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BURMA RELATED NEWS - July 17,
2001.
----------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
---------------------------------------------------------------- WP - 'Crazy Medicine' Flows Out of Burma
WP - Remember Burma
IHT - Burmese Security Takes Cue From Keystone
Cops
AP - Thailand Says Myanmar Talks Good Sign For
Democracy
AP - US Gives Thailand $3.7 Mln To Fight Drug
Trafficking
AFP - Thai minister Surakiart proposes Asia
cooperation dialogue
Reuters - Hackers developing anti-censorship
software
The Nation - US arms
sale to Thailand seen as tit-for-tat with Burma
Bkk post - Rangoon free to spend gas money on
anything it wants
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Leader Meets Chinese Yunnan
Vice-Governor
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Calls for Effective
Treatment of STI
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Builds 123 Dams in 13
Years
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Leader Meets Visiting
Chinese Minister
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Washington Post - Tuesday, July 17, 2001;
Page A11 'Crazy Medicine' Flows Out of
Burma
U.S. Trains Thai Unit to Block Methamphetamine Traffic By Rajiv Chandrasekaran DOI KIU HUNG, Thailand -- In Southeast Asia's infamous poppy-growing
heartland known as the Golden Triangle, drug warlords have begun producing large
quantities of a methamphetamine -- known as "crazy medicine" -- that is rivaling
the traditional trade in heroin and prompting the U.S. military to quietly train
an anti-drug commando unit in Thailand.
Most of the drug production is occurring in Burma, also known as Myanmar,
where Thai military officials and Western drug-control specialists estimate as
many as 50 large factories are synthesizing the substance. Thai officials
estimate as many as 800 million tablets of the drug -- about 80 tons -- will be
smuggled into their country from Burma this year, a figure one drug expert
described as "unprecedented for a country the size of Thailand."
Some of those pills are then shipped on to other Asian countries, Europe
and the United States, but most remain in Thailand, where methamphetamine use
has skyrocketed among teenagers and young adults. The abundance of crazy
medicine, a form of speed called yaba in Thai, has provided people who never
could afford heroin with a quick, cheap high.
The Thai Health Ministry estimates that 3 million people, or about 5
percent of the population, regularly use yaba, making Thailand the world's
largest per capita consumer of methamphetamines, a level of drug abuse
comparable to the cocaine epidemic in the United States during the
mid-1980s.
Thai military officials contend that most of the yaba from Burma is
produced by the United Wa State Army, a contingent of 15,000 ethnic tribespeople
in Shan state, Burma's easternmost province. Western anti-drug agents regard the
United Wa force, which is allied with Burma's ruling junta, as one of the
world's largest and best-armed drug-dealing organizations.
Members of the Wa used to live near Burma's border with China, but they
have relocated to areas near the Thai border. Thai officials and Western
analysts said Beijing pressured the Wa to move to stem the flow of drugs
entering southwestern China.
"It was a very smart move," said a Thai military intelligence officer. "The
Chinese got rid of the Wa problem and gave it to us."
Intelligence sources said China has provided the Wa -- who are fighting
other ethnic groups in Shan state -- with weapons, including sophisticated
surface-to-air missiles, in exchange for help in constructing a network of roads
in areas they control. The Chinese are building the roads in an effort to use
Burma's ports, which would provide China's navy with long-coveted access to the
Indian Ocean, the sources said.
The Wa's move to Thai border regions has transformed once sleepy hillside
villages into boomtowns with new schools, hospitals, homes, restaurants -- and
large laboratories where methamphetamine is synthesized and opium is refined
into heroin. From a fortified Thai border checkpoint here in Doi Kiu Hung,
soldiers scan the largest such town, Mong Yawn, which is surrounded by several
large buildings intelligence officials said are drug factories.
"All this stuff, it's new," said Maj. Gen. Anu Sumitra, the army
intelligence chief for northeastern Thailand, where most of the smuggling has
occurred. "It was built with drug money."
Drug experts said it costs the Wa about 5 cents to make a yaba pill. They
sell it for about 30 cents to Thai intermediaries. When it reaches the streets
of Bangkok, it goes for as much as $2.
"Some of their factories have such sophisticated pharmaceutical equipment
that they can churn out more than a million pills a day," said one Western
anti-drug agent.
The influx of yaba pills has so alarmed Thai authorities that they have
asked the U.S. military to train an anti-drug task force of army commandos and
border patrol officers. In a collaboration that is part of a new American effort
to work with foreign armed forces to stem the global drug trade, U.S. Special
Forces troops are training the Thai unit to interdict smugglers who traverse the
rugged hills that separate Thailand and Burma.
Although the mission in Thailand is far smaller than the widely publicized
American training program in Colombia -- which is receiving a $1.3 billion U.S.
aid package to attack its drug trade -- both involve an emphasis on advanced
combat and reconnaissance tactics. And just as in Colombia, the U.S. anti-drug
program here will involve sharing satellite imagery and other intelligence
information to help the military identify targets, officials said.
"We believe it will be a very valuable collaboration," said Gen. Anu. "The
Americans can provide us with a much higher level of training and
information."
U.S. officials here said the instruction, at an army base near the northern
city of Chiang Mai, began in May and is scheduled to end in October. Much of the
training will focus on using sophisticated night-vision technology and flying
American-made Black Hawk combat helicopters, officials said.
U.S. and Thai officials said that 20 American soldiers will act only as
instructors and will not participate in interdiction missions. The Thais plan to
buy the Black Hawks.
One U.S. official said the Pentagon agreed to the Thai request because of
concern about the volume of drugs believed to be inundating the country -- and
fear among U.S. anti-drug officials that unfettered smuggling into Thailand
could result in more yaba reaching U.S. soil. "The Thais see the drug problem as
their number one security concern," the official said. "But it is also a concern
for the United States."
Thai military officials contended that Burma's junta has ignored the Wa's
drug production because the Wa army is helping government troops fight another
ethnic force in the area, the Shan State Army.
The Wa fought Burma's government for years to establish a communist state,
but signed a cease-fire in 1990. In return for ending the rebellion, Wa leader
Wei Hsueh Kang has been given near-total control over Shan state.
Wei has been sentenced to death in absentia by a Thai court and has been
indicted by a New York court, both on drug-trafficking charges. The State
Department has offered a $2 million reward for information leading to Wei's
arrest and conviction.
A spokesman for the Burmese government, Lt. Col. Hla Min, said in a written
statement that some "low rank officials" from the Wa force have been arrested on
drug charges, but that the United Wa State Army "as a whole is not involved" in
methamphetamine production. He called Thai estimates of 800 million pills being
smuggled across the border "overblown."
Hla Min accused the Thai military of failing to deal aggressively with drug
producers in Thailand and doing little to stem the flow of chemicals used to
make methamphetamine into Burma. The "Thai military has to grow up and
understand the situation and find ways to solve the problem rather than pointing
fingers," he wrote.
Burma's government also has objected to the presence of the U.S. Special
Forces instructors in Thailand, calling them a threat to regional
stability.
Thai officials said their reports of Wa involvement have been substantiated
by Western intelligence agencies and drug specialists. Most of the crazy
medicine tablets seized in Thailand are labeled "WY," which officials said is a
logo of the United Wa force.
The pills, which are ground up and smoked but also can be swallowed or
ground up and injected, are typically smuggled into Thailand in convoys of seven
to 10 couriers, who often travel with heavily armed escorts and backpacks filled
with 200,000 pills apiece. The packs are chained to their torsos to prevent them
from ditching their valuable cargo if Thai forces pursue them and in the hopes
they could escape with the contraband.
The mountainous border area between Shan state and northwestern Thailand
has long been a point of friction between the two countries, with frequent
disputes over the location of the border. Earlier this year, the two sides
exchanged mortar and light-weapons fire on several occasions.
Thai military officials said some of the exchanges have been with the
Burmese army and others with Wa forces. The officials said they believe some of
the skirmishes were instigated to push the Thai military back from parts of the
border that are frequented by smugglers and to protect drug factories and
trafficking routes.
In addition to the booming methamphetamine trade, Burma's corner of the
Golden Triangle produced more than 1,000 tons of raw opium last year, which was
transformed into about 90 tons of refined heroin. In 1999, Southeast Asian
heroin accounted for 40 percent of the world's supply and about 20 percent of
U.S. consumption, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Afghanistan has long been the world's largest opium producer, but with a
recent announcement from the country's rulers, the Taliban, that it has almost
eradicated its poppy crop, international drug control specialists said Burma
likely will be the world's top producer this year.
Decades ago, Thailand was one of the largest opium producers and consumers.
The nation banned opium smoking in the 1950s and has provided incentives to
farmers to grow vegetables and coffee instead of poppies. From 1985 to 2000, the
country reduced its poppy cultivation area from 33 square miles to only about
four square miles.
But just as Thais were prepared to declare victory in the war on drugs,
yaba burst on the scene. A recent survey showed that 12 percent of high school
and college students are regularly using drugs -- largely methamphetamine -- and
hospitals have reported that methamphetamine addiction cases have eclipsed those
involving heroin.
"We are being flooded with yaba," said Chartchai Suthiklom, deputy director
of the Office of Narcotics Control Board, "and it is having a devastating impact
on our society."
Some addicts, particularly students and taxi drivers, said they are
attracted to yaba because it is relatively cheap and it allows them to work for
hours without sleeping -- an asset in a country still reeling from the Asian
economic crisis and where many people must work two jobs to make ends
meet.
And, they said, it is easy to come by.
"Everyone I know takes crazy medicine," said Teng Saelee, 39, a laborer who
lives near Chiang Mai. "It's everywhere in our country. It's as easy to find as
cigarettes or beer."
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Washington Post
Remember Burma
Sunday, July 15, 2001; Page B06 FEW FOREIGN policy questions have totally clear answers. Every choice
carries risks, every option has trade-offs. But the southeast Asian nation of
Burma is the exception that proves the rule. The ruling junta is so
exceptionally inept, immoral and corrupt, and the oppressed opposition so
exceptionally deserving of recognition, that only one policy toward Burma is
defensible. As the Bush administration enters a season of Asia-focused
diplomacy, it should use Burma to prove its commitment to democracy around the
world.
Burma, also known as Myanmar, is a lush nation of 48 million people blessed
in resources and cursed in leadership. Its thuggish ruling elite trafficks in
drugs and in people -- in forced labor, child labor, slave labor. It throws
people into medieval torture chambers at the slightest pretext: for owning a fax
machine, for making jokes about the regime, for listening to foreign broadcasts.
There are some 1,800 political prisoners. Meanwhile universities have been
shuttered for much of the past decade, and poverty has deepened; annual income
has sunk to an average of $300 or less per person.
Unlike in other dictatorships, there is a democratic opposition, ready and
entitled to govern. In 1990 the National League for Democracy won four out of
every five seats in a parliamentary election, but the generals never allowed the
parliament to meet. Many of those elected were jailed. The party's leader, Aung
San Suu Kyi, a slight but indomitable 56-year-old woman, has been under house
arrest pretty much ever since. But she has never abandoned her commitment to a
nonviolent struggle for democracy, nor have many in her party despite
unspeakable repression.
The generals manage to enrich themselves even as their population suffers.
A few companies, such as Unocal, are happy to do business with the regime.
Textile imports from Burma into the United States are growing. Japan is
ever-eager to slip sanctions and resume development aid to better position its
corporations. Just this week, the fruits of this kind of engagement again became
clear: Burma was revealed to be buying 10 MiG-29 advanced fighter jets from
Russia, the better to threaten its own people and its Thai neighbors.
From time to time there are reports of compromise and dialogue between the
junta and Aung San Suu Kyi, and a few prisoners are turned loose. The generals
know they are ruining their country, but they do not dare relinquish power.
Dialogue may be useful as a transitional tool, but the only thing that can save
Burma is to seat the democratic government that was elected 11 years ago.
President Bush indicated his understanding of this in a May 31 letter to Sen.
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a longtime champion of Burma's democrats. Referring to
Burma's rightful leader by her honorific title, Mr. Bush wrote, "We strongly
support Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's heroic efforts to bring democracy to the Burmese
people." As Secretary of State Colin Powell prepares for a July 25-27 summit
with Asian foreign ministers and Mr. Bush gets ready for a subsequent trip to
China, the administration should put muscle behind that pledge. Nothing would
better advance U.S. interests in Asia than a turnaround in Burma. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The International Herald Tribune
Tuesday, July 17, 2001
Burmese Security Takes Cue From Keystone
Cops
Thomas Crampton RANGOON Like a cheap paperback, the whispered warning came complete with
bad grammar and a foreign accent: "Military Intelligence across the road right
now watches you. Look out!"
. MI, as it is often called, is perhaps the most despised arm of Burma's military dictatorship. Sporting self-consciously casual clothes that often include a longyi - the Burmese sarong - and incongruous aviator-style sun-glasses, the plainclothes agents of MI seem to turn up anywhere of interest to journalists. Foreign correspondents quickly grow accustomed to being tailed, tapped and photographed while in Asia's authoritarian countries. China and Vietnam actually charge journalists substantial daily fees for minders, who nominally also work as translators. Government operatives in Laos have wrestled away tapes with television footage they fear is unfavorable. Burma's agents enjoy leaping from behind bushes to fire cameras at close range, paparazzi-style (Best, I find, to smile and say cheese.). As a notebook-carrying Western visitor to the recently reopened headquarters of Burma's opposition party, the National League for Democracy, I must have set off a three-alarm MI red alert. Across the road from the opposition's headquarters is a series of small makeshift tea shops, only one of which is packed with customers every day and in all weather. As I hailed a cab to leave, most of the so-called customers stood up to scrutinize me. Two jumped into a brown Nissan Sunny Super Saloon with darkened windows that followed my taxi behind several other cars. While passing by the gold-encrusted Shwedagon Pagoda, I directed the cab into a chaotic series of sudden U-turns that looped around the traffic islands. Hindered by potholes, pedestrians and traffic, the swerving chase took place at half speed, like a slow motion scene from the Keystone Cops. Heavy monsoon rains prompted a fast sprint from the taxi when we arrived at the Foreign Ministry. This sudden getaway must have surprised my pursuers, who drew up nearby as I checked in with the guard. Grabbing two name cards, I walked out to confront them. "I visit my friend in office here. I visit my friend in office here," the surprised driver of the car shouted back when I asked whether he was MI. "Then I suppose you are not interested in my name, occupation and publication," I replied, offering a name card with a shrug. "Oh, yes, name card please," the driver replied, grabbing it through the slightly open window, only to have it wrestled away by his colleague. I passed over another card and formally introduced myself, but still they declined to identify themselves. The next day, returning to the NLD headquarters, I provocatively walked into the agent-infested tea shop and offered greetings in Burmese. Laughter at my impertinence ceased when I loudly asked for the name of their employer. MI is, in fact, no joke. As a foreign journalist, the worst punishment I could expect is a light interrogation and brief detention followed by permanent expulsion. For a Burmese national, however, even accidental contact with a foreign journalist can end in prison. After a previous trip the government actually reconstructed my travels through the Shan States. MI agents, I later learned, visited the home of at least one contact almost every day for a month, interrogating him about my role in some imagined CIA plot to supply arms to a rebel ethnic army I had visited. Following my interview at the opposition headquarters, the taxi I hailed did not understand the location of my next appointment: the guesthouse inside the Ministry of Defense compound, which is also home to MI. Exasperated, I finally told the taxi to stop at the crowded tea house. In what turned out to be their only tacit acknowledgment of connections with the military, two clients kindly gave detailed directions to the driver. They are despicable and dangerous, but the agents of Military Intelligence did, on one occasion, assist a foreign journalist in need. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday July 17, 1:58 PM
Thailand Says Myanmar Talks Good Sign
For Democracy
SINGAPORE (AP)--Secret talks
between the military regime and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi show there is
movement toward democracy in Myanmar, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart
Sathirathai said Tuesday.
During a speech in Singapore, Surakiart said Thailand has no plans to
participate in the talks unless asked to do so.
"Our position is that we support the national reconciliation process with
the regime and Myanmar. And I personally do feel that the process is real,"
Surakiart said.
Many have dismissed the secret talks as a publicity stunt aimed at getting
international critics off the junta's back.
The current military rulers of Myanmar, also known as Burma, came to power
after brutally crushing pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988. Elections were
held in 1990, but the regime refused to honor the victory of Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy.
Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her democracy struggle, has
been under house arrest since Sept. 22 after she tried to travel outside the
capital Yangon in defiance of official restrictions.
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962.
Earlier this month, Thai Defense Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was quoted
in a Thai newspaper, The Nation, as saying Suu Kyi and the military are set to
form a national government.
When asked if he shared Chavalit's confidence, Surakiart said that whether
a compromise of that nature could be reached "remains to be seen."
Despite recent bitter arguments between Thailand and Myanmar, Surakiart
said the neighbors "have entered a new era of mutual trust and meaningful
partnership."
There are plans to build new roads connecting the countries, and Surakiart
said Thailand has reversed a policy of trying to expel 1 million illegal
immigrants working in the country - mostly from Myanmar.
Hundreds of thousands of people from Myanmar are working in wealthier
Thailand illegally. Surakiart said the problem "cannot continue," but Thailand
no longer planned to deport the migrants.
"I can assure that it will be a very practical approach ensuring the rights
of illegal immigrants and also taking into account the security concerns of
Thailand," Surakiart said.
Surakiart said the plan would be unveiled in about a month.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday July 17, 5:34 PM
US Gives Thailand $3.7 Mln To Fight Drug
Trafficking
BANGKOK (AP)--The U.S. will
provide Thailand with $3.7 million for anti-narcotics and law enforcement
programs, the U.S. embassy said Tuesday.
Ambassador Richard Hecklinger will sign an agreement with Thai Prime
Minister's Office Minister Krasaw Chanawong for the aid on Wednesday, an embassy
statement said.
The U.S. has provided more than $81.0 million to Thailand in anti-drug
assistance since 1974, it said.
Thailand lies at one corner of Southeast Asia's opium-producing Golden
Triangle that encompasses neighboring Myanmar and Laos, but Thailand has largely
eradicated the illicit crop from its mountainsides.
Increasingly, Thailand's anti-drug efforts are directed at stopping the
trafficking of heroin and methamphetamines from Myanmar.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday July 17, 1:53 PM
Thai minister Surakiart proposes Asia
cooperation dialogue
SINGAPORE, July 17 (AFP) - Asia needs its own dialogue forum to promote closer cooperation among the region's diverse countries, Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said Tuesday. Although several sub-groups within Asia such as the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been expanding ties with Latin America and
Europe, there remained a "missing link" among organisations within the region
itself, he said.
Ties between Southeast and East Asia have been gaining momentum, but there
was a need to take in sectors such as an economic cooperation group involving
Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand called BIMST-EC, he
said.
"Asia is already making progress in sub-regional cooperation as well as in
enhancing linkages with Europe, the Pacific and Latin America," Surakiart said
in a lecture organised by Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic
Studies.
"What about our priorities for Asia itself? Is it not time for Asia to
enhance dialogue among ourselves? Is it not time for us to move towards an Asia
Cooperation Dialogue?"
The foreign minister, an expert on international economic law, said the
dialogue would involve neither a security nor a trading bloc, and acknowledged
deep differences among countries in the region.
"Asia cooperation dialogue is a dialogue. It is not a trade bloc, it is not
a security bloc. It is a venue for all of us to exchange views," he said.
"I think we need a venue for us to exchange views and exchange
experience."
Aides said Surakiart will formally table his proposal during a meeting of
ASEAN foreign ministers with their counterparts from key Asian, US and European
partners in Hanoi, Vietnam next week.
Surakiart said he had broached the idea with colleagues in ASEAN, China,
Korea, west Asian countries and some South Asian countries and their response
had been "positive and encouraging."
He said Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh had suggested that a
group of seven countries be formed as a core to prepare for such a
meeting.
"If agreeable to our partners, Thailand hopes to host the first Asian
foreign ministers' meeting to exchange views in an informal manner on areas of
mutual cooperation," the Thai minister said.
Topics would include tourism promotion, the development of transport and
communication links, enhancing international competitiveness and a pooling of
talents in the information-technology sector.
Surakiart also proposed improved cooperation in farming where Asian
countries can complement each other through "effective marketing and division of
food production."
"In order to promote qualitative food production and food security in the
region, Asian countries can adopt gradual steps toward planning and producing
the right quantity and quality of food products for Asia and the global
markets," he said.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday July 17, 8:21 AM
Hackers developing anti-censorship
software
By Elinor Abreu LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - A group
of hackers is finishing work on software that would enable human rights workers
to access censored Web sites, in a move that ratchets up the "arms race" between
free speech activists on the Internet and government censors in Asia and the
Middle East.
The software, called "Peekabooty," was scheduled to be unveiled this past
weekend but was pushed back to later this year to make sure it adequately
protects those using it, said Oxblood Ruffin, a leader in the group.
"We believe that access to information is a basic human right guaranteed by
law," he told Reuters following a weekend session on the project at the DefCon
conference for hackers and network security advisors. "It is going to be an arms
race."
Already there have been efforts to thwart the project. The United Arab
Emirates blocked access to the Web site of hacker group Cult of the Dead Cow
last year right after the group announced plans for the anti-censorship
software, said Bronc Buster, another member of the group, which calls itself
"Hactivismo."
Along with the UAE, countries that prevent their citizens from accessing
certain Web sites they deem political or pornographic include Saudi Arabia,
Myanmar, China and North Korea, the group said.
The Peekabooty software will circumvent filters designed to block access to
Web sites by going around them, using a distributed privacy network, according
to a Hactivismo fact sheet.
Nearly 30 volunteers are working on the project, including lawyers,
programmers, students and human rights workers in the United States, China,
Canada, Europe, Israel, Taiwan and South Korea, the group said.
At the conference, human rights workers urged hackers to do what they could
to use technology to advance human rights.
Patrick Ball, deputy director of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science and its Science and Human Rights Action Network, said
encryption had helped his group save lives and bring human rights abusers to
justice.
"Hacking is finding things out. It is knowledge, especially when things are
hidden, obscure and important," Ball said.
The Cult of the Dead Cow is known for making a splash at DefCon. In 1999,
the group released Back Orifice, which can be used by malicious hackers to gain
unauthorized access to PCs running Windows 95 or Windows 98.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - July 17,
2001.
US arms sale to Thailand seen as
tit-for-tat with Burma
The US Senate has approved the sale of air-to-air AIM-30 missiles to
Thailand in what is believed to be a reaction to Rangoon's plan to purchase a
squadron of Russian MiG-29 supersonic warplanes, informed sources within the
Royal Thai Air Force said.
The weapons, known as advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles (Amraam)
will be equipped on F-16 jet fighters currently used in the Royal Thai Air
Force, making Thailand the first country in the region to acquire the
weapon.
Earlier, the US was adamantly opposed to a Thai request to buy 60 to 70
rounds of these sophisticated weapons, for fear their acquisition would
stimulate an arms build-up in the region, the sources said. The decision was
reversed last year but the Thai army asked to postpone the sale until it was
financially ready.
The sale, however, needed congressional approval and guarantees the weapon
would not be used against the US but would be kept in the US for safety reasons.
It could be delivered to Thailand when needed within 48 hours. The sources said
the Congress finally approved the sale but did not say when the decision took
place.
According to the sources, it is possible that the US sees Burma's MiG-29
purchasing plan as tilting the equilibrium of the regional arms structure and
could cause an arms race within the region.
Senator Mitchell McConnell told the US Congress last week, quoting Jane's
Defence Weekly, that Rangoon has struck a deal with Russia to buy 10 MiG-29s to
increase its air defence capability.
Before the deal, Burma relied on 42 Chengdu F-7M and Nanchang A-5C aircraft
from China.
McConnell also said Thailand and the US should be concerned about the move,
which he said has the potential to destabilise Southeast Asia.
The Burmese-Russian deal was struck shortly after Thailand and Burma's
border friction worsened, mainly due to a Thai accusation that Rangoon was
turning a blind eye on the drug trade by its ethnic ally of Wa rebels.
At the peak of the crisis, the Thai air force dispatched an F-16 jet
fighter to perform a sonic boom near the Wa-controlled areas, adjacent to the
Thai Northern border, prompting a protest by Rangoon.
Thai military and arms experts, however, downplayed the regional tension
and the arms build-up the Burmese arms purchasing plan may cause, saying the
country should wait and see how Rangoon intends to use these warplanes.
The Royal Thai Air Force's secretary Air Vice Marshal Prapas Jiamchawee
said the airforce was cross-checking the Jane's report, saying that although the
purchasing plan is on, the acquisition could take time.
According to a senior air force officer, both the MiG-29 and the F-16 have
strong and weak points, although in theory the F-16 contains more sophisticated
technology than the MiG-29.
Defence Analyst Prof Panitan Wattanayagorn said the Burmese plan is
worrisome but not unexpected.
Panitan said that regional countries have been warning for some time of a
new arms proliferation within Southeast Asia that would include missiles,
submarines and warships.
"It is worrisome because it's happening at a time the region is plagued
with political and territorial conflicts," he said.
Panitan, however, downplayed the threat of the MiG-29, saying that any
danger would depend on the Burmese army's capability and preparedness to use the
aircraft.
Singapore has 20 F-16s, the most advanced version of this class in the
region.
Thailand has 32 older models of the F-16 and has approved a plan to buy two
squadrons of used F-16 jet fighters (currently used in Israel) from the US
Army.
Malaysia is the only country in the region to have obtained F-16 jet
fighters, MiG-29s and F-18 fighter-bombers at the same time.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry's deputy spokesman, Ison Pocmontri, urged
Jane's to provide evidence of its claim that money Rangoon used to buy the
MiG-29 was with profits obtained from gas sales to Thailand.
He also denied reports that Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai helped
the Petroleum Authority of Thailand cut the gas deal with Burma.
He said that Surakiart was president of PTT's exploration and production
arm after the deal was cut.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - July 17,
2001.
Rangoon free to spend gas money on
anything it wants
Purchase of MiGs a totally separate deal Burma can use the money Thailand pays for natural gas for any purpose it
pleases, including buying new warplanes, the Foreign Ministry said
yesterday.
However, a spokesman denied a report in Jane's Defence Weekly that Foreign
Minister Surakiart Sathirathai was president of PTT Exploration and Production
when the deal to purchase gas from the Yadana natural gas field was
signed.
The weekly reported in its July 11 edition that Rangoon was buying 10
MiG-29 jet fighters from Russia for US$130 million and the money was coming from
Thai gas purchases.
Deputy ministry spokesman Isorn Pocmontri said neither Thailand nor Mr
Surakiart had anything whatsoever to do with the plane purchase.
The MiG deal was between Russia and Burma.
The gas purchase was a separate matter, Mr Isorn said.
"It's not a Thai grant, but payment on a business deal.
"Therefore it is up to the Burmese government how it uses the money."
The magazine also said the gas deal was sealed when Mr Surakiart was
president of PTT Exploration and Production, a joint investor in the Yadana gas
field with France's Total and Unocal of the United States.
Mr Isorn said PTTEP signed the joint venture agreement with Total in 1995,
three years before Mr Surakiart became the state-oil company's president, a
position which he resigned from in March last year.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Leader Meets Chinese
Yunnan Vice-Governor
2001.07.17 21:45:11 YANGON, July 17 (Xinhuanet) --
First Secretary of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt met with visiting Vice-Governor of Yunnan
Province of China Shao Qiwei here Tuesday.
Present at the meeting were Myanmar Minister of Electric Power
Major-General Tin Htut, Foreign Minister U Win Aung and Chinese Ambassador
to Myanmar Li Jinjun.
Khin Nyunt said on the occasion that Myanmar supports China's joining
of the World Trade Organization.
At the meeting, Shao noted that China and Myanmar have great
potential in economy and trade, and are strong in mutual
supplementation.
He looks forward to continuous exploration of new channels and
methods of cooperation by the two sides in future, saying that the Chinese side
will build the Paunglaung station as a demonstration of project in
economic and technical cooperation.
The economic and trade delegation of Yunnan provincial government led
by Shao arrived here last Friday on a five-day visit to Myanmar at the
invitation of Tin Htut.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Calls for Effective
Treatment of STI
2001.07.17 11:06:36 YANGON, July 17 (Xinhuanet) -- A high-ranking Myanmar health official has called for effective treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STI) which is one of the main strategies for prevention and control of HIV/AIDS under the country's National Health Plan. Deputy Health Minister Kyaw Myint made the call here on Monday at the opening of a five-day inter-country workshop on management of STI, participated by health officials from Myanmar and representatives from Southeast Asia (SEA) regions and the World Health Organization (WHO), official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday. The workshop, sponsored by the Myanmar Ministry of Health and the WHO, aims at reviewing the latest issues related to treatment and control of STI, discussing training of medical practitioners at public and private sectors and imparting skills on STI management using syndromic approach. Kyaw Myint stressed the importance of the workshop within the context that STI remain a public health problem of major significance in most parts of the world with SEA not exceptional. He called for extra vigilance in prevention and control of the dreadful disease, which is a threat to all ages, all walks of life and the community, stressing the need for the program to be multi- dimensional, multi-sectoral and multi-faceted. HIV/AIDS, a national concern in Myanmar, is recognized by the Myanmar ministry of health as one of the three priority communicable diseases -- malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB). Meanwhile, the UNAIDS has identified Myanmar along with Thailand and Cambodia as the priority country in SEA where taking of urgent action is called for to prevent the spread of the epidemic. A 1999 estimation, jointly made by the UNAIDS and WHO, shows there were 530,000 HIV positive cases in Myanmar. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Builds 123 Dams in 13
Years
2001.07.17 12:05:26 YANGON, July 17 (Xinhuanet) --
Altogether 123 dams have been built in Myanmar since late 1988 when the present
government took office, irrigating 688,500 hectares of farmland, according to
the Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation Tuesday.
The 123 dams, which mostly lie in Bago, Mandalay and Magway
divisions, were built at a total cost of 40.49 billion Kyats (115. 68 million
U.S. dollars).
With the addition of the 123 dams in 13 years' time, the total number
of dams in the country has been brought to 261.
Besides, a total of 253 river-pumped water stations have so far been set up
in Myanmar, irrigating over 81,000 more hectares of farmland.
Myanmar has 18.225 million hectares of cultivable land, of which
9.315 million hectares have been put under crops and 19 percent of them
are cultivated through irrigation.
As agriculture is the mainstay of Myanmar's economy, the government
is giving priority to the development of the sector in order to produce
enough food to feed the nation's 52-million population.
Agriculture accounts for 37 percent of the country's gross domestic
product and 25 percent of its export value.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Leader Meets Visiting
Chinese Minister
2001.07.17 18:57:38 YANGON, July 17 (Xinhuanet) --
First Secretary of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt met with visiting Chinese Minister of Land
and Resources Tian Fengshan here Tuesday.
Khin Nyunt said Myanmar-China friendship is long-standing and the
frequent exchange of visits at high level between the two countries has
promoted the development of bilateral friendly relations.
He added that Myanmar supports China's bid to the right of hosting
the 2008 Olympic Games and its joining of the World Trade Organization,
expressing extreme delight over Beijing's successful Olympic bid.
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