AFP-Myanmar general arrives in Chin

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Subject: AFP-Myanmar general arrives in China for four-day visit

Myanmar general arrives in China for four-day visit
BEIJING, June 7 (AFP) - Myanmar's powerful First Secretary Lieutenant
General Khin Nyunt held talks with Chinese State Councilor Luo Gan here
Monday on his arrival at the start of a four-day official visit, state media
reported.
Luo said China was pleased at Myanmar's recent membership of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Xinhua news agency said.

Myanmar's joining of ASEAN in July, 1997 came despite strong objections from
western countries including the European Union, citing gross human rights
abuses and its refusal to recognise the result of a 1990 election.

"We sincerely hope that Myanmar will enjoy political stability, economic
growth and the improvement of people's standard of living," Luo said.

"China appreciates Myanmar's independent foreign policy of peace, and holds
that Myanmar, as a sovereign state, has the right to choose the social
system and development path of its own suited to its national conditions,"
he said.

Khin Nyunt reiterated Myanmar's "one China" policy, stressing Yangon would
not develop any form of official relations with Taiwan, it said.

The two leaders also discussed border controls and cooperation against the
drug trade, Xinhua said, adding they later attended the signing ceremony of
an agreement on economic and technical cooperation.

An 18-member delegation including Foreign Minister Win Aung and eight
cabinet ministers was accompanying the general on the trip described by a
spokesman in Yangon as a "goodwill" visit.

Myanmar has in the past boasted of its cooperation with China as it labours
under a strict regime of international sanctions imposed to punish what
activists and Western governments say are serious human rights abuses.

The UN Human Rights Commission in April condemned Myanmar for sweeping human
rights violations.

A resolution contained a long list of abuses ranging from summary
executions, torture, and abuse of women to systematic programmes of forced
relocation and widespread use of forced labour.

The resolution also highlighted increasing numbers of arbitrary and
politically motivated arrests and detentions without trials.


The military-ruled state's economy is also suffering from an investment
drought brought on by the Asian economic crisis.

Khin Nyunt's trip was at the invitation of Luo.

After his stay in Beijing Khin Nyunt will travel to the southeastern port
city of Xiamen and the southwestern city of Kunming, Xinhua said.

Apart from Myanmar, ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.