Earlier Articles :IntelAsia

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Trade sanctions: US business hit, Congress     FT 7/3
                   is told

                   WEDNESDAY MARCH 5 1997

                   By Nancy Dunne in Washington

                   The US has enacted 61 laws and executive actions over the
past four
                   years in an attempt to punish, isolate, or change the
behaviour of 35
                   countries. These actions have cost US companies up to
$790bn in
                   potential exports, according to a report issued yesterday
by the National
                   Association of Manufacturers.

                   Sanctions range from bans on the sale of military goods,
levied against
                   Nigeria in 1993, to the prohibition of economic
assistance, to outright
                   embargoes on trade and investment. NAM says they rarely
achieve their
                   ends.

                   "They have yet to topple a targeted government," the
report says. "They
                   provide an external scapegoat for well-entrenched regimes
to compensate
                   for domestic failings. Once launched, they are extremely
difficult to
                   terminate."

                   The report is part of a stepped-up effort by the US
business community to
                   convince the current Congress of the lessons learned by
its predecessors -
                   that unless sanctions have broad multilateral support
they are largely
                   ineffective.

                   As the US has increasingly resorted to unilateral
sanctions, it has drawn fire
                   from its allies. Particularly abhorred is the use of
"secondary boycott
                   measures," extended against companies which do business
in the countries
                   targeted for sanctions.

                   These measures, such as those enacted last year against
Cuba, Libya and
                   Iran, "clearly violate numerous international agreements
to which the US is
                   a party," the report says. US business has paid a steep
price for its
                   sanctions policies, according to NAM. "Foreign companies and
                   governments are understandably reluctant to enter into
any long-term
                   commercial relationship with US companies if the threat
of sanctions
                   looms," says the report.

                   Sanctions and export controls have cost US companies
engine orders from
                   Airbus, infrastructure energy projects in China and the
rice market in Iran.

                   A decision by the US Export-Import Bank not to help
finance the Three
                   Gorges Dam project for environmental reasons cost 240
jobs over five
                   years at Voith Hydro of Pennsylvania. Instead, the 12
hydro-electric
                   turbines will be made at Voith's parent company in Germany.

                   Between 1993-96 the US adopted 22 measures to promote
human rights
                   and democracy. Thirteen countries were targeted: Angola,
Bosnia, Burma,
                   Burundi, China, Croatia, Cuba, Gambia, Guatemala, Haiti,
Nicaragua,
                   Nigeria and Yugoslavia.

                   Fourteen laws or executive actions, imposed to combat
terrorism, were
                   targeted towards Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nicaragua,
North Korea, Sudan
                   and Syria.

                   NAM recommends proposed sanctions should be subject to
specific
                   criteria relating to effectiveness. They should also
lapse, unless reauthorised
                   by Congress, or be waived, if the president determines it
is in the national
                   interest to do so.
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   Thailand to let in all unarmed Karen refugees   Reuter 7/3



     BANGKOK -- Thai army chief General Chetta Thanajaro has said that all
unarmed
     Karen refugees crossing into the country at its north-western border
with Myanmar
     would be accepted. 

     He told reporters on Wednesday that unarmed Karen National Union (KNU)
guerillas
     who wanted to seek refuge in the country could also enter but should
not use Thailand
     as a base to fight the Myanmar government. 

     Thailand was accused recently by the US and human-rights and refugee
groups of
     repatriating forcibly Karen refugees who fled last month's fighting
between rebel KNU
     guerillas and Myanmar troops. 

     Bangkok denied the charges but said that it would not allow those
suspected of being
     Karen guerillas to enter the country. 

     The KNU is fighting for greater autonomy for the eastern Myanmar Karen
state from
     the Yangon government. 

     Myanmar troops overran KNU mobile jungle bases inside Myanmar in the latest
     attacks on the KNU, sparking a refugee exodus. 

     Gen Chetta said: "Unarmed people, young or strong men, we regard them
as the
     displaced persons fleeing from fighting and allow them to seek refuge
in our country. 

     "I reassure you that we will continue to receive them. 

     "Once they enter the country, we must put them under special
surveillance. They should
     not be allowed to return if they mean to go back to fight." he added. 

     Since the Myanmar government offensive against the KNU last month,
about 10,000
     Karen refugees have crossed the border into Thailand, joining about
8,000 refugees
     already there. 

     Myanmar troops have overrun most of the KNU camps and taken over most
of their
     territory. 

     A Karen refugee official based in western Kanchanaburi in Thailand said
that the
     authorities had relocated some of the refugees deeper into Thailand. 

     A senior Thai army official said that the thousands of Karen refugees,
living in sprawling
     refugee camps near the border with Myanmar, would be separated from
guerillas. 

     He said: "The camp is not the rest-and-recreation place for the
guerillas any more." 

     According to a Bangkok Post report on Wednesday, there have been
several instances
     when Myanmar troops moved into Thai territory in pursuit of Karen
rebels but moved
     back into Myanmar when confronted by Thai soldiers. -- Reuter. 
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         Burma may not lose GSP privileges             Business Times 7/3


By Shada Islam 

 Three countries said to block EC move to end concessions 



A PROPOSAL by the European Commission (EC) to strip Myanmar of millions of
dollars worth
of tariff preferences is being blocked by three countries and may not be
adopted by European
foreign ministers later this month. 

International trade unions which are compaigning for an end to Myanmar's
access to the European
Union's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) -- which gives developing
countries tariff
concessions in the European market -- say that Britain, Germany and France
are opposed to the
proposal for economic and political reasons. 

The unions say the three countries may block the proposals when they come up
for adoption by EU
foreign ministers in Brussels on March 24. 

The international and European trade unions groups want the EU to withdraw
tariff concessions
given to Myanmar because of the country's use of forced labour and child
labour in several key
sectors. 

In a proposal sent to EU capitals earlier this year, the EC accepted the
unions' complaint. It said it
had obtained firm proof that Myanmar's ruling junta, the State Law and Order
Restoration Council
(SLORC) was using forced labour, defying standards set by the Geneva-based
International Labour
Office (ILO). 

But the proposal cannot be turned into EU law without all 15 EU governments
endorsing it. In recent
discussions, several EU countries have suggested that the European
Parliament should have asked to
give its comments on the Commission's plans. Others think the GSP sanctions
must be part of a
wider EU package on human rights. 

The unions say EU governments are using delay tactics to avoid a difficult
decision. Germany and
Britain have traditionally blocked any moves to link trade and labour
standards. They made this clear
at last year's World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Singapore. 

Both countries are also believed to be concerned that any punitive action
approved against
Myanmar could unleash a host of trade union calls for trade sanctions
against other countries
accused of using forced labour and child labour. 

French diplomats deny that Paris opposes the sanctions. "We are in favour of
the Commission's
proposals and hope that the concession will be withdrawn later this month,"
a diplomat said. The
trade unions maintain that France is unwilling to endorse the trade sanction
to protect French
investments in Myanmar, but France insists such allegations are "completely
untrue". 

French oil giant Total is working with US-based Unocal on a US$1.2 billion
(S$1.7 billion) project
to build a gas pipeline in the country. 

A British diplomat insisted that a final decision on whether or not to adopt
the EC proposals will be
taken by ministers later this month. 

Differences over policy towards Myanmar dominated a recent meeting of
European and Asean
foreign ministers in Singapore. In their public comments, EU governments
have urged Asean to take
a tougher line against SLORC and said that even if it joins Asean in July,
Myanmar was unlikely to
become part of the EU-Asean cooperation arrangement. 
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