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BURMA RELATED NEWS - July 31,
2001.
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HEADLINES
---------------------------------------------------------------- SMH - Pressure on
Rangoon to return to democracy
AFP - Myanmar junta frees four more political
prisoners
AFP - Thai anti-narcotics officials taken
captive by Wa militia
Reuters - Myanmar ethnic army frees detained
Thai officials
Reuters - Powell trip eases Asia tensions but
problems remain
AP - Thai Stock Fraud Leads to
Deportations
BBC - Political prisoners released in
Burma
Kyodo News - Myanmar's
junta releases 5 more political prisoners
The Nation - Officials
'held in Burma'
The Nation - Purachai revokes drug king's
citizenship
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Media Calls for Cooperation
Among Nations to Fight Drugs
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Generates More Electricity
in 1st Quarter
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Produces 811,000 barrels of
Crude Oil in 1st Quarter
SCMP - Satellite TV to beam 'true image'
---------------------------------------------------------------- Sydney Morning Herald (Jul 30, 2001)Pressure on Rangoon to return to
democracy
By Mark Baker, Herald Correspondent in Singapore
The Rangoon military regime is under renewed pressure to return Burma to
democracy or face fresh international sanctions.
Western governments and Japan are signalling impatience with the pace of
secret talks between the opposition leader, Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, and senior
military officials that have been under way since late last year.
Senior Western diplomats at the annual meeting of the Association of
South-East Asian Nations in Hanoi last week said the United States and the
European Union were preparing to increase pressure on the junta if there was not
clear evidence in the next two to three months that it was ready to compromise
with Ms Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy.
Several Western ministers are believed to have warned the Burmese Foreign
Minister, Mr Win Aung, that the regime's recent decision to release about 150
political prisoners was not enough to end trade and investment sanctions that
have crippled the Burmese economy.
"We have to show there is more to democracy than just releasing several
political prisoners," the Belgian Foreign Minister, Mr Louis Michel, said.
The EU's external affairs commissioner, Mr Chris Patten, said Burma must
demonstrate a commitment to reform and end human rights abuses, including forced
labour, if it wanted to see European sanctions lifted.
Japan, once Burma's most important aid donor, also appears to be toughening
its stance under the new leadership of Mr Junichiro Koizumi.
The Japanese Foreign Minister, Ms Makiko Tanaka, told Mr Win Aung the
regime must speed up the release of the 1,800 political prisoners still in
detention and ensure Ms Suu Kyi's early release from de facto house
arrest.
"I told him that although Myanmar [Burma] may have domestic problems, I
want it to return her to society as quickly as possible so that we can work
together with the international community," Ms Tanaka said.
While Ms Suu Kyi has not commented publicly on her talks with the regime,
her decision not to attend a ceremony two weeks ago marking the anniversary of
the assassination of her father, the Burmese independence hero Aung San, was
interpreted as evidence the dialogue has stalled or remains far from a
breakthrough.
But Mr Win Aung said the talks were making progress and insisted Rangoon's
aim was to return to democracy. "Now the atmosphere is good. Now we are moving
forward. The process has started. We are patient, we are cautious and, yes, we
are optimistic," he told Reuters.
Australia's Foreign Minister, Mr Downer, said after meeting Mr Win Aung on
Friday that he believed progress was being made in the talks with Ms Suu
Kyi.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday July 31, 3:01 PM
Myanmar junta frees four more political prisoners YANGON, July 31 (AFP) - The
Myanmar junta Tuesday freed four more political prisoners, all members of Aung
San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) who were elected as
MPs in the disallowed 1990 elections.
The four are all in good health, said a spokesman for the military regime,
which is progressively releasing dozens of Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters, aides
and relatives as landmark talks with the opposition leader proceed.
The parliamentarians -- Khin Maung Win, Chit Htwe, Aung Myint and Nyunt Aye
-- were released from jails around the country before the end of their
sentences.
Earlier, the spokesman said five opposition figures had been released
Tuesday but later removed one of them, Ohn Maung, from the list without giving a
reason.
According to the junta, more than 150 dissidents have been freed in Myanmar
since the beginning of the year, in a sign that the contacts with Aung San Suu
Kyi that started in October are making headway.
However, the Nobel laureate and her two most senior lieutenants, Aung Shwe
and Tin Oo, remain under house arrest restrictions in Yangon, helping ensure
that the contents of the dialogue remain secret.
While the international community and dissident groups have welcomed the
releases, they note that many political prisoners remain behind bars in Myanmar.
International rights group Amnesty International recently put the number
detained at 1,800.
The junta embarked on the talks with Aung San Suu Kyi at the urging of the
United Nations and its envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail, who has been a regular
visitor to Yangon since late last year.
The contacts, the first since 1994, are aimed at paving the way for a
full-blown national reconciliation dialogue which could lead to some sort of
democratic reform and end four decades of absolute military rule.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday July 31, 8:31 PM
Thai anti-narcotics officials taken captive by Wa militia BANGKOK, July 31 (AFP) - Seven
Thai anti-narcotics and military officials have been taken captive by the Wa
ethnic militia while on a field trip to the drug-infested Myanmar border region,
the government said Tuesday.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the group, including one woman,
had not been harmed but were being held by Wa fighters, who are widely accused
of controlling Myanmar's massive narcotics trade.
"We do not know yet what is the motivation for detaining them," Thaksin
said.
The premier said he would ask Myanmar's military government to help track
down the group, made up of four Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) staff
and three army personnel.
The ONCB's deputy secretary general and a senior military man, General
Wichit Yathip, will fly to the Myanmar capital to ask the junta to intervene
with the Wa, who are allied with the Yangon regime.
Thamarak Issarangkul Na Ayutthaya, the minister responsible for the ONCB,
said the government had still not received any demands from the Wa
captors.
"I don't know the motive for the detention yet but it may be the resut of a
misunderstanding as our officials have gone into their territory," he
said.
Later Tuesday, Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Jongsak Panitkul
expressed optimism that the crisis would be solved quickly.
"The (Myanmar) government knows about our request and we don't think there
will be any problems (over the release). We believe we will receive more details
or good news on Wednesday," he said.
The Thai party has been out of contact since Friday, when they embarked on
the field trip to the region where vast amounts of heroin and methamphetamine
are produced in jungle laboratories.
Thaksin said Thailand would have to explain to Myanmar officials what the
group was doing in the area.
"We are hopeful that the Myanmar government will cooperate, but we will
have to assure them they they did not enter into Myanmar with the aim of
conducting any wrongdoing," he said.
Thaksin said details of what happened after the group went into Myanmar at
the Tachilek border crossing Friday remained sketchy.
"They checked out on the morning of July 27 and promised to come back to
pay their bill in the afternoon, and they have been missing with their car since
then," he said.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday July 31, 8:40 PM
Myanmar ethnic army frees detained Thai officials By Nopporn Wong-Anan BANGKOK (Reuters) - Seven Thai
anti-drugs officials detained by an ethnic minority army allied to Myanmar's
military government have been handed over to Myanmar authorities and should be
home soon, officials said on Tuesday.
The military and civilian officials, missing since Sunday after crossing
the border into Myanmar at the town of Tachilek, were initially detained by the
United Wa State Army (UWSA), a militia blamed by Thailand for producing most of
the amphetamine pills flooding the country.
"They have been released and are now staying at Tachilek under the custody
of the Myanmar government, and we are contacting the Myanmar authorities to
bring them back," an official at the office of Thailand's minister for drug
suppression told Reuters.
The seven officials from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB)
and the Ministry of Defence, including one female Army colonel, went to Tachilek
on Sunday after attending a drugs seminar in Chiang Mai, Thai officials said.
Tumnu Sirisingha, head of the ONCB's northern office, said the Thai
officials got permission from Myanmar police to enter Tachilek to survey drugs
problems in the town, opposite the northern Thai border town of Mae Sai.
Tumnu told reporters the group might have been captured because they were
driving a suspicious looking vehicle which had heavily tinted windows and high
powered radios.
"The Wa may have suspected them of spying or committing a robbery, so they
captured them," he said.
The UWSA is said by Thai authorities to be a major producer and supplier to
Thailand of methamphetamine tablets. Officials say as many as 800 million of the
Myanmar-made stimulant pills could reach Thailand this year, after 500 million
last year.
Thai officials say most of the tablets are manufactured in makeshift
laboratories in areas under the control of Myanmar ethnic minority groups which,
like the Wa, have signed peace deals with the Yangon military government in
return for relative autonomy.
The region forms part of the notorious "Golden Triangle" -- where the Thai,
Myanmar and Laotian borders meet -- and is believed by international agencies to
be one of the world's top heroin-producing regions.
Thai narcotics experts say production of methamphetamines is increasingly
supplanting opium and heroin there as the main threat.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday July 31, 5:16 PM
Powell trip eases Asia tensions but problems remain By Andrew Marshall BANGKOK (Reuters) - U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell's Asian trip has helped Washington's relations
with China but nerves are still frayed in the region over their precarious ties
and several smouldering regional flashpoints.
Powell's signals that Washington is softening its stance towards Beijing --
he said after his visit to China that he no longer regarded the country as a
"strategic competitor" -- brought relief to a region fearful of being caught in
the crossfire as China and the U.S. square up to each other.
"Asians have been worried for some time that the escalation in tensions
would not be beneficial to anyone in the region. They worried about being forced
to take sides," said Panitan Wattanayakorn, director of defence studies at the
Institute of Security and International Studies in Bangkok.
"Powell's visit will neutralise some of those fears."
But analysts warn the fragility of the relationship, and the potential for
fresh flare-ups, should not be underestimated.
"It seems to me that both sides had a little bit of a rethink about the way
things were going. Probably they both realised that it's not going to achieve
anything in the longer strategic term to carry on with a toe-to-toe
relationship," said John McFarlane, visiting fellow at the Australian Defence
Forces Academy.
"The corner has probably turned in the sharpness of the relationship. But
it could easily swing back. The really vulnerable issue is Taiwan."
RELATIONS BETTER, BUT VULNERABLE
Robert Karniol, Asia-Pacific editor of Jane's Defence Weekly, said China's
neighbours had to be resigned to the fact that the country's relations with the
U.S. would always be thorny.
"Relations between Beijing and Washington have had their ups and downs over
the years and will continue to do so," he said. "We can rest assured that they
will go down again."
Asian nations reacted with alarm this year to the more hawkish stance on
China adopted by U.S. President George W. Bush, and the months of tension that
followed.
A bitter dispute over a collision in April between a U.S. spy plane and a
Chinese fighter jet, and Bush's robust arms sales to Taiwan, sent tremors
through the whole of Asia.
But last week, during Powell's visit to a key regional security forum in
Vietnam and then to Beijing, both sides offered olive branches. Powell's
conciliatory words were matched by China's release of three jailed scholars,
which removed another obstacle to better relations between the two countries.
The stage is now set for further fence-mending when Bush visits China in
October.
SEVERAL FLASHPOINTS REMAIN
But even if worries about U.S.-China relations fade into the background
temporarily, there are plenty of other flashpoints which pose a threat to
regional security.
The most obvious risk is Taiwan -- an issue intricately bound up with the
U.S.-China relationship and which has plenty of potential to provoke fresh
confrontation.
A dispute between China and several southeast Asian nations over the
Spratly Islands, a South China Sea archipelago in an area thought to be rich in
oil, is also still simmering.
But analysts say that while China may be tempted to take advantage of the
shift in the U.S. stance by pushing its claim on the Spratlys harder, a desire
to avoid confrontation with Washington and concern over its image ahead of the
2008 Beijing Olympics should prevent the dispute from boiling over.
"If the Chinese have decided that it is better to have at a reasonable
working relationship with the United States, then hopefully these other issues
can be managed," McFarlane said.
"As long as no-one -- the U.S., China or Taiwan -- goes over the edge in
the Taiwan situation, I think the South China Sea situation can probably be
managed."
The risk of chaos in Indonesia -- a perennial security concern for its
neighbours -- receded this month after a bloodless transition of power in which
legislators sacked President Abdurrahman Wahid and replaced him with his deputy,
Megawati Sukarnoputri.
But there has been little progress on the Korean peninsula, another
long-standing flashpoint.
At last week's meeting in Hanoi of the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and major regional and world powers, North Korea and the U.S.
remained far apart.
North Korea's representative told the forum that Washington was attaching
too many preconditions to a resumption of talks. But Powell insisted the U.S.
was willing to hold talks any time and anywhere, without preconditions.
Karniol said tensions on the border between Myanmar and Thailand were also
emerging as a regional security worry alongside Taiwan, the Spratlys, North
Korea and Indonesia.
"If we look at those flashpoints, all of them have the potential to be
quite serious," he said. "But the likelihood of an imminent conflict developing
is not large."
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday July 31 10:38 AM ET
Thai Stock Fraud Leads to Deportations BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - At
least 63 of the 80 foreigners arrested in raids last week on ``boiler room''
stock trading firms suspected of fraud were being deported Tuesday, a senior
immigration officer said.
Most of the rest will be deported from Thailand within a few days, police
Lt. Col. Thira Osathanond of the Immigration Department told The Associated
Press. Police declined to specify their nationalities.
Two securities firms accused of stock fraud - the Brinton Group and Benson
Dupont Capital Management - were raided last week.
The Australian and Irish bosses of the two Bangkok firms remained in
detention. Police said they would be charged with setting up an illegal
securities firm, and could face up to five years in prison if convicted.
Earlier, 78 low-level employees accused of pressuring would-be investors in
Australia and New Zealand to purchase shares in shaky or nonexistent companies
were fined for working without permits, including eight Americans.
The others were from Britain, Canada, Ireland, Australia, the Philippines,
Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Spain, India, Myanmar and Jamaica.
Thai authorities have warned that 21 other ``boiler room'' companies are
operating in Bangkok. Such scams have reportedly spread from America and Europe
to Asia, and are now operating in Thailand, the Philippines and Hong Kong.
---------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Tuesday, 31 July, 2001, 09:36
GMT 10:36 UK
Political prisoners released in Burma Burma's military government has freed five political activists elected to
parliament in 1990 for the opposition National League for Democracy.
The party said they had been in detention since 1996. This year the military government has released more than 150 dissidents,
following secret talks between the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the
authorities.
The contacts are aimed at paving the way for a full-scale dialogue of
national reconciliation.
The National League for Democracy was barred from taking power after it won
more than 80% of the seats in the 1990 general election.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar's junta releases 5 more
political prisoners
YANGON, July 31, Kyodo -
Myanmar's ruling junta released five more political prisoners Tuesday, all
National League for Democracy (NLD) members elected in the nullified 1990
general elections, an official press release said.
NLD sources said the released NLD members -- Ohn Maung, Aung Myint, Nyunt
Aye, Khin Maung Win and Chit Htway -- were serving prison terms under security
laws in various prisons outside the capital of Yangon.
So far 158 political prisoners, most of them NLD members, have been
released since secret talks between the NLD and the generals began in October.
Among them are 32 NLD elected members released from so-called ''government
guest houses'' and nine from prisons.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - July 31,
2001.
Officials 'held in Burma'
Preecha Sa-ardsorn, Veena Janruang
Seven officials from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and
the Defence Ministry's Armed Forces Security Centre are missing in Burma,
sources said yesterday.
The seven were detained by armed men believed to be members of the Wa
ethnic group, the sources said. But Burmese authorities said they had no
information on the group's whereabouts.
The seven officials - one woman and six men - had attended a meeting at the
Northern Drug Suppression Command in Chiang Mai last Wednesday and were on an
assignment to inspect the border area between Thursday and Saturday.
On Sunday they went on an excursion to Burma's Tachilek town, where,
according to the sources, they were captured by the Wa insurgents.
Tachilek is opposite the northern-most border town of Mae Sai.
One of the missing officials, Major Domsak Kamsaisang, is thought to be
well-known in the Burmese town, as he heads a Thai liaison committee on border
affairs, a source said.
The officials were still in contact with their respective main offices
until Saturday, the source said.
ONCB secretary-general Kitti Limchaikit said yesterday his office had lost
contact with the ONCB officials since Friday, adding that Burmese authorities
had been asked to help locate them.
When asked whether the officials were collecting intelligence on narcotics,
Kitti said they "possibly were on an excursion".
PM's Office Minister Thamarak Isarangura, who oversees narcotics affairs,
said yesterday he wondered what the seven officials were doing in the area.
Immigration records showed the officials left the Mae Sai-Tachilek border
checkpoint for Burma on Sunday but failed to return that evening as they had
told immigration officials they would, Thamarak said.
Burmese authorities had been unable to locate the missing officials,
Thamarak said, adding that he had informed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of
the incident.
Third Army commander, Lt-General Wattanachai Chaimuen-wong also wondered
why the officials wanted to cross to Burma as it was clear the nature of their
job was well-known among people there. However, he said it would not be too
difficult to negotiate with Burmese authorities for their return. "Thailand and
Burma now have good understanding between each other," he said.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - July 31,
2001.
Purachai revokes drug king's
citizenship
The Interior Ministry yesterday revoked the Thai citizenship of Wei
Hsueh-kang, who is reputed to be the new drug kingpin of the Golden
Triangle.
Interior Minister Purachai Piumsombun said he had signed an order revoking
the citizenship of Wei, whose Thai name was Charnchai Cheevinnitipanya.
Purachai said he acted after the National Citizenship Committee recently
identified Wei as a threat to national security.
Wei, 55, is wanted in the United States for alleged drug trafficking. He
was granted Thai citizenship on July 2 1985 and arrested in Chiang Mai on
November 23, 1988 on charges of attempting to smuggle 680 kilograms of heroin
out of the country.
Wei escaped conviction for drug trafficking by jumping bail, which he had
been granted by a Thai judge under mysterious circumstances, and fled to
Burma.
He currently heads the 361 Brigade of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), now
believed to be the prime producers of heroin and methamphetamines in the Golden
Triangle - the lawless tri-border area where Thailand, Burma and Laos converge.
The UWSA's mass production of methamphetamines, expected to surpass 600 million
speed pills this year, most of which are destined for the Thai market, has
severely strained Thai-Burma relations.
Wei, of mixed Chinese and Wa ethnicity, reportedly worked closely with Khun
Sa, the former kingpin of the Golden Triangle, in the early 1970s.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Media Calls for
Cooperation Among Nations to Fight Drugs
Xinhuanet 2001.07.31 12:38:31 YANGON, July 31 (Xinhuanet) --
Official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar Tuesday called on all nations in the
world to have positive mutual understanding towards one another and
cooperate with one another to deal with narcotic problem.
In an article, the newspaper pointed out that the drug problem, which every
nation confronts today, is concerned with the entire mankind of the world,
not only with a particular nation.
For this, the problem cannot be tackled by a particular nation, nor can it
be solved by all nations exclusive of a particular nation, it said.
It noted that Myanmar is cooperating with U.N. agencies, the nations
in the region, member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations and other world nations.
So far, Myanmar has signed memorandums of understanding on regional
drug control plan with China, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam as well
as bilateral cooperation agreements on drug control with India, Vietnam,
the Russian Federation, Laos, the Philippines and China.
Official statistics show that Myanmar has since 1988 seized a total
of 53.19 tons of narcotic drugs including 4 tons of heroin, 31 tons of
opium and 17.6 tons of ephedrine as well as 82.5 million tablets of
stimulant drugs, destroying a total of 50,617 hectares of poppy
cultivation.
The country, since 1990, has also burned up in Yangon for 15 times
81.7 tons of narcotic drugs including 23.69 tons high-grade opium and
34.27 tons low-grade opium, 3.74 tons heroin, 11.58 tons ephedrine as well as
80.85 million tablets of stimulant drugs.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Generates More Electricity
in 1st Quarter
Xinhuanet 2001.07.31 10:27:04 YANGON, July 31 (Xinhuanet) --
Electric power generated by the state-run Myanma Electric Power Enterprise
(MEPE), the main electricity supplier of the country, totaled 1.236
billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) in the first quarter of this year, 2.57
percent more than the same period of 2000, said the latest issue of the
government Economic Indicators.
Meanwhile, the installed generating capacity of the MEPE reached
1,172 mega watts (mw) at the end of the first quarter of 2000.
Official statistics show that in 2000, electric power generated
by the MEPE went to 5.028 billion kwh, 17 percent more than 1999.
According to the MEPE, since 1988 Myanmar's electric power
installed generating capacity has increased by 509 mw, of which that of
natural gas power plants rose by 255 mw, while that of steam power ones by
143 mw and that of hydropower ones by 111 mw.
Myanmar is implementing five more hydropower plants --
Paunglaung, Zaungtu, Mone, Thaphanseik and Maipan. Three of them are
China-aided projects.
Upon their completion, the five power plants will add 407 mw more to
Myanmar's installed generating capacity and is expected to greatly ease the
serious electricity shortage problem of the country.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Produces 811,000 barrels
of Crude Oil in 1st Quarter
Xinhuanet 2001.07.31 10:25:49 YANGON, July 31 (Xinhuanet) --
Myanmar produced a total of 811,000 barrels of crude oil in the first
quarter of this year, 11.94 percent less than the same period of 2000,
according to the latest data released by the country's Central Statistical
Organization.
During the three-month period, the country yielded 347.08 million
cubic-meters of natural gas, also falling by 10.3 percent from the
corresponding period of 2000.
In 2000, the country produced 3.538 million barrels of crude oil and
1.538 billion cubic-meters of natural gas.
Since Myanmar opened to foreign investment in late 1988, investment
in the oil and gas sector coming from oil companies of Australia, Britain,
France, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and the United States has reached 2.355
billion dollars in 51 projects, taking up 32.2 percent of the country's
total contracted foreign investment.
So far Myanmar's petroleum and its products are insufficient to meet the
demand and the country still has to import 280,000 to 300, 000 tons of crude oil
and 100,000 to 150,000 tons of diesel oil annually.
---------------------------------------------------------------- South China Morning Post
Tuesday, July 31, 2001 BURMA - Satellite TV to beam 'true image' DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR in Rangoon Burma is launching an English-language television channel intended by the
ruling generals to present a ''true image'' of the country. The regime says the
satellite service will be beamed to 120 countries.
The Myanmar Radio and Television English Programme, MRTV3, would be
launched on Burmese public TV tomorrow and be available for viewing outside the
country from Saturday, said the New Light of Myanmar newspaper. The new
English-language programme will use Thaicom-3, a satellite owned by Shin
Corporation, the telecommunications conglomerate founded by Thai Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra.
It would be available on a ''global beam'' to homes with their own
satellite dishes in 120 countries spanning an area from Western Europe to
Australia, including most of Asia, said Shin Corporation's communications
officer in Bangkok, Richard Jones.
''This is only one of many contracts we have with the Government,'' Mr
Jones said. Burma is Shin's second-largest client after India.
It was unclear whether the new satellite channel on Thaicom-3 was opened as
a result of Mr Thaksin's visit to Burma last month to patch up relations
strained by border conflicts and Thai accusations that the Burmese military was
actively involved in the drug trade.
''MRTV-3 will facilitate projecting Burma's true image abroad more
distinctly and more attractively,'' said the state-run New Light of Myanmar
daily.
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