[burmanet2-l] Burma Related News - Jan 20, 2003.

["TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - January  20, 2003.
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HEADLINES
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Dow Jones - INDIA PRESS: Gas Reserves Detected In Myanmar JV Block
AP - Myanmar foreign minister visits India, keen to attract trade and
investment
AP - Regional police conference opens with Indonesian president talking
tough on terror
AFP - Rebel leader offers conditional surrender to Myanmar
AFP - Myanmar invites Indian investment, urges regional summit
AFP - Seven Myanmar nationals arrested in Thai crackdown on illegal
immigrants
AFP - Ten Myanmar nationals return home after rescue in Indian waters
Hoover's online - Gail Set To Lap Up New Huge Gas Reserves In Myanmar
The Nation - Proposal for bilingual border
Asia Times - ASEAN and China's regional concerns
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Monday January 20, 11:39 AM
INDIA PRESS: Gas Reserves Detected In Myanmar JV Block

NEW DELHI (Dow Jones)--Potentially huge natural gas reserves have been
detected in the offshore joint-venture exploration Block A-1 in Myanmar,
Financial Express reports, quoting unidentified Indian Petroleum Ministry
officials.

India's state-owned firms Gas Authority of India Ltd. (P.GAI), or GAIL, and
ONGC Videsh Ltd. have a stake in the block.

In a letter to the country's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Ram Naik,
GAIL said the block has gas reserves of 907 billion cubic meters and
recoverable gas reserves of 625 billion cubic meters, the report said.

"Such huge...gas reserves, if established through exploration, can sustain a
peak production of 60 million standard cubic meters of gas per day for a
period of 20 years," the letter says, according to the report.

The current level of consumption of natural gas in India is around 65
million cubic meters a day.

Gas Authority is in talks with partner Korean Gas Co. for marketing its 10%
share of gas from Block A-1, the report said.

"GAIL is also studying the feasibility of laying a 550-600-kilometer
offshore pipeline from Block A-1 to India through the exclusive economic
zone of Bangladesh," the report quoted one of the officials as saying.
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Myanmar foreign minister visits India, keen to attract trade and investment
Jan 20 7:17 AM ET
By NIRMALA GEORGE, Associated Press Writer

NEW DELHI, India - Long-isolated Myanmar is opening its doors to the world
and wants to attract trade and investment, its foreign minister said Monday.

"In the past, we had closed our doors to the outside. Now we are ready. We
are opening our doors to trade and investment," Win Aung said during a visit
to India.

He is the first Myanmar foreign minister to visit since the current military
junta came to power in 1988, cracking down on a pro-democracy movement,
which soured relations with India and Western countries. Myanmar, also known
as Burma, still struggles to attract investment.

Win Aung said India's position is advantageous for renewed trade because of
the border it shares with Myanmar and their centuries-old tradition of
commerce.

Referring to India's "Look East" policy of expanding trade and ties with
Southeast Asia, Win Aung said Myanmar offered enormous business potential in
information technology, telecommunications and infrastructure building.

"We're right there and ready to share our border with India for prosperity
of the entire region," he told the Confederation of Indian Industry.

The junta abandoned socialism when it took power, but the economy verges on
bankruptcy because of mismanagement by the regime and pressure from
pro-democracy advocates for an economic boycott. The regime also keeps tight
control on information and forbids unauthorized public use of the Internet.

According to statistics published by the Myanmar Ministry of National
Planning and Economic Development, only one foreign company made a major
investment in the first half of 2002 � worth US$1.5 million.


Win Aung was scheduled to hold discussions over the next two days with Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and
Finance Minister Jaswant Singh, and security issues were expected to head
the agenda.

After the 1988 pro-democracy crackdown, India supported opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi, but its relations with the junta improved after New Delhi
received Myanmar's help in suppressing Indian insurgent groups operating in
dense jungles straddling the two countries.

India is one of Myanmar's main trading partners. Bilateral trade between
them stood at US$435 million last year, although most of it was routed
through Singapore.

During a visit to Myanmar in February 2001, Singh, who was then India's
foreign minister, opened a 160-kilometer (100-mile) long road linking the
border town of Moreh in India's remote northeast with Kalewa in Myanmar.

The road is planned to be extended to Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest
city.
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Regional police conference opens with Indonesian president talking tough on
terror
Mon Jan 20, 1:59 AM ET
By MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Monday
urged Southeast Asian nations to cooperate more closely in the fight against
terrorism, saying that her administration was determined to eradicate
"crimes against humanity."

Speaking at the opening of a three-day conference on terrorism organized by
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Megawati said the Oct. 12 Bali
nightclub bombings had hurt the country's economy and the government's
efforts to promote ethnic and religious diversity.

"We in Indonesia have had a bitter experience," she said. "The national
life, which we have been building based on diversity, has undergone immense
damage as a result of these attacks."

Southeast Asia has emerged as a major front in the international war on
terrorism. Malaysia and Singapore have arrested dozens of terrorist suspects
who allegedly planned attacks on Western targets, while U.S. troops have
assisted Filipino security forces in a major crackdown on the Abu Sayaff
Muslim terror group in the country's southern islands.

Nearly 200 delegates are attending the conference, among them police chiefs
from the 10 ASEAN nations.

Participants will discuss ways to better share resources and information in
combatting transnational crime and are expected to agree on forming a joint
anti-terrorism task force. The conference is also scheduled to deal with the
sensitive issue of extraditing terrorism suspects from one country to
another.

Megawati, criticized as being soft on terrorism before the Bali bombings in
which nearly 200 people died, used her speech to portray Indonesia as a
country that had learned many painful lessons from the attacks.

"I consider this gathering as a significant step forward that reflects our
determination to combat terrorism," she said. "I want to underline the
urgency with which we should bring about effective cooperation in the fight
against such a common enemy."

"(Terrorism) does not only cause fear and panic but in fact poses a threat
to humanity," she said. "Its indiscriminate (attacks) on innocent victims
make terrorist acts crimes against humanity."

Last November, leaders from the 10 countries discussed ways to jointly
protect citizens and tourists from Bali-style bombings. Determined to show
the world that their homelands are safe, the leaders decided to hold their
next summit this year in Bali.

ASEAN is made up of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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Rebel leader offers conditional surrender to Myanmar

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Jan 21 (AFP) - The leader of the rebel Shan State Army
(SSA) offered to surrender to Myanmar's military junta if the United Nations
moves to protect his people, a statement received here Monday said.

"We are ready to surrender if the world believes that drugs can be
eradicated (in the region) by this, but the UN and other international
bodies must intervene and guarantee the safety of the Shan people and
restore their rights," SSA leader Yord Serk said in the statement.

The SSA, one of two major armed insurgent groups in Myanmar yet to sign a
ceasefire agreement with the junta, has in the past called for peace talks
with Myanmar's junta but has refused to lay down arms during negotiations.

York Serk also said in the statement he would be willing to testify to an
international court that the SSA was not involved in the lucrative drugs
trade, as often charged by Myanmar's junta.

He also expressed willingness to provide information his rebel army has
collected on the drugs factories that dot Myanmar's borders with Thailand,
Laos and China.

The factories produce massive quantities of heroin and methamphetamines that
are then shipped worldwide.

The Thai army has estimated that as many as one billion methamphetamine
pills could flood Thailand alone this year, where addiction has reached the
crisis point.

"I am making this appeal for a chance to testify about the narcotic drug
problems in the Shan state, and also to suggest ways to eradicate drugs from
my experience," Yord Serk said.

Myanmar forces are reportedly gearing up for their regular dry season
offensive against the SSA in eastern Shan state, which borders Thailand's
north.
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Myanmar invites Indian investment, urges regional summit

NEW DELHI, Jan 20 (AFP) - Myanmar Monday invited Indian investments in
information technology, agriculture, infrastructure and energy and asked
regional leaders to join a summit to boost economic cooperation.

Addressing the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, U Win Aung, the
visiting foreign minister of the ruling junta, said the regional Bangladesh,
India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation (BIMST-EC)
formed in 1997 had not shown any progress.

"BIMST-EC has not moved far enough or fast enough," Aung said.

"What we need is a vision to move forward and work together ... what we need
is a summit level meet next year."

Noting the strategic location of the BIMST-EC countries at the heart of the
Asian Pacific, Aung said the region was home to about a quarter of the
world's population and represented a huge market.

Economic progress within the grouping would result in other countries
joining BIMST-EC, he said.

Aung also noted that Myanmar was alone among the 10 members of the
Association of South East Asian Nations to share a border with India and
China, adding, "We sense that India is catching up (with China)."

India became an ASEAN sectoral dialogue partner in 1992 and was elevated to
a full dialogue partner three years later, allowing the nations to hold
talks at ministerial level.

India and ASEAN -- which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore Thailand and Vietnam -- held their first
summit meet in Phnom Penh last November.

After the summit, Myanmar had advocated that ASEAN hold annual summits with
India, Aung said.

"We regard our neighbours as our friends," the minister said, adding that
Myanmar was willing to open its borders to trade for the "prosperity of the
whole region."

After beginning about seven years ago in Moreh in the northeastern state of
Manipur, bilateral trade between India and Myanmar had jumped from 84.7
million dollars to 435 million dollars in the past decade, he said, urging
Indian businessmen to invest in Myanmar.

It is estimated that daily transactions at the Moreh border market are worth
about three million rupees (62,500 USD).

An Indian foreign ministry official said India was actively involved in
infrastructure projects in Myanmar.

Along with Thailand, the two countries have agreed to build a 1,400
kilometer (900 mile) road to connect Moreh in Manipur to Mae Sot in
Thailand, running through the ancient city of Bagan in central Myanmar.

Another project to exploit the Kaladan river for navigation and connect the
northeastern Indian state of Mizoram to the port of Sittwe was also on the
cards, the official said.

India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and the Gas
Authority of India Limited (GAIL) have joined South Korea's Daewoo
International and the Korean gas company to prospect for gas in Myanmar, the
official said.

A report in the Financial Express newspaper Monday said the consortium had
struck gas in the field off the Rakhine coast and GAIL was exploring how to
bring gas to India through an offshore pipeline.

Aung, who arrived in New Delhi Sunday, was to meet India's foreign minister
Yashwant Sinha and finance minister Jaswant Singh later Monday.

He is scheduled Tuesday to hold talks with India's privatisation minister
Arun Shourie and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
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Seven Myanmar nationals arrested in Thai crackdown on illegal immigrants

BANGKOK, Jan 20 (AFP) - Thai authorities have arrested seven Myanmar
nationals on the first day of a week-long crackdown on illegal immigrants in
western Thailand, a government official said Monday.

"Today we started an operation aimed at making a clean sweep of illegal
immigrants in the district, which will run until the 24th (of January),"
said a senior official from Sangkhlaburi district in Kanchanaburi province.

"I can confirm that today seven Myanmar nationals were arrested for being
illegal immigrants," he told AFP, adding that they would be questioned
before being sent back across the border.

The operation was being carried out jointly by the army and local
government, he added.

However, a Myanmar dissident based in Thailand claimed the seven were
arrested because they were members of activist groups opposing Myanmar's
military rule.

"These three women and four men were arrested because they were members of
the National League for Democracy (Liberated Area), the Democratic Party for
New Society (DPNS) and two other women's activist groups," said Kyaw Kyaw
Htet, chairman of activist group the People's Democratic Front.

He said the detainees would be tortured or thrown into jail if they were
handed directly to Myanmar authorities.

The Sangkhlaburi district official, however, denied the arrests were made
because the people were anti-Yangon activists.

"We have never arrested any Myanmar nationals for being dissidents or
students," he said.

In late December two batches of Myanmar dissidents illegally based in
Kanchanaburi were deported and their offices closed down, although the exact
number of people sent back was not revealed by the Thai army.

The army said at the time that the deportation was merely enforcing Thai
immigration law and was not done to appease Myanmar's junta.

Amnesty International has already expressed fears that more political
activists would be sent back across the border where they would face human
rights violations.

In June last year Thailand's National Security Council vowed to clamp down
on dissident groups from Myanmar. It accused the dissidents of being intent
on using Thai territory as a springboard to carry out attacks.
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Ten Myanmar nationals return home after rescue in Indian waters

YANGON, Jan 20 (AFP) - Ten men from Myanmar have returned home after
spending ten days adrift on a raft made of empty oil drums before being
rescued by an Indian vessel in the Bay of Bengal, a lawyer said Monday.

"The Indian cargo vessel Min Noble, manned by an all-Indian crew, was
heading for China when it found them adrift in the sea on a makeshift raft
and rescued them," a lawyer representing Steamship Mutual of London, the
insurers of the Min Noble, told AFP.

The men, whose motorised boat had sunk, were severely dehydrated and when
picked up had only two tins of evaporated milk left between them, the lawyer
said.

An eleventh member of the group died while being transported to shore, she
said, adding that the rest had arrived back in Myanmar late Saturday and
were being questioned by Myanmar authorities.

It was unclear what work the men did, she said.
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Hoover's online
Gail Set To Lap Up New Huge Gas Reserves In Myanmar
January 19, 2003 5:39pm

Indications of large gas accumulations have come to light in the offshore
block A-1 in Myanmar, where ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Gail India Limited
hold joint equity stakes with Daewoo International of Korea and the Korean
Gas Company (Kogas). Senior petroleum ministry officials disclosed that
Gail, in a recent communique to Union petroleum minister Ram Naik, has
informed that the A-1 block in Myanmar has 訴n-place gas reserves of 32
trillion cubic feet (907 billion cubic meters) and recoverable gas reserves
of 22 tcf (625 bcm). "Such huge quantum of gas reserves, if established
through exploration, can sustain a peak production of 60 million standard
cubic meters of gas per day (mmscmd) for a period of 20 years," says Gail in
its letter to the petroleum minister. Incidentally, the current level of
consumption of natural gas in India is between 60-65 mmscmd. Three
structural prospects and one lead have been identified from the
interpretation of new and old seismic data in the A-1 block in Myanmar. The
first prospect has been assigned success ratio of more than 42 per cent and
potential recoverable gas reserves of 10 tcf. The well is expected to take
two and a half months for completion. Officials said Gail has the rights to
market 90 per cent of the gas production from this block including the
shares of OVL and Daewoo International. Currently Gail is in talks with
Kogas for marketing its 10 per cent share of gas, they added. "Gail is also
studying the feasibility of laying a 550-600 km offshore pipeline from Block
A-1 to India through the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Bangladesh and the
nearest landfall point in India will be Haldia in West Bengal. However, as
this pipeline would be within the EEZ of Bangladesh, the consent of the
government of Bangladesh would be required for this," officials said. The
other option, officials said, would be to lay a pipeline avoiding the
Bangladesh EEZ limits but this would make the pipeline expensive due to
increase in length and deep waters of up to 2000 meters. The foreign
minister of Myanmar, U Win Aung, is in India from January 19-24 and during
his stay he is scheduled to meet Vice-President, Prime Minister, finance
minister, disinvestment minister and petroleum minister. According to
officials, the government of Myanmar is supportive of developing gas trade
with India and discoveries of huge gas reserves in Block A-1 will support a
pipeline project for gas supplies to the Indian market. "India could thus
provide a natural market for gas from A-1 block subject to negotiations of
competitive gas prices with the government of Myanmar," they added. The A-1
block in Myanmar extends over 3885 square meters off the Rakhine coast and
is the westmost block of Myanmar, in closest proximity to India. Daewoo
International holds a 60 per cent equity followed by OVL at 20 per cent and
Gail and Kogas at 10 per cent each.
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The Nation
Proposal for bilingual border
Supinda na Mahachai
Published on Jan 20, 2003

In an effort to strengthen ties, the government has proposed that children
living on either side of the Thai-Burmese border learn both Thai and Burmese
at school.

Education Minister Pongpol Adireksarn said he had raised the idea with the
secretary-general of Burma's military junta, Lt-General Khin Nyunt, during a
three-day official visit to the country, which ended yesterday.

Pongpol visited Rangoon as chairman of the Southeast Asian Ministers of
Education Organisation (Seameo). Apart from Thailand and Burma, other
members of Seameo are Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

"I also proposed that Thailand and Burma jointly compile a Thai-Burmese
dictionary, as part of a campaign to improve mutual understanding," Pongpol
told The Nation.

Thailand and Burma have been engaged in a war of words in recent months,
with Burma accusing Thailand of supporting Burmese rebels, while Thailand
has branded Burma as a major source of methamphetamines.

Pongpol took an opportunity to visit Seameo's regional Centre for History
and Tradition, which has been assigned to review national history to create
the first regional history book. Other Seameo members are also working on
the project.

Once the reviews are complete, each nation's official history will be
translated into English. Seameo members will then compile the accounts into
a regional history book. Pongpol said he would propose a meeting in March to
discuss the progress of the book.
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Asia Times Online
Jan 21, 2003
ASEAN and China's regional concerns
By Phar Kim Beng

HONG KONG - In a speech at the University of Hong Kong on January 10, Fu
Ying, secretary general of Hong Kong's Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Asia
Department, affirmed that China would commit itself to becoming a force for
peace and stability in Southeast Asia and that it would not be a threat
despite the magnitude of its growth.

Echoing the view of President Jiang Zemin at the 16th Communist Party
Congress that neighboring countries be "treated with kindness", Fu Ying also
spoke of China's benevolent intent in handling various territorial, border
and fishing disputes throughout the region. Strengthening ties with its
neighbors has been the official diplomatic strategy of China since 1996, and
increasing US influence in Asia has given the strategy a new sense of
importance and urgency. But how has China improved its relations with the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)?

Official relations between China and ASEAN began in July 1991 when Beijing
started attending the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference (ASEAN PMC). Since
July 1994, China has also become a full dialogue partner of ASEAN and a
member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). Last November, at the eighth ASEAN
Summit in Phnom Penh, China signed reached various agreements with the
Association, including the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic
Cooperation Between ASEAN and the People's Republic of China, the
Declaration on Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and the Joint
Declaration on Cooperation in Non-Traditional Security Issues.

Correspondingly, there has also been a rise in the quality of China's
diplomatic representation in Southeast Asia. Mely Caballerro-Anthony of the
Institute of Defense and Analysis in Singapore said: "China has expressed
interest in acceding to the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in
Southeast Asia, and to work towards signing the Southeast Asia Nuclear
Weapons-free Zone." The two agreements underscore the willingness of China
to refrain from the use of force as an instrument of policy.

On the southwestern border of China, China has been improving its
relationship with ASEAN member nation Myanmar. China has supplied more than
US$1.6 billion in arms to Myanmar and continues to train a significant
number of its military. Senior General Tan Shwe, the current head of state
and chairman of the military State Peace and Development council that
controls the country, has made an official visit to China. He was
accompanied by General Khin Nyunt, who is in charge of intelligence and
international affairs.

Can China keep up its warm ties with ASEAN and its members? There is every
likelihood that this is what China plans to do as it tries to free itself
from the encirclement of the United States. If China's history of foreign
relations is taken into further account, Beijing's words can indeed be taken
at face value.

William C Kirby is Geisinger professor of history and dean of the Faculty of
Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. He has focused much of his research
on 20th-century Chinese diplomacy and China's views toward international
relations. "China has no tradition of trying to forge and maintain
alliances," he said. "It had not been part of the international strategic
alignments and alliances that developed from 1866-1917, into which Japan had
been drawn in 1902 [when Japan became the first Asian power to sign the
Sino-British Treaty with a Western power]. Between 1911 and 1949, when China
saw first the formation of the republic, before power was handed over to the
communists, China made no major overtures to its Asian neighbors, caught as
it was in the vortex of civil war and internal turbulence".

>From its independence in 1949 until the opening of China three decades
later, China had sought security in alliances with superpowers; first with
the Soviet Union, then the United States. Neither alliance was altogether
successful. With the Soviet Union, China failed to obtain Moscow's help in
building a nuclear device. By 1969, China and the Soviet Union were already
involved in bitter border conflicts that threatened to end in an open, and
possibly nuclear, war between the two communist foes.

When China warmed to the United States to offset the Soviet Union in 1972,
its relationship lasted only until the end of the Cold War in 1989. Since
then, the relationship between Beijing and Washington has been marked as
much by cooperation as by mutual suspicion of each other's strategic
designs.

Now that China's power has gradually grown, it has become imperative for
Beijing to get up to speed in cultivating good ties with Southeast Asia.
Such a relationship is critical because when measured from the standpoint of
gross domestic product, China's GDP is only one-quarter that of Japan and
one-tenth that of the United States.

In other words, just as China is growing - a process accompanied by the
attendant siphoning of critical foreign direct investment (FDI)

away from Southeast Asia - Beijing has to ensure that members of ASEAN
remain closely bonded to China, not other stronger and richer powers.

The strategy of reassurance is indeed important in the context of China's
impact on Southeast Asia. China's accumulated net FDI totaled some $309
billion for 1980-2000, of which 95 percent, or some $284 billion, was
attracted in 1993-2000. On the other hand, ASEAN's accumulated net FDI
totaled only $172 billion for 1980-2000. The danger does not lie here alone.
China's manufacturing prowess is also displacing that of Southeast Asia,
indeed, even Japan.

According to Andy Xie, chief economist at Morgan Stanley (Hong Kong), "The
FDI growth is fueling China's rapid rise in mass manufacturing as reflected
in the doubling of the country's share in global merchandise exports to 5.1
percent in 2002 from 2.2 percent in 1992. Indeed, China is not challenging
only ASEAN. China's export increase this year is equal to its total exports
in 1990. China's exports are now equal to 79 percent of Japan's compared
with 22 percent in 1990 and 14 percent in 1980. If it sustains the 12
percent annual growth rate of the past five years, China's exports will
exceed Japan's by 2005 and the United States by 2009."

Given such figures, coupled with the possibility that China might dominate
the entire mass manufacturing spectrum, hence leaving little room for
Southeast Asia to innovate, it is little wonder that China is trying its
best to ensure good ties with Southeast Asia.

Yet the outreach to Southeast Asia is not entirely altruistic. It has been
worked into the grand strategic calculation of China to cultivate a
multipolar world in which the United States, the current preeminent power,
would not be able to dominate.

Similarly, China's diplomatic overtures to ASEAN are aimed at preempting
members of the organization from increasing their bilateral security
cooperation with the United States (including joint military exercises).
Another aim is to prevent Indonesia and Australia from further enhancing
their military relationship after the signing of a security pact in 1995.

To be sure, Beijing is trying to forge a diplomatic strategy to prevent
other countries from "uniting" against China by virtue of a perceived fear
of a "China threat", economic or otherwise. That said, the principal focus
has been on countering the lengthening shadow of the United States on the
region.

Having observed the relative facility of US military operations conducted in
the Persian Gulf and especially in the Balkans, it can be observed that
neither prospective adversaries nor international organizations pose much of
a constraint on the United States' decisions about where and when to act
abroad. By cultivating its ties with ASEAN, China can potentially put a
check on US influence and accessibility to Southeast Asia.
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