[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
CNN: U.S. banning new investment in
- Subject: CNN: U.S. banning new investment in
- From: Winston_Lee@xxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 03:30:00
Subject: CNN: U.S. banning new investment in Burma 04/22/97
U.S. banning new investment
in Burma
Move aimed at human rights abuses
April 22, 1997
Web posted at: 11:58 a.m. EDT (1558 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. President Bill Clinton has
decided to ban new U.S. investment in Burma, White
House
officials said, invoking a law that seeks to punish
Burma's military
government for human rights abuses.
Senior administration officials say the shift in
policy would be
announced at the State Department Tuesday.
The sanctions come under the terms
of
the Cohen-Feinstein law signed by
the
president in 1996. The bill,
sponsored
by Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-California,
and then-Sen. (now Defense
Secretary)
William Cohen, R-Maine, permits
the
administration to impose stiff
measures if
Burma continues to suppress the
democratic opposition.
One of Burma's military leaders said on Tuesday his
government
would not be swayed by the U.S. economic sanctions and
denied
Western allegations of human rights abuses.
"It's not a problem for us,"
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt told
international journalists on a
government trip to the Golden
Triangle area in eastern Shan state.
Elsewhere, some diplomats
questioned whether Rangoon might
retaliate against the democracy
movement.
Burma has been under intense
pressure for several years over the military regime's
human rights
practices since it failed to allow the democratically
elected
government of the opposition National League for
Democracy to
take power after a 1990 vote.
The U.S. law warns the generals who rule Burma not to
arrest or
harm Aung Sang Suu Kyi, founder of the National League
for
Democracy. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was under
house
arrest for six years.
Suu Kyi has lobbied
the international
community, and
especially
Washington, for years
to use economic
measures against the
government.
Clinton's decision
followed a heated
debate in Washington.
Even though he
sponsored the original bill, Cohen was one of several
members of
the president's Cabinet who opposed imposing sanctions
now,
arguing that they would have little effect on Burma's
government.
But supporters of the sanctions -- which are not
retroactive and
will allow existing contracts to stand -- say
diplomatic pressure is
not working.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in a speech
last week
that U.S. patience with the Burmese government had run
out.
The decision is likely to draw fire from some in both
the United
States and abroad, and may cause a rift with some of
Washington's allies in Southeast Asia.
In contrast to the U.S. policy, the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) has refused to isolate Burma.
ASEAN members say maintaining
economic and diplomatic engagement is
more effective. Malaysia, in fact, is
expected to push for Burma's full
membership at ASEAN's 30th
anniversary meeting in July.
But the European Union dropped preferential trade
benefits last
month for Burma's industrial and agricultural exports
because of
the use of forced labor. EU nations have already
stopped military
cooperation and refused to begin talks on new trade
deals.
Roger Beach, president of the oil and gas company
Unocal Corp.,
the largest U.S. investor in Burma, said Tuesday the
sanctions
were counterproductive and did more damage to the
Burmese
people than to the military regime.
"Sanctions .. hurt people," he told the American
Chamber of
Commerce. "And they cut off American companies from
places in
the world where be should be involved."
Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
Suu Kyi ridicules Burma's rallies - May 29, 1996
Burmese opposition proposals sting government -
May 28,
1996
Suu Kyi addresses 5,000 in Burma - May 25, 1996
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
Aung San Suu Kyi Winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize
in
Peace - by the Nobel Prize Internet Archive
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi - from the Free Burma
Coalition
Burma (CIA World Fact Book)
The Nobel Foundation
Free Burma Home
CNN Plus: Newsmaker Profiles:
Aung San Suu Kyi - Burmese Opposition Leader
External sites are not endorsed by CNN
Interactive.
Search for related CNN stories:
[Help]
Tip: You can restrict your search to the title of
a document.
Example: title:New Year's Resolutions
Sound off
on our
message
boards
Tell us what
you think!
You said it...
? 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided
to you.