Thread: US, ASEAN fail to call for Suu Kyi's release

US, ASEAN fail to call for Suu Kyi's release
VIJAY JOSHI
Associated Press writers Jim Gomez and Eileen Ng contributed to this report.


Members of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party show …AP

SINGAPORE – President Barack Obama and his Southeast Asian counterparts are calling on Myanmar's junta to hold credible elections, but have stopped short of demanding the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.

A joint statement to be issued after a summit Sunday between the U.S. president and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — their first ever — devotes an entire section to Myanmar, a major irritant in relations between the two sides.

The leaders emphasized, "the general election to be held in Myanmar in 2010 must be conducted in a free, fair, inclusive and transparent manner in order to be credible to the international community," according to a final draft of the statement. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press.

Obama, in a broad policy speech in Tokyo on Saturday, made a point of mentioning Suu Kyi by name.

But the leaders' statement does not make any mention of political prisoners — including Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention. The omission is glaring, given the U.S. had insisted on the inclusion of the clause in a previous draft.

According to the old draft, the U.S. wanted to insert a line calling on the junta to "help create the conditions for credible elections, including by releasing political prisoners and initiating a dialogue with political parties and ethnic minority groups."

The final draft fails to mention the release of political prisoners, including Suu Kyi. It only has leaders calling on the military government to initiate "a dialogue with all stakeholders to ensure that the process is fully inclusive."

The Myanmar government has said it intends to hold elections next year but has not clarified whether Suu Kyi will be allowed to participate. The junta refused to honor the result of the last elections in 1990 when Suu Kyi's party won by a landslide.

Although the United States recently eased its policy toward Myanmar by initiating talks with the generals, it has made clear economic sanctions won't be lifted until Suu Kyi is released.

Earlier this month, two senior U.S. diplomats went to Myanmar for talks, and also had a private meeting with Suu Kyi. It was the highest-level U.S. visit to Myanmar in 14 years.

Sunday's U.S.-ASEAN summit, to be held just after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum ends, is the outcome of the new thinking in Washington that ignoring Myanmar will not yield any results, and relations with Southeast Asia should not be held hostage by the junta.

Previous administrations had refused to hold a summit with ASEAN because it meant sitting at the same table with Myanmar, which is a member of the regional grouping.

On Sunday, Obama and Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein likely will sit side by side, but it is not known if they will hold direct talks.

Analysts say the U.S. will continue to be tough, even in face-to-face talks.

"No one should expect America to simple say nice, soothing things to the generals in Myanmar," said Simon Tay of the Singapore Institute for International Affairs think tank. "The signals that the Americans and all of us in Asia expect are for clean, decent elections in Myanmar."

news.yahoo.com

Unfortunately the US presently has some difficulties in asking for the release of any political prisoner around the world.

Their moral highground went with Guantanemo

So long as the present Junta is not doing anything contrary to American corporate interests, I doubt if he really cares. Interference with Chevron would be a human rights violation of the highest order.

Originally Posted by helge

Unfortunately the US presently has some difficulties in asking for the release of any political prisoner around the world.

Their moral highground went with Guantanemo

Arrogance and stupidity being the deadly combination they are; it did not seem to stop Bush in the least from complaining about others so called human rights abuses.

Can't upset the business contacts. China would be most displeased. Tip toe around. Act like pussies.

I think if it was discovered tomorrow the Burmese junta were child eating cannibals, no one would life a finger.

It's appalling.

Obama Meets Asean, Engages Myanmar to Counter China
Edwin Chen and Julianna Goldman

Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama met with Myanmar’s military-installed prime minister Thein Sein and other Southeast Asian leaders in a historic meeting intended to counter China’s growing clout in the resource-rich region.

Obama, on his inaugural trip to Asia as president, is the first U.S. leader to sit down with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. His predecessor, George W. Bush, canceled a meeting with the bloc two years ago after Myanmar’s junta crushed the biggest protests against its rule since 1988.

Obama said he reaffirmed at the Singapore meeting that Myanmar should release detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi along with other political prisoners.

The summit reinforces Obama’s message that the U.S. intends to maintain its influence in the region even as China’s economic and military strength grows. Southeast Asia contains sea lanes vital to world trade, as well as coal, oil and precious metals.

The U.S. “realizes that if they are to retain American influence in this region, they must be able to match what China is doing,” said Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. “If China is improving its ties by leaps and bounds with Asean, it is not in America’s interest to be left behind.”

China’s trade with Myanmar increased 26 percent last year to $2.6 billion, 240 times more than the $10.8 million in U.S. commerce with the junta, government statistics show.

China Petroleum

China National Petroleum Corp., the nation’s largest oil company, has started building a 771-kilometer (480 miles) pipeline from Myanmar to Southwest China. Cnooc Ltd., China’s largest offshore oil producer, is exploring for oil in Myanmar.

China’s trade with Southeast Asia has grown almost 20 times since 1993 to $179 billion last year, with its share of total Asean commerce rising to 10.5 percent from 2 percent. The U.S. share of trade with the region during that time fell to 12 percent last year from 17 percent even as two-way shipments almost tripled to $201 billion, according to Asean statistics.

The U.S. joined a friendship accord with Southeast Asia in July, six years after China signed up. The non-binding agreement is a prerequisite for joining the East Asia Summit, an Asean-centered grouping that includes China and India. The U.S. wants to engage “more formally” with that organization, Obama said yesterday.

Obama arrived in Singapore yesterday for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group’s annual summit and flies to Shanghai today.

Meeting Rationale

Obama decided to meet with the Asean leaders so as to not punish other nations simply because of Myanmar’s presence in the group, Jeffrey Bader, director of East Asian affairs on the National Security Council, said before the trip.

“The statement we’re trying to make here is that we’re not going to let the Burmese tail wag the Asean dog,” he said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in September the U.S. would directly engage with Myanmar’s leaders to press for democracy. The announcement came a month after U.S. Senator Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, became the first American official ever to meet with Senior-General Than Shwe, the junta’s leader.

Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, traveled to Myanmar earlier this month as the most senior U.S. official to visit the country in 14 years. Obama has maintained sanctions amid the increased contacts, and yesterday repeated a call for the unconditional release of all political prisoners, including Nobel laureate Suu Kyi.
House Arrest

Suu Kyi, who leads the opposition National League for Democracy, has spent 13 years in detention since her party won Myanmar’s last elections in 1990, a result the military rejected. The junta extended her house arrest for 18 months in August after she was convicted of violating her detention terms, potentially excluding her from elections scheduled for next year.

Asean comprises Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

bloomberg.com

Hmmmmm, I understand why he's doing it, but really.

Myanmar is disgusting...
it shows what happens when greed is allowed to reach its festering peak.