conditions ... in collusion with the foreign
nations are none other than (Aung San) Suu Kyi and her followers of the
NLD," the state-controlled New Light of Myanmar said.
This latest verbal attack against the NLD comes against the backdrop of
international criticism over the junta's recent crackdown on the NLD.
NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior party members remain under
de facto house arrest imposed after they were prevented from travelling
to Mandalay on September 22, while deputy chairman Tin Oo languishes in
detention at a military base north of Yangon.
"In the 1990 election, the NLD won around 50 percent of the votes; but
at present over 90 percent of the voters in the nation are demanding to
dissolve (the) NLD," the paper said Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD won a
landslide victory in the 1990 elections which were subsequently annulled
by the junta.
"If the votes won by the NLD in the 1990 election can be acknowledged
as the people's wish, Suu Kyi and her followers should accept the
demands of the people to dissolve (the) NLD, which were made throughout
1999-2000," it added.
The military junta is accused by many western states, international
bodies and human rights organizations of human rights violations against
those who show signs of dissent against the regime.
The United Nations confirmed Friday that its special envoy to Myanmar,
veteran Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail, will hold four days of talks
in Yangon starting Monday with the junta.
Razali will discuss issues relating to the December 17 UN General
Assembly resolution deploring the "continuing violations of human rights
in Myanmar," and would report back to UN Secretary General Kofi Anan, UN
spokesman Fred Eckhard said Friday.
The junta have not stated publicly whether Razali will be able to meet
with Aung San Suu Kyi, but Eckhard said that the envoy would hold
"discussions with the government as well as other political actors."
____________________________________________________
MICB: SPDC junta forces Muslim students to learn Buddhism and jails
Muslims in Burma
MUSLIM INFORMATION CENTRE OF BURMA (MICB)
Oct 4, 2000
Since the opening of Burmese junta primary schools in June, 2000,
junta's teachers have forced Burmese Muslim students to learn Buddhism
in the Mon state of Burma. The Muslim students who refused to learn
Buddhism were dismissed from the schools.
On September,1, 2000, four Muslim elders of Daing Win Gwan Block
village, Moulmein township where a primary school was situated, put up
an application requesting the high authorities to spare the Muslim
students from learning Buddhism in the school , were arrested and have
been put under custody till today. The four village elders, were U
Ismail, U Yacoob, U Than Tun and Daw Mariam .
____________________________________________________
AP: Strong earthquake hits Myanmar-China Border
HONG KONG (AP) _ A strong earthquake jolted the Myanmar-China border,
the Hong Kong Observatory said Saturday.
The 5.3 magnitude quake was centered about 320 kilometers (198.85
miles) northeast of Mandalay, second biggest city of Myanmar, also known
as Burma.
It struck at 6:39 p.m. (1209 GMT) Friday, the observatory said.
An official of the seismological department in the Myanmar capital of
Yangon said residents in Mogaung felt the tremor but no injuries were
reported. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Mogaung is located in Kachin State, which borders China.
___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
AFP: EU deplores Myanmar decision to cancel visit
BRUSSELS, Oct 6 (AFP) - The European Union said Friday it deplored a
decision by Myanmar to cancel a visit by the EU foreign policy troika
that was scheduled for the end of this month.
"It deplores that fact that the Burmese authorities have not seen fit
to respond to its availabilty for dialogue," said a statement issued by
the French EU presidency.
"It recalls its serious concern about the deadlock in the political
situation and the human rights situation in the country," it said.
The EU foreign policy troika is made up of representatives of the
current and future EU presidencies, currently France and Sweden, plus
the European Commission and the office of EU foreign policy chief Javier
Solana.
Earlier Friday in Bangkok, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said
Myanmar's renewed crackdown on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was
jeopardizing EU-Southeast Asian talks set for December.
____________________________________________________
FEER: After two decades treating refugees from Burma
By Joshua Schenker
Far Eastern Economic
REVIEW
Issue cover-dated October 12, 2000.
FOR SOMEONE WORKING on the front lines of a refugee crisis, Dr. Jane
Geary is remarkably sanguine. "In many ways, the medical situation here
is as well monitored and capably treated as in a hospital anywhere," she
says. "It's almost like a normal job."
Almost. In Umpiam, a camp on Thailand's western border housing displaced
people from Burma, the in-patient clinic run by Medecins Sans Frontieres
looks like a clinic you'd find anywhere. Patients are hooked up to
drips. During breaks, staff knit and stare at posters on the wall. Young
nurses, usually drawn from the camp's refugees, check a girl with a
broken arm whose friend has brought her junk food to gorge on. They
comfort a young mother whose pregnancy has become complicated.
Watching MSF, which won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for its medical
work in the world's hot spots, it's hard not to be impressed. The group
has been working in camps along the Thai-Burmese border since the early
1980s, and there are currently about 120,000 refugees in these camps.
When MSF began working here, malaria and tuberculosis were persistent
scourges. Infant mortality was off the charts. Today, most refugees are
as healthy as any Thai citizen. A change in malaria treatment--using
drug "cocktails" rather than a single anti-malarial drug--is one factor
in the group's success. Preventive activities, such as education about
sanitation and nutrition, have also helped to minimize potential
problems. And staff have worked to break down barriers with refugees and
build up trust--a picture in one clinic shows an MSF doctor at a camp
function looking goofy in traditional Karen dress.
Still, with resources stretched thin, the appearance of normality is
deceptive. One morning, a frantic, overworked doctor arrives at Umpiam's
outpatient clinic, where patients have been lining up for hours. The
doctor glides through like Mother Teresa, spending just enough time with
each refugee to do basic checks before being swept towards the next
patient. Although Thailand has asked the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees to help convince 110,000 refugees to return to
Burma, the number of people flowing into Thailand is rising, as
persistent fighting between the rebel Karen National Union and Rangoon's
army levels villages inside the Burmese border.
These new refugees carry an ever-increasing variety of strains of
disease. Falciparum, the deadly strain of malaria, has not been
eradicated along the border. One anaemic young mother wracked by malaria
lies on an MSF-affiliated clinic's floor. Illnesses linked to the
woman's malaria claimed the lives of her first two children shortly
after birth. Now, she's lost so much weight that her body may soon start
consuming its own tissues.
There are concerns that a recent massive malaria, typhoid and anthrax
epidemic in northeastern Burma could spread to border areas just across
from the MSF camps. And psychological problems, predictably prevalent in
a population unable to return home, complicate treatment. "Some people
may not want to get better," says Dr. Herve Isambert, MSF Thailand
director.
Adding to MSF's problems is the resentment--and occasionally
violence--directed by local Thais against medical staff who treat
refugees. Thais in towns along the border have held rallies opposing
expansion of the camps. In the past, the Burmese military has attacked
camps, destroying refugees' houses and medical facilities. Geary,
though, is once again sanguine. "Security is not a major concern of mine
here, not compared to some places in Africa or Central Asia where MSF
works," she says. An MSF assistant adds: "It is just an aspect of the
job."
After nearly two decades on the Thai-Burma border, and with no sign of
the refugee crisis abating, MSF looks set to be doing that job for some
time to come.
____________________________________________________
Bangkok Post: ASEAN / Chiang Mai Meeting, Tackle Burma on human rights,
German MP says
Oct 6, 2000.
Trade and political reforms raised
Achara Ashayagachat
Thailand should continue to play a leading role in tackling the issue of
Burma's poor human rights record and in enhancing Asean-EU relations,
the chief whip of Germany's ruling party said yesterday. Peter Struck,
chairman of the Parliamentary Faction of the Social Democratic Party,
said Thailand had played an instrumental role in bringing about the
first meeting in three years of ministers of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union.
Thailand should continue playing an active role in international affairs
as well as relations with neighbouring countries, added the politician
who is said to be close to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Asean and EU ministers are due to meet in Laos in December, the first
meeting of its kind since Asean admitted Burma in 1997.
"I understand the difficulty of the Burma issue but I think Thailand
knows better than us how to deal with its neighbour. Burma has isolated
itself and not opened up human rights, which concerns us," Mr Struck
said.
Hermann Erath, the German ambassador to Thailand, said Germany was happy
to work with Thailand and that there finally could be a breakthrough on
the Asean-EU talks. Civil service discussions held here last year were
not enough, he said.
Mr Struck, who came to Thailand from Seoul and left for Jakarta
yesterday, said he also expected Bangkok to play a key role in the
Asia-Europe Meeting to be held in Seoul later this month.
"Thailand with its economic growth is very important to Germany and
Europe. My visit is to emphasise that despite the enlargement of the EU
membership, we do not neglect the Asean region and our interest is not
only on economic aspects but also on political reform and human rights
protection as well," he said.
Mr Struck met Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, Transport and
Communications Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, and Thai Rak Thai Party
leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
In talks with Mr Suthep, he said German airline Lufthansa was interested
in Thai Airways International's privatisation plan.
"Thailand and Germany have good relations and we hope good co-operation
will continue no matter who becomes the government."
____________________________________________________
Inter Press Service: Rights--Activists Target Cheney for Involvement in
Burma
WASHINGTON, (Oct. 4) IPS - Lawyers for victims of human rights abuses
committed by the military regime in Burma claim that the Republican
Party's vice presidential nominee was involved in a company that
assisted in energy projects in Burma associated with violent human
rights abuses. Until he was selected as vice presidential candidate for
the Republican ticket, Dick Cheney headed the energy giant Halliburton,
which activists say owned a subsidiary that helped build two pipelines
that involved the forcible relocation of villages, forced labor, rape
and murder.
"Halliburton partners and subsidiaries, both before and during Dick
Cheney's tenure as CEO, have been contractors for pipeline projects that
have led to crimes against humanity in Burma," says Katie Redford, a
human rights lawyer with EarthRights.
The military government in Burma, also known as Myanmar, has long been
considered one of the world's most abusive regimes. The United States
and the European Union have imposed economic sanctions against the
country due to the military's human rights abuses.
The regime is holding Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose
political party swept national elections 10 years ago with more than 80
percent of the vote, under house arrest.
With western countries blocking substantial economic assistance from the
World Bank and other multilateral financial institutions, the regime has
been forced to rely on foreign investment in order to earn hard
currency.
Two such investment projects are the Yadana and Yetagun pipelines. The
$1.2 billion Yadana pipeline will pump natural gas from offshore fields
in the Andaman Sea through Burma to Thailand. Construction began in 1992
and was completed last year.
Lawyers with EarthRights have gathered testimony from more than 100
villagers and several alleged army deserters who claimed to be victims
or witnesses of abuses related to the army's security operations in the
pipeline.
Activists are demanding that the consortium operating the pipeline,
including French oil giant Total, U.S.-based Union Oil of California
(Unocal), and a Thai state owned company, withdraw from the project and
Burma altogether.
Redford and other lawyers for victims of human rights abuses committed
by the military regime in Burma are appealing a Los Angeles judge's
recent ruling that they cannot sue California-based Unocal which
allegedly knew about and benefited directly from the regime's conduct.
In the case, John Doe et al v. Unocal et al, the lawyers argued that the
company should be held liable for abuses committed by the army which,
according to their legal theory, acted as paid agents of Unocal and
other members of the consortium.
On Aug. 31, U.S. District Judge Ronald Lew found that evidence had been
presented that Unocal knew or should have known about human rights
abuses committed in connection with the project and that these acts
benefited the project.
But the judge concluded even if that were all proven in court, the
plaintiffs would have to show that Unocal was much more deeply involved.
If the case proceeds, it could have major implications for recent
efforts by the United Nations and other international groups to promote
codes of conduct for companies operating in developing countries.
While activists appeal the ruling, Washington-based EarthRights is now
taking aim at Halliburton whose subsidiary European Marine Contractors,
in a joint venture with the Italian company Saipem, helped lay the
offshore portion of the Yadana pipeline in 1996 and 1997, according to a
new report by the advocacy group.
Cheney was CEO of Halliburton during this time. Halliburton Energy
Services also provided pre-commissioning services to the Yadana pipeline
with the help of the British company, Alfred McAlpine, according to the
42-page report released here today.
Human rights activists also connect Halliburton with a second pipeline,
the Yetagun, which was constructed parallel to the Yadana pipeline.
EarthRights claims that Bredero-Shaw, a subsidiary for Dresser
Industries manufactured the coating for the Yetagun pipeline in 1998.
Dresser was purchased by Halliburton that same year.
EarthRights has documentation that the Yetagun pipeline is associated
with the same pattern of human rights abuse as reported against the
Yadana pipeline. "To be involved in the Yetagun project is to knowingly
accept brutal violations of human rights as part of doing business,"
says Redford.
In response to criticism, last month Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall
said "we don't do business in Burma."
Cheney announced early last month that he would forfeit some options in
Halliburton if the Republican ticket is elected. He has already sold a
large part of his holding in the energy company.
EarthRights also outlines some of Halliburton's other activities in
Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Nigeria.
One of the company's contracts with Indonesia was cancelled by the
government during a purging of corruptly awarded contracts. An
Indonesian corporate watchdog organization called Halliburton's
engineering division, Kellogg Brown and Root among 59 companies that
used "collusive, corruptive and nepotistic practices" with former
president Suharto's family, according to EarthRights.
In Nigeria, Halliburton was accused of complicity in the shooting of a
protestor by Nigeria's Mobile Police Unit.
EarthRights also documents Halliburton's strong involvement in USA-
Engage and the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), two powerful
industry groups that lobby against U.S. sanctions.
Last June, the Supreme Court sided with the NFTC which fought against
the Massachusetts Burma law that prohibited state money from employing
or contracting with companies that work in Burma.
Pro-democracy Burmese groups and U.S. human rights activists compared
the selective purchasing law with those laws that helped bring down
apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s.
The NFTC argued that states should not be able to steer money away from
Burma dictatorship because the federal government has already enacted
sanction against Burma that pre-empt state laws.
Dick Cheney signed an amicus brief against the Massachusetts law,
according to the EarthRights report. Like Unocal corporate officers, he
argued that sanctions do not work and that what is needed is so-called
"constructive engagement' with governments accused of abuses.
But Redford says the term constructive engagement is a smokescreen and
what is really behind Halliburton's and the NFTC's agenda is commercial
interests.
"The real reason is they don't want to lose the business for
themselves," she says
____________________________________________________
Bangkok Post: DEFENCE - Navy to address Andaman security
Oct 6, 2000.
Wassana Nanuam
The navy is to set up a panel to study fishery problems and security in
the Andaman Sea over fears of territorial disputes with neighbouring
countries, especially Burma.
Vice Admiral Thewin Mungthunya said the navy's strategic studies
revealed that some neighbouring countries pose a threat to Thailand.
Thai authorities needed to study the power of Burma and India in the
Andaman Sea and to ensure security in that region so it could be used as
a way out in the event the Gulf of Thailand was blocked by any rival, he
said.
Vice Adm Thewin said the navy needed to reinforce its troops at Phangnga
naval base, its only unit on the coast of the Andaman Sea. Thailand
should develop its deep-sea fisheries using large vessels to ensure its
fishing industry will survive even though Burma has banned Thai trawlers
from its waters, according to Vice Adm Thewin.
____________________________________________________
Bangkok Post: DRUGS - Rangoon urged to fight menace
Oct 6, 2000.
Wut Nontharit
Rangoon's help is needed to combat the drugs menace, says a group of
senators back from a fact-finding mission to the border.
Chairman of the senate foreign affairs panel, Kraisak Choonhavan, said
drug problems in the north were getting worse. Senators visited Chiang
Mai and Chiang Rai.
Senators, he said, would talk to their colleagues about whether to seek
talks with Rangoon. A senate anti-drugs committee could hold talks with
Burmese leaders, Mr Kraisak said.
The Office of the Narcotics Control Board says 80% of drugs smuggled
into Thailand across transit points in the North are methamphetamines.
Northern provinces hardest hit are Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son
and Tak.
One million speed pills are made by drug factories in Burmese border
areas every day, it says.
The drugs menace had spread into all but 2% of 14,000 villages in the
North. More than 80% of prisoners in Chiang Rai were drug offenders.
Mr Kraisak said some Thai firms may be involved in Red Wa development
projects in Mong Yawn. The panel would look at the claims, and whether
they helped to launder drug money.
_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
AFP: Burma, China sign petroleum deal
BANGKOK, Oct 6 (AFP) - A leading Chinese firm has signed a multi-million
dollar contract with the Myanmar military junta to build two petroleum
plants, state media reported late Friday.
The agreement, between Myanmar state-owned Petrochemical Enterprise and
China National Machinery Import and Export Cooperation (CMC), was signed
in Yangon on Friday, TV Myanmar said in a dispatch monitored here.
The signing ceremony was presided over by Chinese diplomats and senior
Myanmar military leaders, it said.
Under the contract, the CMC's Dong Fang International Trading Co. Ltd.,
would construct two factories producing liquidfied petroleum gas (LPG)
in Myanmar at a cost of 13 million US dollars, the report said.
China is one of the largest foreign investors in Myanmar and a main
arms supplier for the junta.
____________________________________________________
Xinhua: Thai Exports to Myanmar Look Promising
BANGKOK (Oct. 5) XINHUA - Thailand's exports to Myanmar from January to
July rose by 21.2 percent to 292.7 million U.S. dollars over the same
period of last year, according to a press release of the Commerce
Ministry available here Thursday. The value of bilateral trade between
the two countries totaled 407 million dollars, of which Thailand's
imports accounted for 114. 3 million dollars, resulting in a trade
surplus of 178.41 million dollars for Thailand.
Increased exports included steel, plastic pellets, sugar, textiles and
garments, pharmaceutical products, aluminum products, dairy products,
ceramics and footwear.
Among main imports were timber, processed woods, coal, ores, fresh and
frozen shrimps, gems and jewelry, furniture, coffee and tea.
It is believed that the total volume of exports to Myanmar this year
would reach 310 million dollars. The volume is expected to be bigger
than targeted if local exports improve their products to meet
international standards and try continuously to penetrate the market in
the country.
_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS________________
The Hindu (New Delhi): India?s security and China
The real threat from China, if it can be so designated, has a larger
political and economic content; the contest is for power and influence
in Asia and the international system.
The Hindu (New Delhi)
October 5, 2000
By P. R. Chari
IS THE Chinese threat real or imaginary? Opinion is fairly divided in
India on this question. Sino-phobes believe Pakistan is the persistent
threat, but China is the long-term security threat that India cannot
ignore. Why? China is plainly expansionist and has used force to assert
its irredentism, as it did in Tibet and parts of India. China is a
blatant proliferant and the chief supplier of nuclear and missile
technology to countries of proliferation concern such as Pakistan, North
Korea and Iran. Examples of its casuistry are legion; China says one
thing and does the opposite.
Further, the Chinese threat to India primarily arises from its close
political and military nexus with Pakistan and is plainly directed
against India. This policy is explicable by Chinese strategic
calculations; this requires the boxing of India into the geographical
confines of South Asia to stultify its stature as an emerging global
power. Since the United States, too, is interested in bolstering the
entity of Pakistan, despite its drift into social chaos and financial
bankruptcy, an axis of powers û Pakistan, China and the U.S. û with
palpable anti-India compulsions is visible. In brief, Mr. George
Fernandes is not wrong in identifying China as the major future threat
to India, despite much confusion being created thereafter about this
accusation.
Sino-philes, on the other hand, argue that Indian obduracy largely
occasioned the border conflict in 1962 that resulted in humiliating
defeat. The primordial suspicious that have persisted thereafter inform
IndiaÆs placing the worst possible construct on ChinaÆs legitimate
pursuit of its national self-interests. Its achievement of global status
and challenge to U.S. supremacy was possible due to two decades of hard
work and sacrifice; India would do well to trim its flaccid political
and economic system and emulate China if it wishes to compete
successfully with it.
Indubitably, China has developed a close relationship with Pakistan
since 1965; this was largely designed to restrain Soviet expansion into
the Indian Ocean via Afghanistan. Sino-Pakistan cooperation has
manifested itself by the transfer of conventional weapon systems; they
are basically vintage Soviet-copied systems like the whole series of MiG
aircraft but are hardly a match for IndiaÆs latest generation weapons
systems acquired from both Soviet (Russian) and increasingly now from
Western sources. The jury is still out on the extent of military nuclear
assistance China has provided Pakistan, but this has been greatly
exaggerated by the CIA, which seems to be the main source of Indian
intelligence on Sino-Pakistan military and nuclear linkages. In short,
the Chinese threat has been considerably inflated by vested interests in
India to promote their own agendas.
How is the Chinese threat perceived officially? The latest (1999-2000)
Annual Report of the Ministry of External Affairs blandly notes ôwe
(India) seek friendly, cooperative, good-neighbourly and mutually
beneficial relations with Chinaö ôwe seek a long-term stable
relationship in which both sides are responsive to each otherÆs
concernsö, and ôwe remain committed to the process of dialogue to build
a constructive cooperative relationshipàö There is no hint of concern
visa-vis China. The latest Annual Report of the Ministry of Defence is
less euphemistic. Whilst noting that ôthe border areas have remained
largely peacefulö, and that both countries ôwish to seek a reasonable
and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question through
peaceful dialogueö, it highlights ChinaÆs improvement of its long-range
missile force, the likely entry of Chinese nuclear submarines into the
Indian Ocean, and its growing trans-border military capabilities due to
improved mobility, firepower and inter-service coordination.
Earlier, Ministry of Defence reports pinpointed ChinaÆs assistance to
PakistanÆs nuclear weapons programme and the transfer of missiles and
missile technology to Pakistan. But attention was also drawn to the
India-China agreements to 1993 and 1996 that envisage maintenance of
peace and tranquility in border areas and the negotiation of military
confidence-building measures along the Line of Actual Control. Here,
again, Sino-phobes and Sino-philes are divided on the reasons for slow
progress of the negotiations of the Joint Working Group. Sino-phobes
believe China has no interest in addressing this disputed seriously to
normalise its relations with India, because its strategic calculus
requires balancing off India against Pakistan. Sino-philes argue that,
on the contrary, India remains unclear about its own stand on the
border; there can be no take without give. So what does India have to
give to finalise the India-China border alignment? Is there a national
consensus on what territory can be exchanged?
So the whole issue has become circular without even the glimmer of a
solution on the horizon. Nevertheless, the question remains germane at
the beginning of the new millennium and a decade after the Cold War
ended: what is the Chinese threat to India?
Is there a nuclear threat to India? Official references to Chinese
nuclear submarines entering the Indian Ocean or nuclear missile in Tibet
embody concerns that they could become instruments to coerce India.
Could nuclear weapons be used against India? The late General Sundarji
speculated that if the Chinese faced an Indian counter-offensive
proceeding beyond certain limits into Chinese territory during the
course of a major Sino-Indian conventional border war, then ôthere could
be a high probability of a nuclear threat to India. That too only if the
Chinese decide to go back on their no-first-use pledgeö. Scenario
builders can conjure up any scary situations, however bizarre. But how
probable is this nuclear threat?
The possibility of another conventional Sino-Indian war must be rated
negligibly low. What about sub-conventional conflict? Would China foment
dissension and support the several insurgencies in the Northeast? There
is ample evidence that it pursued this policy by providing moral and
material support to the Naga and Mizo insurgents during the 1950s. This
policy, conceived within ChinaÆs then guiding philosophy of supporting
æwars of national liberationÆ worldwide, has long been abandoned.
By this process of elimination the only threat from China arises now
from its policy of transferring nuclear and missile technology to
Pakistan. It is another matter that ChinaÆs strategic objectives from
this policy are incomprehensible. How does it serve ChinaÆs interests to
provide India with the perfect rationale for weaponising and deploying
its nuclear capabilities? This has affected Chinese security adversely;
it is plainly evident that the strategic direction of IndiaÆs missile
programme is against China, and that IndiaÆs current nuclear posture of
ôcreeping proliferationö would eventually include China. India could
also profitably re-evaluate its policy of dealing with Taiwan in the
present gingerly fashion and deepen its relations with Vietnam as part
of an extra-regional strategy, apart from engaging China to mitigate the
negative aspects of their bilateral interaction. That would be wiser
than moaning about ChinaÆs military and nuclear assistance to Pakistan.
The real treat from China, if it can be so designated, has a larger
political and economic content; the contest is for power and influence
in Asia and the international system. India cannot compete with China
unless it puts its own house in order. It needs to accelerate its
reforms process by tackling hard issues such as reducing subsidies,
disciplining the civic and civil services, restructuring the public
sector, curtailing budgetary deficits and so on. It also needs to
display the will to govern; abject surrender to hijackers and kidnappers
and trade unions are not the attributes of a nation aspiring for global
status. The real threat from China arises therefore from its ability to
make sacrifices to meet such challenges to its economy and social order
without succumbing to the siren-lure of populism.
(The writer is Director, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New
Delhi.)
_____________________ OTHER ______________________
Burma Campaign UP: Job vacancies at The Burma Campaign UK
The Burma Campaign UK (TBC) is the leading campaign organisation on
Burma in this country. It works as part of the international
pro-democracy movement for Burma. TBC's activities include: high profile
public campaigning, lobbying UK and European
government, working with broadcast and print media,
and policy and analysis development. TBC is currently looking to fill
two new positions:
Part time Development Officer (3 days per week)
The Development Officer will be responsible for increasing the resources
available to TBC in order to strengthen the
organisation's campaigning capacity. These resources will be both
financial and gifts in kind.
The Development Officer will identify and approach new sources of
funding as well as service current donors. They will also be responsible
for organising fundraising events, supporter
recruitment and the monitoring of TBC income.
Initial contract one year
Salary 18,000 pro rata
Closing date 3 November, 2000
Part time Administration and Campaigns Officer (3 days per week)
The ACO will be responsible for managing TBC's working systems in order
to maximise its efficiency and to support and promote TBC's current
campaigns. Administrative responsibilities include: bookkeeping,
financial administration, processing membership and supervising
volunteers. Campaigns responsibilities
include: promoting TBC campaigns to existing networks, dealing with
information requests, writing and producing campaign
materials, managing TBC's presence at events.
Initial contract one year
Salary 16,000 pro rata
Closing date 3 November, 2000
For a job description, person specification and details for applications
please contact 0207 281 7377 or
e-mail bagp@xxxxxxxxxx stating which vacancy you are
interested in.
The Burma Campaign UK
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