Interview with Japan's New Ambassad

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Japan Times, Friday, March 13, 1998

New Envoy Responds to Critics:  Yen Loans for Myanmar Fall within
Humanitarian Bounds

By Hisane Masaki
Staff writer

	After several months of vacillating and dithering, Japan is finally poised
to take the plunge into the choppy waters of international politics and turn
open the loan tap for Myanmar's military regime.
	In the first release of official yen loans to the Southeast Asian country
since the military grabbed power there in a 1988 coup, Tokyo plans to
disburse about 2.5 billion yen in low-interest loans as early as later this
month for the repair of a damaged runway at Yangon's international airport.
	The military junta put opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest in 1989 and annulled the results of the
1990 democratic elections, in which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
won a landslide victory.  Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in the
summer of 1995.
	Although Japan, like the United States and Europe, suspended official
development assistance to Myanmar following the 1988 coup, it has pursued
"constructive engagement" with Yangon -- instead of isolating, so as to
encourage favorable changes there.
	But the relatively modest 2.5 billion loan plan has already drawn some
criticism both at home and abroad because it comes despite the military
regime's continued crackdown on the prodemocracy movement led by Suu Kyi.
	In recent months, the U.S. and Europe has stepped up pressure on Myanmar's
military junta -- the State Peace and Development Council, as it now calls
itself -- over its blatant violations of human rights and democratic
principles and they have toughened economic sanctions against the country.
	Commenting on the Japanese financing plan, James Foley, a U.S. State
Department spokesman, told reporters recently that the U.S. "does not
support the resumption of large-scale aid projects to Burma (Myanmar) at
this time."
	But Tokyo, while acknowledging the lack of significant progress on
Myanmar's human rights and democracy, insists that the planned loan
disbursement is for the purely "humanitarian" purpose of addressing grave
safety concerns over the superannuated airport.
	Kazuo Asakai, the new ambassador to Yangon and a former top Foreign
Ministry official in charge of international cooperation on human rights,
drug trafficking and other issues of global concern, shared his views on
Japan's Myanmar policy with The Japan Times before leaving Tokyo later this
month for his new post.
	Here are excerpts of the interview:
Q:	Why has Japan decided to resume yen loans to Myanmar now after a
suspension of more than 10 years?
A:	The planned 2.5 billion yen in yen loans is just part of 27 billion yen
loans Japan had committed to Myanmar for the airport repair and expansion
project before the 1988 military coup.  Therefore, it does not represent a
departure from Japan's postcoup policy of neither committing nor disbursing
fresh official development assistance except for humanitarian purposes.  In
the past decade, the use of Yangon's international airport has grown
dramatically.  The annual number of passengers who use the airport has risen
to 1.6 million from 300,000 in 1988.  In 1995, an average of 68 flights
landed or took off per day, compared with only 10 flights in 1988.  The
airport runway and telecommunications equipment are in an advanced state of
disrepair.  Japan is trying to ensure airport safety with the planned loans
from a humanitarian viewpoint.  It would be too late if a tragic accident
happened.
Q:	Japan has apparently sounded out the U.S. administration many times about
the airport financing plan since last summer.  The U.S. response so far to
recent media reports of the plan seems relatively muted.  Is the U.S.
administration's position of not supporting the plan, as stated by the State
Department spokesman Foley, tantamount to "condoning" the Japanese move?
A:	It is true that the Japanese government has taken various occasions to
fully explain its views to the U.S. administration.  But when you say
"condoning," you are interpreting the State Department spokesman's comment.
I am not in a position to interpret any remarks made by U.S. administration
officials.  I simply take the remarks as the are.
Q:	Before State Foreign Secretary Masahiko Komura visited Yangon last
summer, there was heated debate within the government over whether Japan
should disburse the loans.  But at that time, the view that such a step was
premature eventually prevailed.  According to government sources, the U.S.
administration warned Tokyo shortly before Mr. Komura's Yangon trip that the
loans would damage Japan-U.S. relations, which were already soured at the
time over how to deal with Hun Sen, Cambodia's strongman.  Japan has taken
the diplomatic initiative recently in helping ensure the holding of a free
and fair election in Cambodia, scheduled for this summer.  In the recent
crisis over the United Nations' weapons inspections of Iraq, Japan also
showed its cooperative stance toward the U.S.  Have these developments made
Japanese officials judge that any damage done by the disbursement of the
Yangon airport loans to the overall relations between Tokyo and Washington
would be kept to a minimum?
A:	Japan is not directly linking the airport loan issue to the issues of
Cambodia and Iraq.  But the overall atmosphere surrounding the Japan-U.S.
relations was an indirect factor behind the Japanese loan plan.  Japan is
placing particular importance on relations with the U.S.  But another
important factor Japan takes into account is what the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations is thinking.  (ASEAN admitted Myanmar last summer
despite objections from the U.S. and Europe.)  Last December, Japan held a
summit meeting with the ASEAN nations in Kuala Lumpur and had an opportunity
to exchange views with some of them on Myanmar at the top political level.
Those ASEAN nations said they wanted Japan to disburse the airport loans as
soon as possible.
Q:	Until recently, you had served for two years as the Foreign Ministry's
top official in charge of international cooperation on human rights, drug
trafficking and other issues of global concern.  How are you going to
address the question of improving Myanmar's human rights record?
A:	Promotion of human rights protection and democracy in the international
community is one of the pillars of Japan's foreign policy.  I am firmly
determined to continue pressing Myanmar for improvement on such fronts.  But
the issues of human rights and democracy are too difficult to be resolved
overnight.  I have learned from my experience in the past two years that
dialogue, persuasion and cooperation are important when promoting human
rights.  I want to call on various officials in Myanmar, while exercising as
much patience as possible, to improve the country's human rights record.  In
addition, I want to call on Myanmar, a major drug producer, to cooperate
with Japan to eradicate drug trafficking.  To address the drug issue,
efforts by both producing and consuming countries are inevitable.  Unlike
the U.S. and Europe, drug consumption hasn't yet become a serious problem in
Japan.  But as a responsible member of the international community, Japan
needs to contribute actively to addressing the drug issue.  I also believe
that Japan should promote economic cooperation with Myanmar in developing
human resources and such humanitarian fields as medical care, regardless of
what the country's regime is like.
Q:	The Myanmarese economy has been dealt a blow by the recent financial
crisis that has swept through East Asia.  In recent months, foreign
investment in Myanmar has been declining and the market rate of the
country's currency, the kyat, plummeting precipitously against the dollar.
Before the Asian turmoil erupted, Myanmar's military regime had bragged that
foreign investment in the country, led by its Asian neighbors such and
Singapore and Thailand, was growing smoothly despite the continued U.S. and
European economic sanctions.  But those neighbors are now cutting back on
their Myanmar investment amid economic problems at home.  Some analysts say
that it is a matter of time before the military regime will be forced to
take some action, possibly concessions to the prodemocracy opposition, to
improve its ties with the U.S. and other major donor nations as a way of
pulling the country out of dire economic straits.  Would you agree with them?
A:	I don't know whether Myanmar's external policy will change because of the
Asian financial crisis.  Myanmar has a great potential for economic
development in the medium and long term.  The country is relatively rich in
natural gases and other resources.  Its people are said to be diligent.  But
Myanmar must promote transparency in its economic policy and open its
economy wider to foreign competition if it is to realize that development
potential.  Any country can secure its economic interests only by
integrating itself in the international community.  Even Japan and the U.S.
are not exceptions.
Q:	While the U.S. and many other industrialized countries continue harsh
economic and other sanctions against Myanmar, China has increased economic
aid to the country in recent years, a move that many analysts say is aimed
at securing Chinese access to the Indian Ocean for strategic regions.  The
growing Chinese influence on Myanmar has raised security concerns among some
Asian nations, especially India, China's rival in the region.  ASEAN's
admission of Myanmar last summer is believed to reflect its desire to
prevent Yangon from falling under the sway of Beijing.  How do you view the
strengthening ties between Yangon and Beijing?
A:	I think its quite natural that China is interested in strengthening
relations with its southern neighbor.  Japan has no intention of vying with
China for hegemony in Southeast Asia.  I think it is a good thing for China
to extend economic cooperation to Myanmar.  But at the same time, I am not
so naive as to be indifferent to what motives China has.  Myanmar occupies a
geopolitically important location.  At this moment, however, I do not have
any immediate security concern over the strengthening ties between Yangon
and Beijing.