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

WHY JAPAN INVITES KYAW WIN [ASAHI S



Subject: WHY JAPAN INVITES KYAW WIN [ASAHI SHINBUM NEWS]

      

Myanmar visit draws protest

By KISHIKO HISADA 

Asahi Evening News 

A high-ranking official with Myanmar's military government arrived in
Tokyo today for
meetings with Japanese politicians and senior officials, the Foreign
Ministry said. 

The officials said the 11-day visit by Brig. Gen. Kyaw Win at the official
invitation of the
ministry will provide Tokyo with an opportunity to express its concerns
over democracy and
human rights issues in Myanmar (Burma), among other things. 

But human rights groups in Japan were already protesting the visit. 

The visit "undermines the Western efforts to restore democracy in Burma,"
one human rights
advocate said. 

"This is the time for Japan to admit that their constructive engagement
policy toward Burma is
totally failed," said a letter of protest delivered to the ministry by the
Tokyo-based People's
Forum on Burma and other human rights groups last week. 

Constructive engagement is a phrase used by governments, including Japan,
who hope to draw
Myanmar's ruling junta into democratic reform by tying aid and economic
support to constructive
dialogue. 

But human rights groups say the recent escalation in tension between
Myanmar's military leaders
and the pro-democracy forces led by Nobel-prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
are further proof
that Japan's policy is not working. 

Hideki Morihara, a spokesperson for Amnesty International in Japan, said
he is concerned that
Kyaw Win's visit may send the wrong message to the junta. He said Tokyo
must let the junta
know that it is seriously concerned about human rights abuses in Myanmar. 

Kyaw Win is deputy director general of the Myanmar Defense Ministry's
Office of Strategic
Studies. He is believed to be the right-hand man of Lt. Gen. Khin Nuynt,
the regime's
intelligence chief and No. 3 man in the military government, now called
the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC). 

The ministry officials said Kyaw Win was invited because he is perceived
to be a young opinion
leader in the Myanmar regime and may have some influence in accelerating
the process of
democratization. 

"We want Kyaw Win to know that there are in fact various opinions among
Japanese leaders
toward Myanmar, meaning not only favorable opinions but also critical
ones," one official said. 

In March, Japan decided to resume loans of 2.5 billion yen to the regime
for improving the
Yangon (Rangoon) Airport. The decision was criticized by the United States
and human rights
groups. 

At the time, then-Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sent a letter to
Myanmar's leaders
requesting that they make every effort to promote democracy in the
country. But Myanmar's
government has done little to respond to the appeal, the ministry
officials said.