Burma Related News - July 30, 2000.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINE

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

Reuters- Vietnam Wants Clinton But Not His Missile Plan

Reuters - Myanmar rebukes Swedish minister for calling it Burma

AFP - Albright hails US-Japanese cooperation, but calls for improvements

The Star - Burma is now Myanmar, EU rep reminded

The Nation - Reports on drug trade 'biased'

The Nation - Burma plans a human-rights commission

The Straits Times - EU will no longer boycott meetings

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

INTERNATIONAL PROTEST AGAINST JAPANESE GOVERNMENT ON AUG 8.

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

Sunday July 30 8:43 AM ET
Vietnam Wants Clinton But Not His Missile Plan

By David Brunnstrom

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's foreign minister praised President Clinton Sunday and said he was welcome to make a historic visit to the country, but added that Hanoi opposed Washington's missile defense plans.

Nguyen Dy Nien told a news conference after returning from meetings on regional security and other issues in Bangkok that Clinton had made ``great efforts'' toward normalization of relations between the former Vietnam War enemies.

These efforts included a landmark trade agreement reached in mid-July after more than four years of negotiation, Nien said.

``Therefore, if he has a desire to visit Vietnam, he is most welcome. But so far this visit has not yet been decided.''

U.S. officials have said Clinton, who opposed the war with communist Vietnam, is keen to visit the country in November after the presidential election. It would be the first visit to Hanoi by a serving U.S. president and the first to Vietnam since Richard Nixon visited Saigon in 1969.

Despite his praise for Clinton, Nien said Hanoi opposed controversial U.S. plans for a defense shield to counter ballistic missile threats and would continue to do so now it was taking over the year-long chairmanship of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Missile Shield

``We reacted negatively to the program of NMD (National Missile Defense) at Bangkok and I think we will continue that position under the chairmanship of Vietnam,'' he said.

Washington's plan has also drawn criticism from China, North Korea and Russia. China, like Vietnam, has argued it will lead to further arms proliferation.

Nien said security would be a key issue during Vietnam's chairmanship of ASEAN, which groups it with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.

He said ASEAN hoped to sign a ``code of conduct'' with China over South China Sea territorial disputes by the year-end.

``Between the two parties there have been a number of small differences (but) we have agreed to overcome these differences.

``We have to maintain the status quo. Every country we met pledged not to do anything that may cause tension.''

He said North Korea's participation in the Bangkok meetings had been ``confidence building'' and discussions were under way on whether Pyongyang might be included in an ASEAN forum which currently includes South Korea, Japan and China.

Nien said the motto for ASEAN under Vietnamese chairmanship would be ``equitable development'' in which less developed countries received more assistance to develop their economies.

Speaking later to reporters, he brushed aside concerns about the delay in ratification of the U.S. trade agreement saying this was due to the busy U.S. Congressional schedule.

Asked if he shared concerns of some analysts who see the possibility of attempts to renegotiate details if it drags into a new U.S. administration, he replied:

``No, no, no. I think that when the agreement is signed that is finished. I think the only thing is now that Congress ratifies in the U.S. and now our parliament ratifies.''

The main U.S. labor union, the AFL-CIO, has vowed to fight the pact on human rights and labor standards grounds.

Asked if such opposition could be a problem, Nien said: ``It may be but I think the trend is moving toward normalization.''

WIRE:07/30/2000 08:47:00 ET
Myanmar rebukes Swedish minister for calling it Burma

STOCKHOLM, July 30 (Reuters) - Sweden said on Sunday it would continue to call Myanmar "Burma" despite a rebuke by the country"s military rulers. Foreign Minister Anna Lindh made the comment to Swedish media after her Myanmar counterpart Win Aung corrected a reference she made to "Burma" at the close of an ASEAN meeting in Bangkok on Saturday. "There is no such country as Burma," Win Aung interrupted Lindh to say, the Swedish news agency TT reported. But Lindh, who has revived Sweden"s traditional support for human rights campaigns in countries including Turkey, Zimbabwe and Myanmar, said: "It was a conscious political point against the military dictatorship in Burma, since it was the military that changed the country"s name to Myanmar in 1989. "I will continue to call Burma "Burma" since it was not a democratic government which changed the name," she told TT. Sweden takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union in January. EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten last week accused Myanmar of "the suppression of democracy, the appalling abuse of human rights, the use of forced labour" and mistreatment of its ethinic minorities. The EU and the United States have condemned Yangon for its treatment of the pro-democracy opposition led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The government in Yangon argues that Myanmar is the country"s old pre-colonial name. Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy, winners of a 1990 election which was overruled by the military, still refer to the country as Burma.

Sunday, July 30 11:47 AM SGT

Albright hails US-Japanese cooperation, but calls for improvements

MIYAZAKI, Japan, July 30 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, hailed US-Japanese economic and security cooperation on Sunday but said it had not yet reached its full potential.

Albright, here on a tour of penance to make up for an earlier snub of this southern city, said Washington and Tokyo must continue to boost joint efforts to combat crime, poverty and disease and promote peace and democracy.

"We must be more than dreamers, we must be doers," Albright said in an address at the dedication of a new civic hall named for her.

"That is why it is important that the United States and Japan, and our partners, take bold actions in support of a freer, more prosperous and secure world."

Albright said she believed as substantial as steps taken by both the United States and Japan are in the bilateral financial and security fields, on such issues as debt relief for impoverished nations and environmental protection, there was still room for improvement.

"Overall, I think it is fair to say that US-Japan cooperation on economic and security matters is as good as it has ever been," she said. "But this still does not encompass the full range and potential of our relationship."

Stressing the concept that Japan and the United States hold "shared interests and values," the secretary called for greater efforts to promote democracy worldwide -- particularly in Asia, especially Myanmar -- and strengthening the practice where it is threatened as in Indonesia.

"Japan has a central part to play, for it is East Asia's leading democracy and a major influence on nations throughout and beyond the region," she said.

Albright noted Tokyo's contributions in Cambodia and East Timor as well as its financial contribution to last month's first-ever meeting of the world's democracies in Poland as examples of the assistance Japan should continue to offer.

She also noted efforts funded by the United States and Japan to fight deadly infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Albright glided over recent tension between the United States and Japan about the US military presence here, referring only once briefly to President Bill Clinton's remarks in Okinawa earlier this month in which he vowed American servicemen and women would be held accountable for their actions on the island.

The president's remarks "reflect fully the views and values of the American people," Albright said, pledging, though, that Washington would continue to honor its defense commitments to Japan.

"Our alliance is a great source of strength to us and of confidence to people throughout the region," she said. "We must work together to preserve and sustain it, and let me be clear, the United States takes its obligations as an ally very seriously."

The Star

Sunday, July 30, 2000

The Post-Ministerial Conference

Burma is now Myanmar, EU rep reminded

By Shahanaaz Sher Habib and Foo Yee Ping

BANGKOK: Remarks from European Union representative Anna Lindh that the EU would continue to raise issues of concern about "Burma'', led to Myanmar's foreign minister Win Aung remarking that there was no such country.

Lindh, who was here for the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) had said at the joint press conference that it was positive that relations between the EU and "Burma'' had normalised.

When it came to Win Aung's turn to speak, he drew sniggers when he corrected Lindh by saying: "first of all, there is no country named Burma.''

Under the military junta which nullified elections results, Burma was changed to Myanmar in 1989 because the former was derived from the British.

The PMC groups the Asean ten with the US, Canada, EU, New Zealand. Australia, Russia, India, China, South Korea and Japan.

At the PMC, Laos and Cambodia signed the Asean-EU Co-operation Agreement which covers bilateral co-operation in trade, economic and development matter, leaving Myanmar as the only Asean country to sign the agreement.

The EU which is Asean's oldest dialogue partner has repeatedly urged the military junta to end human and labour rights abuses and to open a dialogue with the pro-democracy leaders.

The Nation - July 30, 2000.

Reports on drug trade 'biased'

BURMESE Foreign Minister Win Aung criticised the foreign press yesterday for biased reporting of the drug situation in his country, saying journalists tend to overlook the presence of armed narcotics groups operating on the Thai side of the border.

Speaking to a group of reporters after a press conference marking the end of the Asean Post-Ministerial Conference, Win Aung said that the Wa National Army (WNA) and the 3,000-strong Shan State Army (SSA) were also trafficking drugs.

He said the two groups are based in Thailand, but no one has condemned them. The SSA was one of the three factions of the Mong Tai Army, which fell apart four years ago after its leader Khun Sa surrendered in return for amnesty from Rangoon. The SSA refused to go along with Khun Sa and instead formed its own army to continue with the fight for autonomy. SSA leader Col Yawd Serk said his group does not traffic drugs.

The WNA, a small outfit of no more than a few hundred men, also operates along the rugged Thai-Burmese border. Its activities are being closely watched by the Thai military and security units, which have carried out scrimmages against the group's positions. But it is only the ethnic armed groups like the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which had signed a cease-fire with Rangoon in 1989, that get the blame, Win Aung said.

The UWSA came into being in 1989 shortly after the fall of the Communist Party of Burma in which a number of foot soldiers were ethnic Wa. Experts said the group had enough weapons to last for at least a decade, thus prompting Rangoon to sign a cease-fire.

The UWSA has been referred to as the world's largest armed narcotics-trafficking group by a number of Western governments. Some of its leaders have been indicted in US courts for drug trafficking.

Burma has used the past week to defend its drug policy, saying its achievements have been overlooked. Wing Aung dismissed suggestions that the country is solely to blame for the millions of methamphetamines flooding Thailand from the Burmese side of the border in areas under the control of drug lords and ethnic armies allied with Rangoon.

He turned the question to the neighbouring countries, saying they have to do more to curb the trafficking of precursor chemicals. "Without these chemicals there will be no drugs," he said, also admitting that government troops are not in full control of certain areas.

When asked if Rangoon is willing to go to war against the UWSA or other armed drug-trafficking group to achieve its goal of being a drug-free country by 2014, Win Aung said, "Let's not go back to the day when we were fighting."

The Nation - July 30, 2000.

Burma plans a human-rights commission

BURMA is not opposed to human rights and will "eventually" want to establish an Asean human-rights commission, the country's Foreign Minister U Win Aung said yesterday.

But at the moment, the idea of a regional human-rights mechanism is just an initiative of a non-official Asean working group, Win Aung said after a week-long meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers.

"Asean ministers are not yet ready to form a human-rights commission. There is a working group looking into that. Eventually it will evolve," he said.

Last Saturday, the working group, which comprises lawyers and human-rights advocates from several Asean countries, submitted to member nations a draft agreement on the creation of an Asean human-rights commission. Senior Asean officials, who were given the draft, said they would study the document in detail.

Nitya Pibulsonggram, permanent secretary of the Thai Foreign Ministry, does not see the human-rights mechanism happening "in the immediate future", he said after meeting with the working group.

In 1993, Asean foreign ministers agreed to consider a regional rights body. They determined that prior to a regional rights commission, each Asean member should first create a national mechanism.

Burma is in the process of setting up a national human-rights commission, Win Aung said. "We are still in the analysis stage," he said.

So far, only the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia have national human-rights bodies. Thailand is waiting for the newly elected Senate to elect members of the national body.

Burma is getting human-rights training from Australia, Win Aung said. Trainees include law enforcement officers charged with human-rights abuses.

Australia's human-rights assistance programme to Burma is intended to help improve the country's human-rights situation, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday.

But Burmese pro-democracy activists have strongly opposed Australia's human-rights support to the Burmese junta, which they say is directly involved in all forms of human-rights abuses, including forced labour and relocation.

When asked about the political stalemate inside Burma, Win Aung said the Burmese regime has extended "olive branches", but it is the National League for Democracy (NLD) that keeps brushing them aside.

A dialogue cannot take place if the NLD continues calling for international pressure, isolation and sanctions against Burma, he said.

Pressure and sanctions would only strengthen the regime's resolve "to work harder for our people", the minister said. "The NLD needs to abandon confrontation," he added.

In her videotaped statement to the Asean foreign ministers, NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi said her party has already exhausted its compromises and has nothing left to offer.

It is the junta that has not compromised and has instead intensified its efforts to abolish the NLD, the party that won a majority of votes in the May 1990 general elections, she said.

The Straits Times - July 30, 2000.

EU will no longer boycott meetings
Dispute With Myanmar

The EU and Asean are planning talks that will include Myanmar. The Europeans will still try and isolate Yangon, but not its citizens

By JAMES EAST
STRAITS TIMES THAILAND BUREAU
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EU 'DID THE RIGHT THING'
"I think the EU was right not to allow the issue of Burma to take the EU-Asean dialogue hostage. So what we have done is to sharpen the measures that Europe has directed against the Burmese military regime while at the same time resumed the Asean-EU dialogue to include Burma.'' -- EU external relations commnisioner Chris Patten.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BANGKOK -- Myanmar can thank North Korea for one thing -- for shifting the full glare of the media spotlight away from it, and the accusations frequently levelled against it on issues like drugs and human rights.

And while Asean watchers were following the North Koreans' arrival on the international stage in Bangkok, the European Union was laying the groundwork for future inter-bloc talks that will include Myanmar.

EU-Asean relations are now about to shift up a gear.

In past years, media folk covering Asean needed to look no further than the spat between the EU and Myanmar for their controversial conference story to write about.

Despite Myanmar's 1997 membership of Asean, Europe's imposition of tough sanctions designed to isolate the regime had effectively frozen Asean-EU ministerial meetings for two years.

The EU remains just as critical of what it sees as Yangon's lack of democracy but there has been a rapprochement, of sorts.

The EU has now accepted that Myamar be allowed to attend resurrected meetings but they will have to held outside Europe.

Myanmar officials are banned from EU countries under sanctions that bar senior officials from obtaining travel visas.

The change of heart means that in December, ministers will meet in Vientiane, Laos, to thrash out issues like drugs, human trafficking, political, environment and economic matters that tax both blocs.

The EU is also certain to talk about Myanmar's record on these issues.

The easing of the ban has nothing to do with the EU being any happier with Myanmar and everything to do with the realisation that inter-bloc relations were being held hostage by the ban.

Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan made it clear in talks with EU representatives here that the grouping had wasted 10 years trying to punish the military junta. Other Asean countries also pressed the EU to be more understanding of Myanmar.

The EU is unlikely to ease up on its regard for the regime. What it is trying to do is massage its policy so that it not only isolates Yangon but helps the Myanmese people and keeps the door open for talks. Ties with Asean will also be strengthened as a whole.

It is a tricky balance.

The EU has already committed a lot of money for humanitarian work, mostly for refugee camps in Thailand. This is to be stepped up and targeted so that it gets to the people who really need it.

Said EU external relations commissioner Chris Patten: ""I think the EU was right not to allow the issue of Burma to take the EU-Asean dialogue hostage.

""So what we have done is to sharpen the measures that Europe has directed against the Burmese military regime while at the same time resumed the Asean-EU dialogue to include Burma.''

Burma is the former name of Myanmar. The government changed the country's name in 1989. The carrot and stick tactic remains at the core of the EU approach.

Plans for a EU troika to go to Yangon, probably in October, have been accepted by Myanmar. Its job will be to encourage the government to talk to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and to see how the EU can provide humanitarian assistance. A troika visited last year but got nowhere.

The stick was applied on Friday.

While two of Asean's three most recent members were allowed to sign the ceremonial Asean-EU Co-operation Agreement, Myanmar was not -- a slap in the face for the regime in front of Asean friends.

EU delegates also continued to refer to Myanmar as Burma, irritating the country's Foreign Minister Win Aung, who shot back at the press conference: ""First of all there is no country named Burma.''

Despite the incident, Myanmar says it is open to outside help, particularly in fighting drugs. What it does not like is people meddling in its internal affairs.

Myanmar's Foreign Minister Win Aung also says he is ready to allow an independent human rights commission to listen to complaints about abuses, although he says how it would work is still being worked out because this is a sensitive issue.