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BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 11,
2002.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Japan PM to tout Asian cooperation
during China visit
SMH - Downer soft on Burma's hard
men
BBC - Burmese journalist arrested for
hijacking
Bkk Post - Royal audience
Bkk Post - Burmese
face HIV checks before return
ST - Myanmar denies Ne Win in a
coma
----------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday April 11, 10:20 AM
Japan PM to tout Asian cooperation during China visit By Masayuki Kitano TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will use a three-day visit to China this week
to warm up chilly relations with his fastest growing economic rival as the two
Asian giants prepare to mark the 30th anniversary of ties.
Meeting Chinese and Asian leaders and business tycoons on the southern
tropical island of Hainan, the charismatic Koizumi will have the chance to
soothe regional anxieties about competition posed by Japan's weakening yen and
trim back thorns in ties with Beijing.
"The tenor of Sino-Japanese relations has changed after a very tense
year... This change is likely to be reflected in Koizumi's visit," said Tomoyuki
Kojima, a Keio University professor specialising in Chinese affairs.
Koizumi's trip comes when relations between Japan, which boasts Asia's
largest economy, and fast-growing China have shown signs of warming after a year
marred by a series of disparate disputes.
"I think Japan and China share the view that they want to avoid any extreme
worsening in relations, and this stance is now coming to the forefront," Kojima
said.
Koizumi's chance to bolster ties with giant China -- whose rapidly
expanding economy is still dwarfed by that of a stagnant Japan -- will come at a
meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia, a gathering of regional political and
business leaders that starts on Friday on China's southern Hainan Island.
Sino-Japanese relations were strained last year by spats that spanned a
furious trade row over imports of cheap Chinese vegetables and Japan's approval
of a school history textbook that critics said whitewashed Japan's wartime
aggression and drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing.
Ties were further strained by Koizumi's visit last August to a shrine
honouring Japan's war dead that includes convicted war criminals, and a spat
over Tokyo's sinking of a mystery ship.
Koizumi, who will be accompanied by Economics Minister Heizo Takenaka, will
deliver a keynote speech at the forum on Friday, and hold talks with Chinese
Premier Zhu Rongji later that day.
"I think the prime minister's participation at the meeting will be
meaningful from the standpoint of cooperation with China within Asia," a
Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.
REGIONAL COOPERATION
In his speech, Koizumi is likely to unveil more of his ideas for Japan's
role in Asia based on a speech in Singapore in January during a tour of the five
founding members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"Through this visit, I think Koizumi wants to show that Japan is taking a
proactive stance toward creating a framework for regional cooperation in east
Asia," said Kojima, adding that the prime minister sees regional cooperation as
a way ensure stability in east Asia.
In that January speech, Koizumi said Japan envisioned an East Asia
cooperative community that not only included ASEAN -- Thailand, the Philippines,
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei --
but also Japan, China and South Korea as well as Australia and New Zealand.
Besides Zhu, Koizumi will hold talks with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra on Friday.
Koizumi's visit is one of a series of events aimed at fostering relations
in a year that marks the 30th anniversary of the normalisation of diplomatic
ties between Japan and China.
The trip will be Koizumi's first to China since going to Shanghai last
October to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
He paid a brief visit to Beijing earlier that month and helped to put
relations back on a firmer footing when he apologised for Japan's wartime
aggression.
Koizumi's visit follows an eight-day tour of Japan by Li Peng, the chairman
of China's parliament.
BILATERAL ISSUES
In Japan, Li made a point of emphasising that China's economy posed no
threat to Japan, a view with which Koizumi said he agreed. Koizumi is likely to
reiterate that stand in his talks with Zhu, another Foreign Ministry official
said.
Koizumi's talks with Li took place after economic ties soured last year
following trade spats over imports of low-priced Chinese leeks, mushrooms and
rushes for "tatami" mats.
The two sides patched up the quarrel in December. But many in Japan worry
about China's growing economic clout in Asia and the potentially devastating
effect of its rapid growth on some domestic industries.
Trade between Japan and China totalled 10.8 trillion yen ($82.11 billion)
in 2001 with Japan holding top place as China's biggest trading partner. China
exported about 3.3 trillion yen more to Japan than it imported, Japanese figures
show.
The two leaders are also likely to discuss the issue of a mystery ship that
sank in China's exclusive economic zone in December after an exchange of fire
with Japanese Coast Guard vessels, the second ministry official said.
Tokyo, which suspects the ship was on a spying or a drug smuggling mission
for North Korea, has said it would consider salvaging the ship, but Beijing
warned Japan last month not to escalate the situation.
----------------------------------------------------------------- The Sydney Morning
Herald
Downer soft on Burma's hard men By Craig Skehan, Foreign Affairs Correspondent April 11 2002 The Australian Government has succeeded in watering down a United Nations
resolution which aimed to increase pressure on Burma's military junta.
The European Union proposed a strongly worded resolution to the UN Human
Rights Commission, but Australia warned that it would not co-sponsor the
resolution unless it was changed.
The European draft condemned lack of progress towards restoring democracy
and referred to rights abuses, including child and forced labour.
One European diplomat said yesterday that Australia's doggedness to dilute
the resolution "caused a lot of surprise" at talks behind closed doors.
A regional human rights group, Forum Asia, said Australia had shifted from
being an advocate of human rights in Burma "to an overt defender of the Burmese
military regime".
A Bangkok-based Burma democracy activist, Debbie Stothard, said Australia
should not be "sticking its neck out" for a rogue state. The Howard Government's
stance on Burma was adding to the damage to Australia's international reputation
caused by its treatment of asylum seekers.
A spokesman for the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said yesterday
that Australia's promotion of political reconciliation in Burma arose from
"the repeated failure of other approaches to improve the political and human
rights situation there".
The European Union has been the strongest advocate of a hard line towards
Burma, including the imposition of sanctions.
Mr Downer's spokesman said while Australia wanted the UN resolution to
express deep concerns about continuing serious human rights abuses in Burma, it
should also welcome "steps in the right direction" and encourage further
advances.
He said last night that Australia was pressing for further changes to the
wording of the Burma resolution, though it had agreed, as a result of
alterations to the draft, to co-sponsor it.
Since a dialogue began between the military regime and democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi more than a year ago, about 200 political prisoners have been
released. However, independent Burma analysts say dozens of other democracy
campaigners have been arrested and many political activists remain in jail, even
though their sentences have been completed.
Critics of Australia's approach argue there has so far been little evidence
that the military, which has ruled Burma for 40 years, is willing to share power
or provide for democratic elections.
The Sydney-based campaign co-ordinator for the Free Burma Action Committee,
Maung Than, told the Herald: "Australia has a human rights training program in
Burma and it wants to try and show that it is working."
The reality was that gross
human rights violations continued unabated, but for diplomatic reasons Australia wanted to avoid international condemnation of the regime. "I am not happy about the Australian Government position," he said. "I want
the Australian Government to stand firmly with Aung San Suu Kyi and not with the
regime."
According to non-government organisations lobbying in Geneva, Australian
diplomats presented 10 pages of objections and amendments to the draft UN
resolution on Burma.
This came amid speculation that the country's ruling generals could this
month release Ms Suu Kyi from house arrest.
----------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Thursday, 11 April, 2002, 05:20
GMT 06:20 UK
Burmese journalist arrested for hijacking Police in India have arrested a Burmese journalist on suspicion of
involvement in the hijacking of a passenger jet to Calcutta more than 11 years
ago.
Soe Myint, who works for a Burmese news agency based in Delhi, was arrested on Wednesday after being taken into custody for questioning. Officials say he will go on trial in Calcutta later this week.
A BBC correspondent in Calcutta says Burma may have put pressure on the
Indian authorities to arrest Mr Myint, whose reporting has been critical of
Burma's military government.
He is accused of hijacking a Thai Airways flight in November 1990 to draw
attention to alleged atrocities committed by the military in Burma.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
----------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Thursday 11 April 2002
IN BRIEF - Royal
audience
Burmese army chief Gen Maung Aye is expected to extend his visit to
Thailand by another day so as to be able to have an audience with His Majesty
the King.
According to the original schedule, Gen Maung Aye would begin his three-day
visit on April 23. He would be granted an audience with His Majesty on April 25,
the last day of his stay in Thailand.
However, due to His Majesty's tight schedule, Gen Maung Aye's audience with
the King would have to be postponed to April 26, a Thai military source
said.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Thursday 11 April
2002
Burmese face HIV checks before return
Illegal labourers from Burma will be screened for HIV, and those who test
positive will be repatriated separately from returnees with a clean bill of
health, Surakiart Sathirathai, foreign minister, was quoted as saying
yesterday.
The agreement was reached during talks on the return of immigrant labourers
without work permits in Rangoon on Friday.
The BBC quoted Mr Surakiart as saying he had agreed to a request from the
Burmese government that all individuals be screened for HIV.
He said those diagnosed as HIV positive would be separated and repatriated
together at a later date.
According to Mr Surakiart, most obstacles to the repatriation scheme had
been overcome during the meeting last week.
However a further round of talks was scheduled for next week in the Burmese
border town of Myawaddy, opposite the Mae Sot district in Tak province.
He said the repatriations would likely begin later this month.
Officials have predicted the process will take several months to
complete.
----------------------------------------------------------------- The Straits Times
APRIL 11, 2002 THU Myanmar denies Ne Win in a coma YANGON - The military government yesterday denied that former leader Ne Win
had fallen into a coma while under virtual house arrest in the wake of an
alleged coup attempt by some of his relatives.
The denial followed speculation that his daughter, Ms Sandar Win, has
sought permission to take the 91-year-old to Singapore for medical treatment.
'He is in good health,' a military official said. 'The news that Ne Win and
Sandar Win plan to travel to Singapore is only a rumour.'
The former leader was ordered not to leave his home after his son-in-law
and three grandsons were arrested in March for allegedly plotting against the
government.
A Singapore Embassy official had no information about plans by Mr Ne Win to
travel to the Republic. --AP
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