Burma : China Comes to Junta's Rescue Again

**Mid** · 20-03-2010, 08:04 AM

China Comes to Junta's Rescue Again
WAI MOE
Friday, March 19, 2010

Beijing has once again come to the defense of Burma's ruling junta, using its permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to block a move by the UK to raise the issue of the regime's recently announced electoral laws.

“A number of council members support the idea of discussing Burma and getting an update on the situation there. It’s the subject of negotiations with the Chinese at the moment, who are always reluctant on these matters,” a Western diplomat told Reuters on Friday.

Traders transport goods into Burma from China across the Ruili-Muse border checkpoint.
(Photo: Wai Moe)

Following the announcement of new electoral laws on March 8 that ban Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other dissidents from contesting this year's planned election, Burma's ruling generals have faced a fresh wave of international condemnation.

In an effort to apply pressure on the junta to review the laws, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose country is also a permanent member of the UNSC, sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier this week requesting an emergency meeting to discuss the matter.

“Burma has ignored the demands of the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary-General, the US, EU and its neighbors by imposing restrictive and unfair terms on elections,” Brown said on Monday, adding that the UK would seek international support to impose an arms embargo against Burma.

According to The Inner City Press, a news agency focusing on UN affairs, Mark Lyall Grant, London’s Permanent Representative to the UN, walked into the UNSC meeting on Tuesday morning to talk about Brown’s letter.

Instead of agreeing to a UNSC meeting on Burma, however, Ban requested a meeting of the Group of Friends of the Secretary-General on Myanmar [Burma] on March 25.

The Group of Friends includes Australia, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, the UK, the US, Vietnam and the president of the EU, a position currently occupied by Spain.

It was formed in December 2007 as part of a renewed effort to find an international consensus to deal with Burma following the junta's crackdown on monk-led mass demonstrations in September of that year.

On Monday, Beijing also offered its support to the junta at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. China's representative to the council, Luo Cheng, said there has been an improvement in Burma human rights situation.

He added that China appreciated the regime’s efforts to achieve political reconciliation.

China also prevented the UNSC from taking up the subject of Burma in October 2009, when the matter was raised by the US and its allies. At the time, China said the council should focus on civilian casualties in Afghanistan instead of Burma.

Despite this show of public support for the regime, however, some Chinese experts on Burma said policy makers in Beijing were also disappointed by Naypyidaw’s election laws, which rejected international calls for inclusive elections.

A Chinese scholar on Burma who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the laws were not just a source of concern for the West, but also for China.

China is also worried about ethnic issues along the Sino-Burmese border. Tensions between Naypyidaw and border-based armed ceasefire groups have been growing since last year over the regime's demands for the groups to transform themselves into border guard forces. A return to open hostilities on the border could affect stability and impact on Chinese’s interests in Burma.

In addition to the billions of dollars invested by Chinese state-owned companies in Burma’s oil and gas and hydropower industries and Beijing's major role in developing trade routes to South and Southeast Asia through the country, Chinese businessmen are involving in a wide array of legal and illegal businesses in Burma, from border trade and jade mining to drug smuggling and human trafficking.

This week, officials from both countries held a regular meeting of a Sino-Burmese border committee in Tangyan, near areas controlled by the United Wa State Army, the largest ethnic ceasefire group. The tension over the border guard force issue was reportedly among the subjects discussed, as part of China's efforts to maintain stability on the border.

“Keeping the border area between China and Myanmar [Burma] stable is the most important task for the Chinese government,” the scholar said. “But what Beijing will do if instability occurs is a big secret in China.”

He added that Beijing is concerned that the Burmese regime's handling of the election law issue, which reflects its disregard for international opinion, could also be an indication of how it intends to deal with the ethnic ceasefire groups.

irrawaddy.org

**aras** · 20-03-2010, 08:40 AM

well china is the friend of all the criminal regimes( except the ones who are americas friends ).
Only china has to do it with the leftovers of america like sudan and burma ....etc

**Mid** · 08-09-2010, 07:37 PM

China extends welcome to Myanmar leader
TINI TRAN
2010-09-08

Myanmar's top leader Gen. Than Shwe is assisted as he steps out of a plane upon arrival at the airport in Beijing, China on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010. Than Shwe arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a state visit to his country's closest ally ahead of contentious national elections this fall.
(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Myanmar's top leader Gen. Than Shwe is greeted by Myanmar officials upon arrival at the airport in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010. Than Shwe arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a state visit to his country's closest ally ahead of contentious national elections this fall.
(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Myanmar's top leader Gen. Than Shwe steps out of a plane upon arrival at the airport in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2010. Than Shwe arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for a state visit to his country's closest ally ahead of contentious national elections this fall.
(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China's president welcomed the leader of Myanmar's ruling junta on Wednesday with a red carpet and a military band, pageantry that underscores China's strong support for its resource-rich neighbor where Beijing has made huge investments.Gen. Than Shwe had come on a five-day visit, seeking backing from his country's strongest ally for November elections that mark the first nationwide balloting in two decades.

The junta has called the elections a key step in shifting to civilian rule after decades of military domination, but critics have derided them as a sham, saying the junta is unlikely to relinquish control.

China has long been Myanmar's lone source of diplomatic and economic support, shrugging off international criticism over its pariah status to maintain and even deepen ties with the ruling regime.

Some analysts see the visit as a signal that Beijing is drawing even closer to its neighbor, hoping to cement its long-term influence in Myanmar, which is largely impoverished but rich in natural resources, including timber, minerals and oil and gas deposits.

"China is throwing its chips in with the junta," said Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt, head of the International Crisis Group in China, noting the large investments China has recently poured into the country.

Following a formal red-carpet ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, Chinese President Hu Jintao told the Myanmar leader, who was dressed in a dark suit and red tie, that he believed the visit would "further promote bilateral relations and mutual cooperation between neighbors."

Than Shwe was accompanied by a large delegation, including several former military leaders who have apparently stepped down from their posts in order to run as civilians in the upcoming election.

The junta chief said the main purpose of his trip was to "further promote the already existing neighborly friendship, mutual cooperation and trust between the two countries."

A day earlier, China's Foreign Ministry defended the upcoming elections as Myanmar's internal affair and urged other countries not to interfere. "We hope the international community can provide constructive help to the upcoming election and refrain from making any negative impact on the domestic political process and the regional peace and stability," spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

China is Myanmar's third-largest trading partner and investor after Thailand and Singapore. In 2009, bilateral trade totaled $2.9 billion, Xinhua said. By January 2010, China's investment in Myanmar amounted to $1.8 billion, accounting for 11.5 percent of Myanmar's then total foreign investment.
This May, China made huge investments in hydropower, oil and gas, totaling $8.17 billion, Xinhua said, quoting Myanmar government statistics.

The two countries have generally enjoyed strong ties in recent years, though there was some friction when fighting between government forces and ethnic groups sent tens of thousands of Myanmar refugees across the Chinese border last summer, resulting in a rare warning from Beijing.
However, China has also been wary of recent overtures by the United States to engage with Myanmar's leaders more directly, said Zhao Haili, associate professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Xiamen University.

"The Chinese leaders know that the Burmese leader is going to have to decide whether or not to get closer to the U.S. in the future," he said, using an alternate name for Myanmar and its people. "China has been desperate to figure out whether Myanmar is going to be closer with the U.S., and how that is going to change Myanmar's strategic relations with neighboring countries after the general election."

Than Shwe will meet with Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday and will also fly to the Shanghai Expo and the manufacturing hub of Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province before he departs Saturday.

Than Shwe's visit comes three months after Wen went to Myanmar, the first trip by a Chinese leader since 2001. Wen signed 15 agreements on cooperation in areas including a natural gas pipeline, hydropower station and development assistance, Xinhua said.

etaiwannews.com

**Bangyai** · 08-09-2010, 09:27 PM

Hmmmm.......birds of a feather , flock together.

**Rural Surin** · 08-09-2010, 09:57 PM

Originally Posted by aras

well china is the friend of all the criminal regimes( except the ones who are americas friends ).
Only china has to do it with the leftovers of america like sudan and burma ....etc

To be fair, all of the traditional superpowers and wannabes {China, Russia/Soviet, USA, England, France} have existed to maintain and underwrite such criminal regimes throughout their respective contemporary histories. Not that these facts excuse China and their driven manner, but the larger picture of a yet continuing "Cold War" that subverts the nations of the world is surely being missed. If it wasn't China, it would any of the above....whom all, surely, do business with Burma - perhaps in a less surface manner.

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