[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Canada to impose sanctions on Burma





	Canada to impose sanctions on Burma
	***********************************

	(By Hari S. Maniam, Associated Press)


 KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)  Canada will join the United States in
 imposing economic sanctions on Burma, saying Tuesday it had no luck
 encouraging the military regime to make democratic reforms.

 Canadian officials made the announcement after meeting with
 Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw, who they said was "unambiguously
 unresponsive'' to their concerns.

 "We didn't see any willingness to engage,'' Canadian Foreign
 Minister Lloyd Axworthy said in an interview with Voice of
 America radio. "Therefore, in this case ... a broader level of
 international censure, I think, is necessary.''

 Canada is considering banning investments and limiting trade to
 counter Burma's attempts to encourage foreign investment through
 its new status as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian
 Nations, the officials said.

 ASEAN  Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the
 Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos and Burma  concluded a
 series of annual security talks Tuesday with Asian and Western
 countries.

 At a closing news conference, Ohn Gyaw defended Burma's
 record.

 "We are proceeding toward democracy,'' he said, adding there were
 differences of opinion on "whether that democracy accords with the
 outside world's perception or is in accordance with our own
 values.''

 Stuart Eizenstat, U.S. undersecretary of state, was unconvinced.

 "Our view is that Burma's top drug traffickers have become leading
 investors in the economy and leading lights in the new political
 order,'' he said. This poisoned the atmosphere for foreign
 investment and was behind the U.S. ban on all new investment
 there, he added. The United States is seeking international
 cooperation to isolate Burma economically and politically to pressure
 its military government into making democratic reforms. It opposed Burma's
 admission to ASEAN.

 Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said she wasn't too worried that 
 officials from some ASEAN nations have spoken out against the U.S. sanctions.

 "They might have disagreed with me out of the meeting, but they agreed with me
 in the meetings,'' she said in Singapore.

 The Southeast Asian nations meet annually with the United States, Russia, 
 China, Japan, South Korea, Canada, India, the European Union, New Zealand and
 Australia. 

 (AP, 29 July 1997)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

        News and Information Dept.
        All Burma Students' Democratic Organisation (ABSDO) [Australia]
        Tel/Fax: 61+03+98132613

----------------------------------------------------------------------------