Bkk Post-EU makes Burma an offer

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Bangkok Post July 6, 1999.
ANALYSIS / TROUBLED INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

EU makes Burma an offer
Europe generally doesn't like the way Rangoon mistreats its people, but the
junta is set in its ways-making compromise and dialogue between the two
difficult.

NUSSARA SAWATSAWANG

The European Union's new initiative on dialogue with Burma's military
government could relieve Thailand of the mediating role it has served
largely unsuccessfully since Asean admitted the regime two years ago.

As co-ordinator of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for the
Asean-EU dialogue, Thailand has had to speak for the regime, which most of
the EU's 15 member states prefer to keep at farther than arm's length
because of its record of human rights abuse.

If Rangoon agrees to the new proposal put before it last week, the EU will
be able to raise these concerns directly with the ruling junta, known as the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

The proposal calls for the European Union to send a fact-finding mission
made up of senior officials to Rangoon today for talks on human rights and
democracy.

The authors hope the mission can lead to an EU initiative for a dialogue
between Rangoon and the pro-democracy opposition led by Nobel Peace laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi.

The mission would represent a new "troika" which came into being on May 1
under the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty. The threesome comprise representatives of
the nations holding the present and future presidencies of the EU, the
European Commission, the EU trade arm, and officials in charge of the common
foreign and security policy.

The EU troika that dealt with external affairs in the past comprised members
of the present, past and future presidencies, held by members on a six-month
rotating basis.

The proposal comes in the wake of a thaw in Asean-EU relations which have
been frosty since Asean admitted Burma in July 1997.

Thailand succeeded only in securing limited participation for Burma at the
meeting of senior Asean-EU officials held in Bangkok in May. The EU stand
against Burma's participation in ministerial level negotiations resulted in
the cancellation of these talks initially set for Berlin in March.


An Asian analyst said the proposal was a chance for the EU to establish "a
direct channel with Burma".

Finnish Ambassador Tauno Kaaria, whose country took up the EU presidency on
July 1, said the new troika structure for overseeing external affairs should
help bring continuity to the EU's Burma policy.

He refused to elaborate on "issues" that the EU wants the mission to
emphasise, saying there was no "specific" expectation

But a British diplomat said: "We the EU are concerned about human rights and
respect of democracy in Burma, so we'd like to encourage the SPDC to make
progress on these subjects."While the EU's actual motive for seeking
dialogue remains a mystery, an Asian diplomat cast doubt on whether it was
only trying to satisfy voters and strong human rights groups at home just
weeks before it is due to sit at the same table with Burma in Singapore.

The EU is among the key trading partners with which Asean foreign ministers
confer after their annual conference. Asean's other "dialogue partners" are
Australia, Canada, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United
States.

Asean groups Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Economic reasons are believed to have encouraged an easing of the divisions.
One Thai trade official said the EU might want to act as a bridge for the
Rangoon regime in doing business with European firms, especially after a US
federal appeals court ruled last month that a Massachusetts law barring the
state from doing business with companies that trade with Burma is
unconstitutional.

Brussels, which serves as the headquarters of the European Union, is among
the foreign capitals that opposed this unilateral measure.

"European businessmen are like everybody; they want to go to places where
they can make profit," the official said.

At present, British investors rank second after Singapore among foreign
direct investors in natural resource-rich Burma. Other European companies
with business in Rangoon come from France, Germany and Denmark, according to
Burma's ministry of economics and national planning.

While the motives remain unclear, a senior Thai official said the EU's
initiative was opportune in view of indications from Mrs Suu Kyi that she
may be willing to compromise. Mrs Suu Kyi said in a recent interview with
Hong Kong-based Asia Week magazine that she had no objection to dialogue at
a "low-level" between her National League for Democracy and the Burmese
government.

Mrs Suu Kyi's remarks suggest a departure from the NLD's hard line which
demanded that she be included, as the party leader, in political
negotiations with the Burmese government. The SPDC has held two rounds of
talks with the party's chairman, Aung Shwe, but they achieved no progress.

If implemented, the EU's proposal would be a second attempt at
reconciliation following the United Nations's initiative in October which
offered humanitarian and technical assistance in exchange for political
dialogue between the junta and Mrs Suu Kyi.

The UN effort made no headway after March when Mrs Suu Kyi's British
husband, Michael Aris, died. The international community heavily criticised

the regime for not allowing the academic a last visit with his wife.

Although the success of the proposal lies in the yet unknown incentives the
European Union has to offer the SPDC, another Burma observer said that any
decision on political change had to come from the military rulers.

And there are no signs that the regime is contemplating such a move.
Instead, the SPDC has intensified its clampdown since last August and
rounded up thousands of NLD members in a renewed attempt to crush the party.
It was last August that Mrs Suu Kyi demanded that the parliament, elected in
the 1990 general election, be convened.

"The SPDC has been in power for more than a decade. It is not that easy for
them to negotiate any change to their strong power structure," said one
Asean diplomat.