China attacks 'failed' US sanctions

[ausgeo@xxxxxxx]

Subject: China attacks 'failed' US sanctions against SLORC

China attacks 'failed' US sanctions against Burma

BEIJING, May 7 (AFP) - China Wednesday declared US economic sanctions against 
Burma a failure, and warned that the imposition of such sanctions for 
political motives was futile in the post-Cold War era.

The April 22 ban on new investments in Burma "seem to have failed," the 
official China Daily said in a signed commentary.

The US imposed the investment ban citing rights abuses by the ruling military 
junta and severe restrictions imposed on opposition leader Daw  Aung San Suu 
Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD).

But the China Daily said the Association of Southeast Asian nations had 
brushed aside the sanctions, saying Burma's entry into the organisation would 
proceed as expected.

"Even Japan and Australia, two close allies of the United States in the 
Asia-Pacific region, said they would not follow the US example," it said.

"The isolation in which the US government finds itself on the Myanmar issue 
may serve as a lesson when considering slapping economic sanctions on others."

Myanmar is the junta's official name for Burma.

Washington, which frequently criticises Beijing over human rights, imposed 
economic sanctions on China following the brutal crackdown on the Tiananmen 
Square pro-democracy demonstrations in June 1989.

"The United States should understand that in the post-Cold War era, the 
practice of gaining political interests by randomly making use of economic 
sanctions is bound to meet increasingly strong resistance," the commentary 
said.

Sanctions against Burma will only aggravate tensions between Rangoon and 
Washington and "will benefit no side," it added.