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BURMA RELATED NEWS - May 12,
2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Times - Myanmar barred from EU initiative
AP - Myanmar Issues Warning To Thailand Over
Airstrikes
AP - Asia Is Determined to Avoid
Crisis
AP - Myanmar Burns Almost $1 Bln In Drugs To
Highlight Efforts
AP - Thai Minister Rejects Charges Jets Fired
Into Myanmar
AFP - Western nations watchful lest ASEAN
currency swaps challenge IMF
AFP - Myanmar torches narcotics worth 920
million dollars
ABC online - ADB hails
political reforms in Burma
ABC online - Asian
nations agree to boost cooperation in tackling drug trade
The Star - Support
Myanmar's initiatives to eradicate forced labour, ILO
urged
The Nation - Rangoon
condemns 'air raids'
The Nation - Statue
goes ahead
The Nation - The
Foreign Ministry on Surakiart's Burma trip
Bkk Post - Wa took hill to protect drug
plants
Bkk Post - Postbag - Defence minister is a
laughing stock
Xinhuanet - ASEAN COST Plus 3 Meeting Concludes
in Cambodia
Xinhuanet - Drug Eradication be Achieved
Gradually in Myanmar: Official
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Leader Warns Against
Internal Strife, External Intrusion
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Delivers Vessel to
Singaporean Company
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Times - May 12, 2001.
Myanmar barred from EU
initiative
BRUSSELS - Diplomats from developing countries have expressed surprise over
the decision of the 15-member European Union (EU) to exclude Myanmar from its
promise of duty-free market access to the world's 49 least developed countries
(LDCs) because of human rights violations.
Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury of Bangladesh said from Brussels on Thursday
that the caucus of developing countries had not been informed of the EU's
decision to exclude Myanmar from its "Everything But Arms" (EBA) initiative to
help the world's poorest nations. He said the matter would be taken up at a
meeting of diplomats from developing countries in Brussels on Friday. Chowdhury
is United Nations coordinator of the 49 LDCs that are the focus of the third UN
Conference on Least Developed Countries to be held in Brussels May 14-20.
Richard Wyatt, acting chief of the European Commission delegation to the
UN, insisted on Wednesday that the EU's decision to bar Myanmar was not really
an attempt to restrict imports from countries because of the nature of their
political regime. "But in extreme circumstances, there can be situations in
which certain countries could be excluded from the benefits of our preference
scheme," he noted.
The EU decided to adopt the new initiative last March, agreeing to give
full duty-free and quota-free market access for all products, other than
weapons, originating from LDCs. The 49 LDCs, described as the poorest of the
world's poor, range from Afghanistan and Ethiopia to Myanmar and Zambia.
Although the general EBA principle is one of non-discrimination, Myanmar has
been blacklisted by the EU and will, therefore, not benefit from the initiative.
Asked if this is due to human rights abuses, Wyatt said, "We are very concerned
about human rights violations. It is a very important issue for us. We hope the
situation in Myanmar will improve so that they too can benefit subsequently from
our initiative." Wyatt insisted that Myanmar was an "exception". "The general
principle is one of non-discrimination," he said.
Asked if the EU will have dealings with Afghanistan, another LDC accused of
violating human rights, Wyatt said he said was not sure whether the Taliban
regime would be formally excluded from the EU scheme. "There is a legal
government there which is not practically in charge of most of the country and
with whom we have no particular quarrel," he said, "And so that accounts for
that situation. It is a very complex problem." One of the world's poorest
countries outside Africa, Afghanistan is still struggling to recover from the
devastation caused by the 14-year Soviet occupation which ended in February
1989.
Although the EU has not laid down any conditions - abhorrent to most
aid-dependent developing nations - it has identified six key themes as a guide
for its discussions with the LDCs at the Brussels meeting. The first theme
advocates good governance, social stability, democracy, respect for human rights
and gender equality; the second, investing in people and basic social
infrastructure; third, environmental protection, sustainable natural resources
management, food and food security; fourth, enhancing productive capacity,
including the development of transport and communications infrastructure; fifth,
international trade, commodities and services; and sixth, financing growth and
development.
Meanwhile, delegates attending the Brussels conference will discuss, among
other things, the EBA trade preference system. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
has already praised the EU for its EBA initiative. To reach this decision, he
said, Europe's leaders had to overcome resistance from powerful producer lobbies
within the EU. "They also had to reassure African, Caribbean and Pacific
countries - which at present enjoy preferential access to the EU market - that
they would not suffer unduly from concessions made to other LDCs," he said. Even
though the EBA will not resolve most of the poverty-related problems facing
LDCs, "market access is a crucial first step". Annan said that as a logical
follow-up, other industrial nations, including the United States, Japan, and
Canada, should follow Europe's lead. The secretary-general also criticized
industrial countries for practicing protectionist policies while preaching the
virtues of free and fair trade.
The criteria for inclusion in the list of LDCs are: a population of less
than 75 million; per capita gross domestic product of less than US$900; an
Augmented Physical Quality of Life Index (combining health, nutrition and
education) of less than 59; and an Economic Vulnerability Index of less than 36.
Since 1971, when the General Assembly designated 24 nations as LDCs, the numbers
have continued to increase, reaching 49 in early April. Of the 49 LDCs, 34 are
from Africa, nine from Asia, five from the Pacific and one from the Caribbean.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday May 11, 10:17 PM
Myanmar Issues Warning To Thailand Over
Airstrikes
YANGON, Myanmar (AP)--Myanmar
issued a strong protest Friday, accusing Thailand of attacking its territory and
threatened "appropriate action."
The government said in a statement that two Thai F-16 fighter jets flew over two areas in eastern Myanmar and fired a total of seven rockets, three of which exploded. Six people, including two children were injured, it said. Thailand dismissed the charge as "totally groundless," but Thai residents
at the border said two jets had fired rockets near one of the two locations
specified by Myanmar, but that they landed on the Thai side of the border.
Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win summoned the Thai ambassador, Oum
Maolanon, to the Foreign Ministry and "handed a strong protest note," the
statement said.
Khin Maung Win also told Oum that Myanmar "reserved the right to take
appropriate action to protect its national sovereignty and territorial
integrity."
The developments herald a severe strain in relations between the two
neighbors, who have exchanged threats for years, principally because of a
dispute over illegal drugs.
Thailand says the drugs are smuggled in huge quantities from Myanmar's
border regions by the pro-Yangon ethnic Wa guerrillas and Myanmar's military
junta does little to stop it. Myanmar denies the accusations.
On Friday, Khin Maung Win called ambassadors of several countries for
briefings and showed them maps of the area, the statement said.
An earlier government statement said the airstrikes were "unnecessarily
escalating and aggravating the prevailing unhappy situation on (a) certain area
of the common border."
Thai air force spokesman Prapass Jiemchawee said that an F-16 jet had flown
two routine reconnaissance sorties over the Thai-Myanmar border but had launched
no missiles or bombs.
The air force would leave it to the Foreign Ministry to explain, he
said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday May 12, 10:48 AM
Asia Is Determined to Avoid
Crisis
By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer HONOLULU (AP) - Finance
ministers and central bank officials from across Asia said Friday a bleak global
outlook and U.S. slowdown could certainly affect their economies, but they don't
foresee a crisis similar to what rocked their countries four years ago.
The 59-nation Asian Development Bank concluded its annual meeting Friday
with many of the members acknowledging that the painful, free-market reforms
they imposed during a 1997-98 financial crisis have spurred a recovery that now
makes Asia the world's fastest growing region.
``Asia is coming under renewed stress,'' said Singapore's minister, Lim Hng
Kiang. ``But Asia is better positioned than in the past to absorb and ride out
the shocks.''
The International Monetary Fund recently said that global growth this year
should slow to 3.2 percent, compared with 4.8 percent last year - in part
because the U.S. economy, the world's largest, is expected to grow by only 1.5
percent.
In its latest outlook, the Asian bank said the region - excluding Japan,
Australia and New Zealand - would see a slowdown in growth to 5.3 percent from
7.1 percent in 2000. But, it said, that would be followed by a rebound to 6.1
percent in 2002.
The finance members who attended the meeting in Honolulu also expressed
relief that the meeting was not disrupted by the large and violent
anti-globalization protests that accompanied many recent international economic
forums.
On Wednesday, about 500 protesters criticized what they regard as the
bank's failure to achieve its primary goal: reduce widespread poverty in Asia.
The protesters dispersed peacefully after bank President Tadao Chino of Japan
went into the streets to accept their list of demands and say he would consider
them.
During the meeting, bank members from Asia, Europe and the Americas
discussed their economies and the lending agency's goals.
Chino told reporters he was ``very much encouraged'' by the recent decision
by the military government in Myanmar to hold private talks with pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and to allow a European Union delegation to visit the
Southeast Asian nation.
But the bank made no decision about Myanmar's request for the bank to drop
its 1986 suspension all financial assistance to the country, also known as
Burma, because of what the bank regards as its widespread human rights abuses.
North Korea's request to become an ADB member also appeared to be ignored,
despite South Korea's request for ADB members to support its efforts to promote
reconciliation with the North.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill held bilateral meetings with other
member nations, including the highest-level meeting Washington has held with
China since a Chinese warplane crashed into a U.S. spy plane over the South
China Sea on April 1.
O'Neill and Chinese Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng did not discuss the
dispute, but Xiang told reporters that it should not undermine the growing
business ties between the countries.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday May 12, 3:37 PM
Myanmar Burns Almost $1 Bln In Drugs To
Highlight Efforts
YANGON, Myanmar (AP)--Close to
a billion dollars in opium, heroin and amphetamines went up in smoke Saturday as
Myanmar authorities sought to impress foreign governments and media with the
seriousness of their efforts to stamp out the illicit drug trade.
The destruction of seized drugs was staged to coincide with a regional
meeting held to coordinate the anti-drug efforts of Cambodia, China, Laos,
Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
The three-day meeting, held under the auspices of the U.N. International
Drug Control Program, ended Friday, but many delegates stayed on to see
Myanmar's real efforts in the field.
Drug burnings have become a ritual in Southeast Asian countries, making a
public relations virtue out of the necessity to dispose of the dangerous drugs.
Myanmar has conducted 15 such events.
On Saturday, the seized drugs were laid out along tables set end to end for
about 20 meters.
The drugs -including 1,301 kilograms of opium, 116 kilograms of heroin, 440
kilograms of marijuana and 2.7 million amphetamine tablets - were mostly in
their original packing: brown paper wrap, plastic bags, jute sacks. Below the
tables was gasoline-soaked wood for kindling.
The total street value of the drugs in the U.S. would be $920 million,
officials said.
Afghanistan, Myanmar Top Opium And Heroin Producers
At each of these drug burning events, foreign drug experts are invited to
test random samples.
A typical program includes slicing open a bag and dropping a sample
into a test solution: amphetamine turned it orange and heroin a shade of purple.
Observers are then motioned back for the big moment. A button detonates a
fire that engulfs the table, burning the packets and sending white powder
spilling to the ground.
The opium burns slowly, like peat. Heroin, its derivative, burns slightly
faster. The marijuana burns like the dry leaves it is. Amphetamines send flames
high into the air, burning fiercely with huge heat and billowing black smoke.
Afghanistan and Myanmar are the top two producers of opium and heroin.
Hoping to shake off its unsavory reputation, Myanmar is anxious to show off its
drug-fighting efforts.
While Myanmar's military government has curbed opium production
considerably, the country has in recent years become a major source of
methamphetamine, the cheap and popular stimulant that is wreaking social havoc
in several Asian nations.
Police Maj. Gen. Soe Win, secretary of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse
Control, said Myanmar can't be blamed entirely for methamphetamine production
because other countries supplying the raw materials have an obligation to
tighten their law enforcement.
He said the world should stop treating Myanmar like a political pariah and
give it aid.
The U.S. and the European Union apply political and economic sanctions
against Myanmar's junta, citing its poor human rights record and failure to hand
over power to a democratically-elected government.
The U.S. and Myanmar's neighbor Thailand also accuse the junta of not
confronting the Red Wa, a powerful armed ethnic minority group in eastern
Myanmar blamed for most of the methamphetamine production.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday May 12, 4:11 PM
Thai Minister Rejects Charges Jets Fired
Into Myanmar
PHAMUANG, Thailand (AP)--Thailand's defense minister on Saturday
rejected Myanmar's accusations that Thai jets fired missiles into its territory,
and said the recent border fighting was not serious enough to warrant such an
action.
Myanmar Friday lodged a "strong protest" against Thailand, saying two F-16
fighter jets fired seven missiles, of which three exploded and injured four
adults and two children.
After touring the border area, the scene of the fighting between Myanmar
and Thai troops, Defense Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the Myanmar
accusations were incorrect.
"The situation along the border isn't so tense that we needed to use the
air force. Besides, such an attack needed an approval from the defense
minister," Chavalit told reporters accompanying him.
Earlier, Chavalit was briefed about the skirmishes by army officers of the
Phamuang Task Force at the border, 580 kilometers north of the capital, Bangkok.
Chavalit said the situation at the border "was not a big deal. Thai and
Myanmar soldiers have no dispute at all," he said.
But Myanmar's warning Friday that it "reserved the right to take
appropriate action" have escalated tensions between the uneasy Southeast Asian
neighbors, who have had angry exchanges for years, principally over a dispute
involving illegal drugs.
Thailand says the drugs are smuggled in huge quantities from Myanmar's
border regions by the pro-Yangon ethnic Wa guerrillas and that Myanmar's
military junta does little to stop it. Myanmar, also known as Burma, denies the
accusations.
Chavalit said the misunderstanding over the F-16 flights could have
resulted from the "centralized" system of government in Myanmar, indicating that
it was a communication gap between Myanmar field officers at the border and the
military junta's generals in Yangon.
"In Myanmar, everything is centralized in Yangon which might not be that
good but that's the way they run the country. So if anything happens (at the
border), everyone must wait for Yangon to give an order," Chavalit said
On Friday, the Thai air force said two F-16s flew sorties over the border
area on a routine reconnaissance mission, but dropped no missiles or bombs. It
said the loud bang heard by residents on both sides of the border were sonic
booms.
But Thai residents at the border said the planes dropped missiles, which
they fell into Thai territory and caused no injuries.
The F-16 flights came after the army said it had driven out a group of
ethnic Wa guerrillas from a disputed hill. Chavalit canceled a scheduled trip to
the hill because of bad weather.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday May 12, 12:55 PM
Western nations watchful lest ASEAN
currency swaps challenge IMF
HONOLULU, Hawaii, May 11 (AFP)
- Japan's efforts to forge a network of currency swap arrangements with
neighbors are being carefully monitored by Western countries anxious they do not
become a regional rival to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Tokyo announced on Wednesday it was signing six billion dollars' worth of
foreign exchange reserve bilateral swaps with South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand
as part of a plan to prevent future Asian currency crises.
The West is closely monitoring progress of the effort, which evoked
memories of an aborted Japanese initiative in 1998 to set up an Asian Monetary
Fund (AMF).
This was intended as a lender of last resort that would enable crisis-hit
Asian countries to tap urgent financing.
The idea of linking foreign exchange reserves to defend individual
currencies from speculative attacks took off among the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN), some of whose members were hard hit by the 1997 Asian
economic crisis.
In the ASEAN swap arrangement members lend dollars against collateralized
swaps of local currencies. The facility is now worth a billion dollars and all
10 ASEAN members are participants, their finance ministers said here.
Last year ASEAN decided at a meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand to expand the
initiative with a series of bilateral swaps with "dialogue partners" China,
Japan and South Korea.
ASEAN links Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The United States had vetoed Japan's earlier AMF initiative because it
would pose a threat to the role of the IMF.
But this week US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said Washington would not
stand in the way of the Chiang Mai agreement as long as the existing order was
maintained and the deals "make sense to the participants".
Bruno Bezard, France's deputy assistant finance secretary, stressed during
the Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual meeting here that the process must be
"harmoniously incorporated" within the existing international financial
framework.
"Given the international nature of capital movements, only the worldwide
network provided by the IMF is in my view capable of offering a solution to the
prevention and handling of financial crises," he said.
Japan's Deputy Finance Minister Seiichiro Murakami said it was "essential
to strengthen monetary cooperation in the region to prevent a future currency
crisis and to ensure stability in the international monetary and financial
system."
The swap deals Tokyo made in Honolulu "confirms the progress we are making
toward the building of a support network for monetary stability in the region,"
he said.
While the parties declined to provide the terms of the deals, Malaysian
Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin said an initial 10 percent of its one
billion-dollar dollar-ringgit swap with Japan "can be disbursed without IMF
conditionalities".
Japan and South Korea also announced that negotiations were ongoing for
similar bilateral swaps involving China and the Philippines, among others.
ADB president Tadao Chino of Japan sought Friday to play down the idea of a
fund that would rival the IMF,
"The idea of an AMF may not be a very urgent issue at this time," he said,
noting that even with the global slowdown, "recovery is going on and Asian
countries are much more resilient than before."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday May 12, 3:15 PM
Myanmar torches narcotics worth 920
million dollars
YANGON, May 12 (AFP) -
Myanmar's ruling military torched some 920 million dollars of illicit narcotics
Saturday at a burning to showcase to the world its progress in combating the
drugs trade.
The ceremony presided over by powerful Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt was
held on the outskirts of the capital a day after ministers from six Asian
nations signed an agreement to boost cooperation in stamping out the regional
narcotics trade.
The occasion was an opportunity for the junta to hail its own anti-drugs
efforts and criticise Western nations' efforts to isolate the southeast Asian
state, which the generals say has made the task more difficult.
"We have witnessed a declining trend in poppy cultivation," said police
Major-General Soe Win in a presentation to foreign journalists and diplomats
invited to witness the spectacle.
"It is an undeniable fact that the efforts of the Myanmar government, in
spite of numerous constraints, contributed towards the decline."
He read from the most recent report from the International Narcotics
Control Board (INCB) which showed opium production in Myanmar had fallen some 40
percent in the past decade.
"In spite of this positive trend (it is) unfortunate that external
assistance is not forthcoming," said Soe Win.
The INCB report cites unfavourable climatic conditions, as well as
government eradication efforts, as contributing to the decline.
Myanmar is one year into a highly-publicised 15-year program to completly
stamp out opium production, but is criticised by the United States as well as
neighbouring Thailand amongst others for turning a blind eye to much of the
trade.
Soe Win said the drugs, including precursor chemicals used in production,
destroyed Saturday had an estimated New York street value of some 920 million
dollars.
Following two days of meetings between senior officials from Cambodia,
China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, ministers approved UN plans to
restrict drug chemical ingredients and launch programs in vulnerable neighboring
countries.
The ministers meet every two years to evaluate the progress of cross-border
anti-narcotics projects and approve new initiatives devised by the United
Nations Drugs Control Programme.
Collectively they were responsible for more than 75 percent of the world's
amphetamine seizures last year, up from 22 percent a decade ago, with China and
Myanmar the major culprits.
Myanmar and Afghanistan produce the bulk of the world's heroin which is
made from opium.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Australian Broadcasting Corporation
May 12, 2001.
ADB hails political reforms in Burma
The Asian Development Bank has hailed "political reforms" in Burma - 15
years after it suspended lending to the country's military rulers.
ADB president Tadao Chino says he's encouraged by political developments in
Burma, in particular the "strengthening of the dialogue between the government
and opposition leaders".
But he has not revealed whether the ADB plans to resume aid to Burma.
On Thursday, Burma appealed to the bank - during its annual meeting in
Honolulu - to lift the 1986 aid embargo.
A member since 1973, it said it had the right to ask for and receive
financial assistance from the bank, like other members.
The ADB suspended lending to Burma in 1986 due to concern over alleged
human rights violations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Australian Broadcasting Corporation
May 12, 2001.
Asian nations agree to boost cooperation
in tackling drug trade
Ministers from six Asian nations have agreed to boost cooperation in
stamping out the regional narcotics trade, particularly methamphetamines and the
chemicals used to manufacture them.
Following meetings in the Burmese capital Rangoon between senior officials
from Cambodia, China, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam, the ministers approved
United Nations' plans to restrict drug chemical ingredients.
They also agreed to launch programs in vulnerable neighboring countries
including Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Regional representative of the UN International Drug Program, Sandro
Calvani, said the production, trafficking and abuse of amphetamine-type
stimulants in the region is increasing.
He stressed that Southeast Asian nations need to take a more active role in
curbing the narcotics trade because international funding for regional anti-drug
programs may disappear.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Star
Saturday, May 12, 2001
15th Asean Labour Ministers Meeting Support Myanmar's initiatives to
eradicate forced labour, ILO urged
By K. Saithuruka and Moses Loo
KUALA LUMPUR: Asean Labour Ministers yesterday urged the International
Labour Organisation (ILO) to view positively and support initiatives taken by
Myanmar to eradicate all forms of forced labour in the country instead of taking
punitive action against it.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr Fong Chan Onn, who chaired the meeting,
said the common stand was achieved after a series of briefings on the measures
taken by Myanmar on the matter.
"The Myanmar government has taken concrete legislative, executive and
administrative action to prohibit forced labour. The ministers have been assured
that the initiatives would be enforced," he said after the Asean + 3 Ministerial
meeting here.
Dr Fong said the common stand taken by Asean countries would be explained
to the ILO.
"We will seek ILO's understanding and support for this initiative at the
forthcoming International Labour Conference in Geneva next month," he added.
In a joint communique also issued yesterday, Dr Fong said the ministers
were satisfied that Asean member countries had responded positively to ILO's
effort to promote the ratification of all labour standards.
He also said that Convention 182 concerning the prohibition and immediate
action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, had received
overwhelming support from Asean countries.
"Asean is of the view that children represented the future of the region
and should be provided with a conducive environment for their growth and
development," he added.
On the ILO's supervisory mechanism, he said the ministers supported the
call by the Asia and Pacific group for a review of it.
He said such a review should place greater importance on transparency,
objectivity and promotional nature while addressing the following:
CRITERIA for the selection of members of the supervisory bodies;
CRITERIA for the selection of individual cases in the committee of experts
on the applications of standards; and
THE interpretation of compliance with ratified conventions.
Speaking about the impact of the global economic slowdown in Asean, he said the ministers expressed concern over the increasing rate of unemployment in member countries. "But they have adopted measures and policies, which will enable them to
cope better with the current economic slowdown. We need to continue building up
national reliance, particularly in upgrading the level of workers so we can be
more competitive and more effective," he said, adding that dialogue partner
Japan would continue to assist Asean countries to upgrade technology and labour
productivity.
On international issues, Dr Fong said the Asean ministers reiterated their
view, which was supported by their counterparts from East Asia, that labour
standards should not be linked to international trade.
"While we are pursuing to improve our labour standard, we are concerned
with this standard being linked with international trade because our members are
in various stages of economic development.
"Imposing such linkages will cause problems to some members," he said,
adding that some Asean countries were still unable to comply with the tough
demands.
Apart from this, they also discussed Asean projects and the progress of a
technical assistance programme for Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
The next Asean Labour Ministers meeting would be held in Laos next
year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - May 12,
2001.
Rangoon condemns 'air
raids'
Rangoon yesterday protested strongly to the Thai government over the
alleged violation of its airspace by Thai jet fighters and accused the aircraft
of carrying out strikes on its territory.
The Burmese statement said that in one air strike an F-16 had fired two
rockets near the town of Mong Yawn in eastern Shan State about three kilometres
from the border and on a nearby village. It said only one rocket had exploded,
injuring four adults and two children, and killing three cattle.
Another F-16 flew over Karen state to the south of Shan State and fired
five rockets, two of which exploded, it said, one hitting a cowshed in Kyauket
area and a grain storage hut in Gawli village, it said.
Thailand dismissed the charge as "totally groundless", but The Associated
Press quoted Thai residents near the border as saying two jets had fired rockets
near one of the two locations specified by Burma but that they had landed on the
Thai side of the border.
The border residents, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they did not
wish to publicly contradict the Thai military, said two fighter planes had fired
two rockets near Kyauket but they had fallen into jungle on the Thai side of the
border and caused no injuries.
Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win summoned the Thai
ambassador, Oum Maolanon, to the Foreign Ministry and "handed a strong protest
note", the statement said.
Khin Maung Win told Oum that Burma "reserved the right to take appropriate
action to protect its national sovereignty and territorial integrity".
He also called ambassadors of several other countries to brief them about
the incident and showed them maps of the area, according to the statement.
The diplomatic row heated up a day after the Thai Army recaptured Hua Lone
hill on the Thai border in Chiang Mai province from Rangoon-allied Wa rebels. In
a show of strength, at least two F-16 jet fighters flew reconnaisance sorties
over the hill and along the Thai-Burmese border from Chiang Rai to Tak on
Thursday.
An earlier Burmese government statement said the air strikes were
"unnecessarily escalating and aggravating the prevailing unhappy situation on
[a] certain area of the common border".
Meanwhile Thai military and government leaders yesterday spoke in unison
for the first time on issues related to the border tension with Burma. They said
the jet fighters had been on a routine drill in the area and had launched no
missiles or bombs.
Defence Minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh dismissed the Burmese
allegation as groundless, saying the Army had explained the situation to its
Burmese counterparts.
He said the loud bangs and shaking experienced by Thai villagers at the
border had been caused by sonic booms when the aircraft made a sudden descent to
avoid air turbulence.
Today Chavalit is to visit Ban Nor Lae in Fang district, where the hill is
situated.
Third Army commander General Wattanachai Chaimuenwong yesterday said the
Army was hoping to clear the hill of mines planted by the Wa rebels.
He said nine M-14 anti-personnel mines had been found on the hill.
He added that a member of the Army's mine-sweeping team had been seriously
injured when he stepped on a mine while trying to raise the Thai flag over the
hill.
Wattanachai confirmed 16 Wa rebels had been killed and 22 injured in their
clash with Thai troops. The latest body was found on the hill yesterday.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - May 12,
2001.
Statue goes ahead
Plans to build a monument of King Naresuan in the Mae Sai border district
of Chiang Rai are going ahead despite warnings by locals that it will only spark
more hostility between Thailand and Burma.
The base of the monument, measuring 19 by 26 metres, has already been built
at Mae Sai, just three kilometres from the border.
The project has been initiated by Third Army Region Commander, Lt General
Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, who has been openly hostile towards Burma.
The budget allocated for the monument is only Bt100,000, but donations from
contributors add up to between Bt25 million and Bt30 million.
The statue will depict King Naresuan, the warrior who freed Thailand from
Burma, on a horse brandishing a sword, ready to launch himself at the
enemy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - May 12,
2001.
The Foreign Ministry on Surakiart's
Burma trip
Chalit Manityakul
DIRECTOR, PRESS DIVISIONDEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS I refer to The Nation article "Surakiart in Burma, Junta rejects overtures" on May2 suggesting that Foreign Minister Surakiart's trip to Burma was doomed to failure. The article contained a number of errors and inaccuracies which may partly explain why such an incorrect conclusion was arrived at despite the fact that The Nation's correspondent was with the minister's party. I would like to correct the following errors in the article: 1. You reported that Foreign Minister Surakiart told Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra by telephone from Burma that "the Burmese response was less than
forthcoming than he had hoped". At no time during his visit did Minister
Surakiart telephone PM Thaksin. Minister Surakiart called the prime minister on
May 3, the day after he arrived back in Bangkok, to report the results of his
visit.
2. The article also reported that Minister Surakiart was scheduled to call
on General Than Shwe on May 2. This is also not correct. The only occasion
Minister Surakiart met General Than Shwe was together with his Asean
counterparts in their collective call on General Than Shwe on April 30.
3. Whether the visit was or was not a success, suffice it to reiterate what
Minister Surakiart stated in his interview upon his return to Thailand that he
has found the visit most gratifying, achieving, in particular, progress in the
issue of utmost importance to the Thai side, namely the suppression of narcotic
drugs.
In addition to the formal meetings, Minister Surakiart had separate private
meetings with Lt-General Khin Nyunt and Foreign Minister Win Aung. During the
two private meetings, each side raised their issues of major concern which were
discussed in a frank manner.
Based on such talks, Minister Surakiart returned home with confidence that
the Burmese top leaders whom he met are sincere in their desire to cooperate
with Thailand in the fight against narcotics. The following can be described as
important and concrete breakthroughs in our attempt to obtain cooperation from
Burma on drugs and other issues of concern.
3.1 Burma has agreed to Thailand's proposal to conclude a Memorandum of
Understanding on Drug Eradication and Cooperation. Burmese authorities concerned
are considering a draft MOU presented by the Thai side and have indicated that
only a few minor legal details need to be worked out.
If negotiations are successful, it is hoped that the MOU can be signed
during Prime Minister Thaksin's visit to Burma.
3.2 Earlier, China had responded positively to Minister Surakiart's
proposal to establish trilateral coooperation in drugs prevention and
suppression between Thailand, China and Burma. Minister Win Aung has confirmed
to Minister Surakiart Burma's readiness to participate in the trilateral
arrangement.
Talks among officials of the three sides are scheduled to begin soon.
3.3 Both sides have agreed to resume the Joint Commission (JC) Meeting
which has not met for almost two years. Foreign Minister Win Aung has also
accepted Minister Surakiart's invitation to visit Thailand which may be
scheduled back to back with the JC or possibly earlier.
3.4 The two sides also agreed to hold the Thai-Burma Joint Boundary
Committee in the near future. Dr Pracha Kunakasem, senior advisor to the foreign
minister, will head the Thai delegation.
3.5 Bilateral matters aside, but in terms of future stability for Burma and
the region as a whole, equally important, Minister Surakiart reiterated
Thailand's unequivocal support for the process of national reconciliation.
Having been informed by the Burmese leadership of positive developments in the
process, the minister stressed that it was crucial to maintain the momentum.
Thailand, the minister told his counterpart, stood ready to assist in any way it
could, if requested.
I hope the above clarification will be published in your newspaper so as to
present an accurate picture and provide correct understanding to your
readers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - May 12,
2001.
Wa took hill to protect drug
plants
Wassana Nanuam The pro-Rangoon United Wa State Army took Hua Lone hill to protect two
large drug plants and trafficking routes, said Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong.
The Third Army commander said one plant was at Roo Nam Khun and the other at
Pakhi opposite the hill in Chiang Mai's Fang district.
He said anti-Rangoon Shan State Army rebels had seized 170,000 speed pills
in the first raid on a warehouse at Pakhi and another 50,000 in the second
attack. This indicated speed pills were being made and that trafficking routes
had been set up.
"Red Wa soldiers captured the hill to use it as another trafficking route
and set up a military post to protect traffickers," he said.
A pocket of Red Wa soldiers who captured the hill for three days retreated
on Thursday after heavy shelling from Thai soldiers.
The shelling killed 16 Wa and wounded 22 others. No casualties resulted on
the Thai side, he said.
Col Somkhuan Saengpataranet, the army spokesman, said troops from the 2nd
Cavalry Regiment had now taken control of the hill. After clearing the area,
Thai soldiers found nine M14 landmines.
Burma has sent Thailand a protest letter about what it called an air
strike, which wounded six people and killed three cattle.
The government denied the accusation, saying Rangoon appeared to have
mistaken a routine air exercise on Thursday for an air raid.
Junta spokesman Col Hla Min said that two Thai F-16 jet fighters separately
fired rockets inside Burma.
He said the raids "unnecessarily" escalated the "prevailing unhappy
situation" on the border.
Burma said one fighter fired two rockets in Karen state and the other
launched a rocket at eastern Shan state's Mong Yawn town.
Air Vice-Marshal Prapas Jiemchawee said the jets were conducting a routine
inspection flight.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - May 12,
2001.
Postbag - Defence minister is a laughing
stock
GW Farrow I am confused by the defence minister's recent comments that the Burmese/Wa
encroachments on Thai soil are insignificant. When not put in the context of
massive drug trafficking, the human suffering caused by drug addiction as well
the recent losses of life and property, this may well be the case for our myopic
defence minister.
However, framed and focused within these contexts, the recent incursions
certainly become significant events.
The long-term and invariably truculent attitude of the Burmese authorities
to all these questions certainly demands a firm stance and a resolute approach
on the part of the current government.
Appeasement simply makes these opportunists and traffickers more
bold.
I can only wonder what possesses the defence minister to adopt such a
spineless attitude towards these incursions and to those who are undermining
Thai national morale and security by facilitating the illegal exportation of
drugs into Thailand.
Is this perhaps another blatant example of business interests and profit
for an elite few placed above the interests of the nation as a whole?In ordering
the army to stand down, the defence minister has become a laughing stock and
should resign or be replaced.
The army should be allowed to give the Burmese/Wa forces a sharp and
salutary lesson for their boldness.
Further, the drug factories controlled by the Wa should be bombed or raided
in order to destroy stocks and significantly disrupt drug production.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASEAN COST Plus 3 Meeting
Concludes in Cambodia
2001.05.12 19:24:45 PHNOM PENH, May 12 (Xinhuanet)
-- The Meeting of the ASEAN Committee on Science and Technology (COST)
Plus China, Japan and South Korea concluded Saturday after one-day
discussion, strengthening cooperation in science and technology among the
13 countries.
The meeting reviewed the projects relating to cooperation of science
and technology between ASEAN Plus 3, and also exchanged views on possible
ASEAN Plus 3 cooperation in various spheres, in particular in the area of
science and technology.
Delegates from China, Japan and South Korea separately introduced
their current and recently completed projects with ASEAN countries. China
has held workshops on transgenic plants, remote sensing and seismology,
and also implemented cooperation in functional food, aiming to raise knowledge
and research capacities of ASEAN countries in these science and technology
areas.
Delegates of ASEAN countries said that they are willing to develop
further cooperation in science and technology with China, Japan and South
Korea.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drug Eradication be Achieved
Gradually in Myanmar: Official
2001.05.12 14:55:13 YANGON, May 12 (Xinhuanet) --
Eradication of narcotic drugs could be achieved gradually in Myanmar
coupled with regional development, predicted Myanmar high-ranking drug control
official Major General Soe Win Saturday.
Speaking at a drug destruction ceremony here Saturday, Soe Win, Secretary
of the Myanmar Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control and Director
General of the Myanmar Police Force, said the prevalence of peace and
stability in Myanmar has enabled access to formerly inaccessible and far-flung
opium cultivation and production areas.
He recalled the opium cultivation started to take root in his country
owing to the evil legacy of the colonialists, blaming that although after
independence successive governments tried to find a solution through military,
political, organizational means and negotiation, but no successful
solution was identified.
Since the present government took over the state power in 1988, Myanmar has
placed emphasis on national solidarity, reconsolidation and development of
border areas, he said.
He admitted that poppy and heroin are mainly cultivated and produced
in the country's eastern and northeastern parts of border areas.
He regretted that external assistance from western countries were
terminated due to political reasons.
However, he added that Myanmar is committed to achieving its goal
whether it receives external aid or not in the implementation of the country's
15-year drug elimination plan which began in 1999.
The 15-year plan which costs 33,588.14 million kyats (95.97 million
U.S. dollars) plus 150 million dollars, is being implemented in three
five-year phases with 25 townships targeted in the first phase, 20
townships in the second phase and 9 townships in the third
phase.
According to the base line survey conducted annually as a nation-wide
movement since 1998, he said, there emerged a declining trend in poppy
cultivation in Myanmar with the cultivated areas dropping from 41,337
hectares in 1998-99 to 36, 634 hectares in 1999-2000 and to 33,072.7 hectares in
2000-01.
With regard to Myanmar's law enforcement efforts, 3,978.9 hectares of
poppy fields were destroyed in 1998-99, 4,450 hectares in 1999-2000 and 9,317.9
hectares in 2000-01.
On international cooperation on drug control, he said, Myanmar is
closely cooperating with neighboring countries such as China, Thailand,
Laos and India, conducting alternate cross-border meetings at the border
to solve drug problems arising and effecting along the common
borders.
He added that Myanmar has bilateral agreements on drug control with
countries within the region such as China, Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines as
well as the Russian Federation which is outside the region.
Myanmar is also a signatory to the memorandum of understanding (MOU)
on drug abuse control with China, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia,
and has been actively implementing the sub-regional action plan project
agreed upon by the MOU.
In the 15th seized narcotic drugs destruction ceremony here Saturday,
a total of 3,870 kilos of drugs which worth 920 million U.S. dollars in
the streets of the United States, were put on fire.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Leader Warns Against
Internal Strife, External Intrusion
2001.05.12 12:18:51 YANGON, May 12 (Xinhuanet) --
Myanmar leader General Maung Aye has warned against internal strife and external
intrusion, saying that his armed forces has the tradition of ending internal
strife and driving out foreign intruders.
Maung Aye, who is Vice-Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and
Development Council, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services and
Commander-in-Chief of the Army, gave the warning at a graduation parade here on
Friday of army officers, official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar
reported Saturday.
Maung Aye blamed that remnants of internal strife can exist due to external
involvement.
The warning came after a series of border clashes between Myanmar and
Thailand since February, in which Myanmar charged Thailand with supporting
its domestic anti-government ethnic armed group and launching cross-border
attacks, while Thailand accused Myanmar of intruding its territory in
chasing the armed group.
"If the remnant insurgents continue to give trouble to the nation
relying on foreigners, the Tatmadaw (armed forces) and the entire people
will not tolerate them and their benefactors," Maung Aye went on to warn, adding
that "If external intrusion alone occurred, the Tatmadaw together with the
entire people will crush it."
He called on the army forces to foster ability to totally defend the
nation's land, water and air territory, urging them to strive to win not
only the unity within the armed forces but also the national solidarity
with the union spirit.
He said Myanmar does not have the will to occupy the territory of any
nation unjustly, nor will it let even a square inch of its territory be
encroached upon.
He recalled that the armed forces fought many battles to end the
internal strife which broke out soon after the country regained
independence in 1948.
He also recalled that the armed forces had to take over the state
power in 1988 in an "unavoidable" situation, saying that 17
anti-government armed groups have returned to the legal fold.
He stressed that Myanmar has maintained good relations with all the nations
of the world and has also tried to be on friendly terms.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Delivers Vessel to
Singaporean Company
2001.05.12 11:19:26 YANGON, May 12 (Xinhuanet) --
Myanmar has completed building the last vessel out of three under
contracts for a Singaporean company and has delivered it to the
company.
The Jaya Transporter-2, built by the state-run Myanma Shipyard (MS)
of the Myanmar Ministry of Transport for the Java Marine Lines Pte Ltd of
Singapore, was handed over Friday, according to Saturday's state-run
newspaper The New Light of Myanmar.
The Jaya Transporter-2 is 63 meters long and 12 meters wide, and is
operated by a 22-member crew. The ship can load up to 940 tons of freight
and its two 540-horsepower engines can travel up to 9.5 nautical
miles (17.6 kilometers) per hour. Its draught is 2. 5 meters.
The MS handed over to the Singaporean company the first completed
vessel, Jaya Transporter-1 (50 meters) in April 1999, while the
second completed one, Jaya Supply Transporter (56 meters) , in August
2000.
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