Thai PM meets Myanmar president
AFP – 15 hrs ago
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra met Myanmar's president on Wednesday during her first visit to the military-dominated country since she took office in August.
Yingluck was received by Thein Sein at his official residence in the capital Naypyidaw, according to a Myanmar government official who did not want to be named. It was unclear what was discussed.
She was not expected to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during her one-day visit, a second official said.
While Western nations have imposed sanctions on resource-rich Myanmar because of its poor human rights record, Asian neighbours such as Thailand, China and India have forged close economic ties, particularly in oil and gas.
In March, Myanmar's regime handed power to a new government whose ranks are filled with former generals, including Thein Sein, previously the junta prime minister.
Thein Sein has recently shown signs of reaching out to opponents including Suu Kyi, whom he met in August for the first time.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner was released from house arrest last November, shortly after an election marred by complaints of cheating and intimidation.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra met Myanmar's president on Wednesday during her first visit to the military-dominated country since she took office in August.
Yingluck was received by Thein Sein at his official residence in the capital Naypyidaw, according to a Myanmar government official who did not want to be named. It was unclear what was discussed.
She was not expected to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during her one-day visit, a second official said.
While Western nations have imposed sanctions on resource-rich Myanmar because of its poor human rights record, Asian neighbours such as Thailand, China and India have forged close economic ties, particularly in oil and gas.
In March, Myanmar's regime handed power to a new government whose ranks are filled with former generals, including Thein Sein, previously the junta prime minister.
Thein Sein has recently shown signs of reaching out to opponents including Suu Kyi, whom he met in August for the first time.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner was released from house arrest last November, shortly after an election marred by complaints of cheating and intimidation.
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Asian Correspondent - Burma: Soldiers perish without cause in Kachin frontline
By Zin Linn Oct 05, 2011 11:57PM UTC
Political analysts and observers have been deeply concerned about widespread war in Kachin State. People are disappointing with the Thein Sein government for breaking every promise with the ethnic ceasefire groups.
KIA officials repeatedly said the civil war will spread across Kachin and Shan states if the government starts a war with the KIO. The latest series of armed clashes in Kachin state have prompted observers to think that intentional warfare in the border regions may not be avoidable.
The government’s wrong step of handling the Kachin topic seems to be pushing the nation into an abysmal gorge of tragedies. New military offensives of Burma Army on the Kachin, Karen and Shan armed groups will steer the nation into a ruthless poverty trap.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi released a statement dated June 20 calling for both the government and the KIO to stop heavy fighting immediately in order to protect people’s lives and properties. It also called for peaceful talks between stakeholders to settle the decade-long political crisis of the country.
An open letter dated July-28 released by Burma’s pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, remarkably called for a cessation of hostilities between the Burmese government led by President Thein Sein, and ethnic armed groups, including the KIO, Karen National Union (KNU), New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Shan State Army (SSA).
However, the government turns a deaf ear to public calling for peace-talks with Kachin ethnic group.
Although government troops have suffered heavy casualties, the decision-makers are still dragging their feet to stop the useless confrontation. They have no sympathy for their fallen soldiers.
Ongoing civil war in Kachin State has been intensifying in various fronts. On Tuesday, Burma armed forces expended their offensive in central Kachin State. The fighting took place around Ja Ing Yang Village, near Sinbo, in central Kachin State.
The People’s Army soldiers under the KIA’s 3rd Brigade in eastern Kachin, geared up for self-protective warfare. During fighting against the People’s Army under the KIA, several government soldiers died in action, referring local residents Kachin News Group said Wednesday.
As the momentum increases in the civil war in Burma’s northern Kachin State, about 40 Burma Army’s soldiers were killed in a single day, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) source in the war zone confirmed on Tuesday.
According to one KIA officer in the frontline, there were no KIA casualties in Tuesday-battle.
Skirmishing between government troops and Kachin people’s armed forces has been taking place daily in different areas in the Shadan Pa Valley, close to Ja Ing Yang, according to local inhabitants.
As said by KIA officials in Laiza, since the last week of September, hundreds of government troops have arrived in those areas likely to launch a new offensive against the KIA headquarters at Laiza.
The KIA strongholds at Laiza – Alen Bum, Laisin Bum, Hpalap Bum and Mai Ja Yang – in eastern Kachin State is in conjunction with the Chinese border. It is situated approximately 25 miles west of the current battle-sites.
The Burma Army is heightening its offensives against the KIA strongholds, since Shadan Pa and Ja Ing Yang are situated at strategic positions, KIA officials said. The fighting continues in the two areas, natives in the war zone said. There are casualties in daily basic.
The President of Burma should take into consideration that all the fallen soldiers – Burmese or Kachin – are citizens of this nation as well as manpower resources of the underdeveloped country. If the new president and the government truly want to reconstruct the country into a democratic and developed society, all the wars with respective ethnic rebels including KIO/KIA must be immediately stopped.
If President Thein Sein has genuine inspiration of poverty alleviation, he must stop all forms of civil conflict that make the country underprivileged in the region. Most analysts agree that allowing civil war and saying poverty alleviation looks like an impractical guiding principle.
So, it is really important for the president to end the civil war, especially war against Kachin. By doing so, president has to show the country is on the right reform path and can gain trust domestically and internationally.
By Zin Linn Oct 05, 2011 11:57PM UTC
Political analysts and observers have been deeply concerned about widespread war in Kachin State. People are disappointing with the Thein Sein government for breaking every promise with the ethnic ceasefire groups.
KIA officials repeatedly said the civil war will spread across Kachin and Shan states if the government starts a war with the KIO. The latest series of armed clashes in Kachin state have prompted observers to think that intentional warfare in the border regions may not be avoidable.
The government’s wrong step of handling the Kachin topic seems to be pushing the nation into an abysmal gorge of tragedies. New military offensives of Burma Army on the Kachin, Karen and Shan armed groups will steer the nation into a ruthless poverty trap.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi released a statement dated June 20 calling for both the government and the KIO to stop heavy fighting immediately in order to protect people’s lives and properties. It also called for peaceful talks between stakeholders to settle the decade-long political crisis of the country.
An open letter dated July-28 released by Burma’s pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, remarkably called for a cessation of hostilities between the Burmese government led by President Thein Sein, and ethnic armed groups, including the KIO, Karen National Union (KNU), New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Shan State Army (SSA).
However, the government turns a deaf ear to public calling for peace-talks with Kachin ethnic group.
Although government troops have suffered heavy casualties, the decision-makers are still dragging their feet to stop the useless confrontation. They have no sympathy for their fallen soldiers.
Ongoing civil war in Kachin State has been intensifying in various fronts. On Tuesday, Burma armed forces expended their offensive in central Kachin State. The fighting took place around Ja Ing Yang Village, near Sinbo, in central Kachin State.
The People’s Army soldiers under the KIA’s 3rd Brigade in eastern Kachin, geared up for self-protective warfare. During fighting against the People’s Army under the KIA, several government soldiers died in action, referring local residents Kachin News Group said Wednesday.
As the momentum increases in the civil war in Burma’s northern Kachin State, about 40 Burma Army’s soldiers were killed in a single day, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) source in the war zone confirmed on Tuesday.
According to one KIA officer in the frontline, there were no KIA casualties in Tuesday-battle.
Skirmishing between government troops and Kachin people’s armed forces has been taking place daily in different areas in the Shadan Pa Valley, close to Ja Ing Yang, according to local inhabitants.
As said by KIA officials in Laiza, since the last week of September, hundreds of government troops have arrived in those areas likely to launch a new offensive against the KIA headquarters at Laiza.
The KIA strongholds at Laiza – Alen Bum, Laisin Bum, Hpalap Bum and Mai Ja Yang – in eastern Kachin State is in conjunction with the Chinese border. It is situated approximately 25 miles west of the current battle-sites.
The Burma Army is heightening its offensives against the KIA strongholds, since Shadan Pa and Ja Ing Yang are situated at strategic positions, KIA officials said. The fighting continues in the two areas, natives in the war zone said. There are casualties in daily basic.
The President of Burma should take into consideration that all the fallen soldiers – Burmese or Kachin – are citizens of this nation as well as manpower resources of the underdeveloped country. If the new president and the government truly want to reconstruct the country into a democratic and developed society, all the wars with respective ethnic rebels including KIO/KIA must be immediately stopped.
If President Thein Sein has genuine inspiration of poverty alleviation, he must stop all forms of civil conflict that make the country underprivileged in the region. Most analysts agree that allowing civil war and saying poverty alleviation looks like an impractical guiding principle.
So, it is really important for the president to end the civil war, especially war against Kachin. By doing so, president has to show the country is on the right reform path and can gain trust domestically and internationally.
***********************************************************
Burma: Kachin Conflict Escalates As Talk Of Change Grows
Wed, 2011-10-05 00:27 — editor
London, 05 October, (Asiantribune.com):
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is deeply concerned by reports of a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Kachin State, Burma. Information received by CSW from Kachin sources indicate an escalation in the Burma Army’s offensive against Kachin civilians, at a time when the regime in Burma is talking about peace and national reconciliation. Over 20,000 Kachin civilians have been displaced as a result.
In the past two months, the Burma Army has repeatedly attacked Kachin villages. Civilians have been taken for forced labor, raped, tortured and killed. At the same time, Burma’s new President, Thein Sein, has met democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, called for peace talks with ethnic nationalities, and responded to popular opinion by suspending plans for a major dam project at Myitsone, Kachin State, and worth over £2 billion.
On 20 August, Burma Army soldiers stationed in Je-U village, Man Si Township fired mortars at Nam Gau village. The village school teacher’s house was hit by a mortar shell, while the teacher, Mai Awng, was tutoring students inside. A six year-old child, Hpaula Htu, was killed and four people injured, including the teacher, her seven year-old daughter and two children, aged seven and six.
On 16 September, soldiers from Light Infantry Unit 387 arrested 12 Kachin villagers aged between 14 and 70, from Namhpathka village, Momauk Township, ten miles from a hydropower project at Taping. The villagers, accused of supporting the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), were tied with ropes, detained at the army base and severely tortured, before being released on 19 September.
On 21 September, Mr Tam Gam and his wife Roi Lam Ja Ngai, both aged 24, were seriously injured by landmines on a Roman Catholic prayer mountain near Jahtuzup, Phakant Township, while they were gathering bamboo. Rou Lam Ja Ngai’s right leg was blown off below the knees and her left leg was seriously injured. Her husband was injured in his face and chin.
These reports have been confirmed by the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), along with reports of increasing battles between soldiers of the Burma Army and the KIA. In June, the regime launched a new offensive against the Kachin, ending a 17-year ceasefire. According to the Kachin Relief Action Network for IDPs and Refugees (RANIR), at least 21,298 villagers have been displaced by the new conflict.
On 26 September, the Chairman of the KIO’s Central Committee, Lanyaw Zawng Hra, wrote to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, calling for international help to end the conflict in Burma. “The civil war …, which is based on ethnic conflict, directly affects the regional development and stability of the neighbouring countries as well. Therefore KIO is humbly calling for all stakeholders and international communities, such as United Nations, ASEAN, and our bordering countries, to help us find a solution towards ending our civil war and finally achieving national reconciliation.”
CSW’s East Asia Team Leader, Benedict Rogers, said: “The escalation in attacks in Kachin State is in marked contrast to the regime’s rhetoric about peace, and the signs of change that may be seen in other aspects of Burmese politics. We warmly welcome the talks between the regime and Aung San Suu Kyi, President Thein Sein’s recent decision to abandon the Myitsone dam in the face of public opinion, his offer of peace talks with the ethnic nationalities and the prospect of a general amnesty for political prisoners. We encourage President Thein Sein to continue on this path and, if there is substantial change, the international community must be prepared to respond positively and proportionately.
However, if the regime is genuine, it much match rhetoric with action, end the horrific human rights violations in the ethnic areas and declare a nationwide ceasefire. We urge the military to stop its attacks on Kachin civilians, end its campaign of terror in all ethnic states, and engage in a meaningful dialogue with the ethnic nationalities to bring an end to decades of war and suffering in Burma. We also call on the international community to provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the tens of thousands of Kachin displaced along Burma’s border with China. There is much talk now about an opportunity for change in Burma. It is time to seize that opportunity, and turn it into an opportunity for peace, reconciliation and rebuilding.”
Wed, 2011-10-05 00:27 — editor
London, 05 October, (Asiantribune.com):
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is deeply concerned by reports of a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Kachin State, Burma. Information received by CSW from Kachin sources indicate an escalation in the Burma Army’s offensive against Kachin civilians, at a time when the regime in Burma is talking about peace and national reconciliation. Over 20,000 Kachin civilians have been displaced as a result.
In the past two months, the Burma Army has repeatedly attacked Kachin villages. Civilians have been taken for forced labor, raped, tortured and killed. At the same time, Burma’s new President, Thein Sein, has met democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, called for peace talks with ethnic nationalities, and responded to popular opinion by suspending plans for a major dam project at Myitsone, Kachin State, and worth over £2 billion.
On 20 August, Burma Army soldiers stationed in Je-U village, Man Si Township fired mortars at Nam Gau village. The village school teacher’s house was hit by a mortar shell, while the teacher, Mai Awng, was tutoring students inside. A six year-old child, Hpaula Htu, was killed and four people injured, including the teacher, her seven year-old daughter and two children, aged seven and six.
On 16 September, soldiers from Light Infantry Unit 387 arrested 12 Kachin villagers aged between 14 and 70, from Namhpathka village, Momauk Township, ten miles from a hydropower project at Taping. The villagers, accused of supporting the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), were tied with ropes, detained at the army base and severely tortured, before being released on 19 September.
On 21 September, Mr Tam Gam and his wife Roi Lam Ja Ngai, both aged 24, were seriously injured by landmines on a Roman Catholic prayer mountain near Jahtuzup, Phakant Township, while they were gathering bamboo. Rou Lam Ja Ngai’s right leg was blown off below the knees and her left leg was seriously injured. Her husband was injured in his face and chin.
These reports have been confirmed by the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), along with reports of increasing battles between soldiers of the Burma Army and the KIA. In June, the regime launched a new offensive against the Kachin, ending a 17-year ceasefire. According to the Kachin Relief Action Network for IDPs and Refugees (RANIR), at least 21,298 villagers have been displaced by the new conflict.
On 26 September, the Chairman of the KIO’s Central Committee, Lanyaw Zawng Hra, wrote to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, calling for international help to end the conflict in Burma. “The civil war …, which is based on ethnic conflict, directly affects the regional development and stability of the neighbouring countries as well. Therefore KIO is humbly calling for all stakeholders and international communities, such as United Nations, ASEAN, and our bordering countries, to help us find a solution towards ending our civil war and finally achieving national reconciliation.”
CSW’s East Asia Team Leader, Benedict Rogers, said: “The escalation in attacks in Kachin State is in marked contrast to the regime’s rhetoric about peace, and the signs of change that may be seen in other aspects of Burmese politics. We warmly welcome the talks between the regime and Aung San Suu Kyi, President Thein Sein’s recent decision to abandon the Myitsone dam in the face of public opinion, his offer of peace talks with the ethnic nationalities and the prospect of a general amnesty for political prisoners. We encourage President Thein Sein to continue on this path and, if there is substantial change, the international community must be prepared to respond positively and proportionately.
However, if the regime is genuine, it much match rhetoric with action, end the horrific human rights violations in the ethnic areas and declare a nationwide ceasefire. We urge the military to stop its attacks on Kachin civilians, end its campaign of terror in all ethnic states, and engage in a meaningful dialogue with the ethnic nationalities to bring an end to decades of war and suffering in Burma. We also call on the international community to provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the tens of thousands of Kachin displaced along Burma’s border with China. There is much talk now about an opportunity for change in Burma. It is time to seize that opportunity, and turn it into an opportunity for peace, reconciliation and rebuilding.”
***********************************************************
Op-Ed Contributor
New York Times - In Myanmar, Seize the Moment
By THANT MYINT-U
Published: October 4, 2011
MYANMAR, sandwiched between China and India, is at its most important political watershed since the establishment of army rule in 1962. Over the next few weeks, the Obama administration can make a big difference in determining whether historic reforms under way there will lead to Asia’s newest democratic transition. President Obama should publicly support the changes taking place, and back up those words with actions to end the country’s isolation, before hard-liners who oppose reform are able to push back.
Six months ago it was difficult to be optimistic. Elections had been held but they had been widely condemned as being far from free and fair. And although Myanmar’s aging autocrat, Gen. Than Shwe, retired, the constitutional leadership that replaced his junta included many of the same former generals. Few expected more than minor reforms.
But U Thein Sein, the new president and himself a former general, surprised everyone. In his inaugural address to Parliament, he spoke forcefully of combating poverty, fighting corruption, ending the country’s multiple armed conflicts, and working for political reconciliation. By June, state pensions for nearly a million people, most of them very poor, were increased by as much as a thousandfold, taxes were reduced, and trade cartels were dismantled. The government redrafted banking and foreign investment rules and began revising its foreign exchange rate policy — all of this in consultation with businessmen and academics. That alone was a huge step, because army rulers had long shunned any civilian advice.
Then, on July 19, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who was released from house arrest last November, was invited to the annual Martyrs’ Day ceremony. The holiday memorializes the 1947 assassination of her father, who is considered the architect of the country’s independence. Thousands of her supporters were permitted to hold their first lawful march in years and several independent newspapers came to life. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s name, which couldn’t be mentioned in print a year ago, began to appear regularly on the front pages.
By August, Parliament began debating sensitive issues, like the release of political prisoners, and passed laws legalizing microfinance for the rural poor and allowing independent trade unions. All Internet restrictions were soon lifted. On Aug. 18, at a meeting with dozens of independent civic groups, the president called for peace talks with the country’s ethnic-based rebels and invited exiles to return. The next day, he met for over two hours alone with Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi.
I saw her soon afterward for the first time in over 20 years. She told me that she believed the president was genuine in wanting change and that she hoped we were at the beginning of a new era in Myanmar’s politics.
This past week, we’ve seen previously unimaginable developments. On Friday, following increasing popular agitation, the president halted work on a $3.6 billion hydroelectric dam being built by China on the Irrawaddy River to send power to Chinese provinces next door. This was a victory for Myanmar’s nascent environmental movement and the area’s minority Kachin people. That the president would stop a Chinese-backed project of this magnitude was the clearest sign yet that the country was at a turning point. And many in Myanmar now hope that the government will soon release most or all political prisoners.
But monumental challenges remain — for example, even though the government agreed recently to a cease-fire with the country’s largest ethnic-based militia, deadly clashes continue with smaller militias fighting on behalf of minorities in the mountains to the north and east. It is hard to imagine a successful democratic transition while these longstanding and often brutal little wars continue.
Reformist voices are not the only ones in the new system, and a hard-line pushback is far from inconceivable. So the Obama administration needs to do three things, and do them quickly.
First is to unambiguously voice its support for the reforms under way, while at the same time being patient and refraining from demanding too much too fast. The alternative to what is happening is not a perfect revolution; the alternative is going back to square one.
Second, the administration needs to ensure that the reform efforts receive the technical advice and knowledge they desperately require. After decades of isolation, Myanmar suffers from a dearth of skilled people in every field, from banking to environmental regulation to public health. So the United States should lift all restrictions that limit the United Nations and international financial institutions like the World Bank from offering Myanmar their technical expertise. This is not about giving money, but providing the knowledge needed to conceive and carry out reforms in the best possible way.
Third is to move toward ending trade embargoes against Myanmar. As the country opens up, it should neither become dependent on outside aid, nor become an even more corrupt crony-controlled oligarchy. Responsible trade and investment can play key roles in creating jobs, helping to build a new middle class and hastening democratic change.
What we’re seeing today is Myanmar’s best chance in half a century for a better future. America needs to help end Myanmar’s isolation, urgently.
Thant Myint-U, a historian and former United Nations official, is the author of “Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia.”
New York Times - In Myanmar, Seize the Moment
By THANT MYINT-U
Published: October 4, 2011
MYANMAR, sandwiched between China and India, is at its most important political watershed since the establishment of army rule in 1962. Over the next few weeks, the Obama administration can make a big difference in determining whether historic reforms under way there will lead to Asia’s newest democratic transition. President Obama should publicly support the changes taking place, and back up those words with actions to end the country’s isolation, before hard-liners who oppose reform are able to push back.
Six months ago it was difficult to be optimistic. Elections had been held but they had been widely condemned as being far from free and fair. And although Myanmar’s aging autocrat, Gen. Than Shwe, retired, the constitutional leadership that replaced his junta included many of the same former generals. Few expected more than minor reforms.
But U Thein Sein, the new president and himself a former general, surprised everyone. In his inaugural address to Parliament, he spoke forcefully of combating poverty, fighting corruption, ending the country’s multiple armed conflicts, and working for political reconciliation. By June, state pensions for nearly a million people, most of them very poor, were increased by as much as a thousandfold, taxes were reduced, and trade cartels were dismantled. The government redrafted banking and foreign investment rules and began revising its foreign exchange rate policy — all of this in consultation with businessmen and academics. That alone was a huge step, because army rulers had long shunned any civilian advice.
Then, on July 19, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who was released from house arrest last November, was invited to the annual Martyrs’ Day ceremony. The holiday memorializes the 1947 assassination of her father, who is considered the architect of the country’s independence. Thousands of her supporters were permitted to hold their first lawful march in years and several independent newspapers came to life. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s name, which couldn’t be mentioned in print a year ago, began to appear regularly on the front pages.
By August, Parliament began debating sensitive issues, like the release of political prisoners, and passed laws legalizing microfinance for the rural poor and allowing independent trade unions. All Internet restrictions were soon lifted. On Aug. 18, at a meeting with dozens of independent civic groups, the president called for peace talks with the country’s ethnic-based rebels and invited exiles to return. The next day, he met for over two hours alone with Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi.
I saw her soon afterward for the first time in over 20 years. She told me that she believed the president was genuine in wanting change and that she hoped we were at the beginning of a new era in Myanmar’s politics.
This past week, we’ve seen previously unimaginable developments. On Friday, following increasing popular agitation, the president halted work on a $3.6 billion hydroelectric dam being built by China on the Irrawaddy River to send power to Chinese provinces next door. This was a victory for Myanmar’s nascent environmental movement and the area’s minority Kachin people. That the president would stop a Chinese-backed project of this magnitude was the clearest sign yet that the country was at a turning point. And many in Myanmar now hope that the government will soon release most or all political prisoners.
But monumental challenges remain — for example, even though the government agreed recently to a cease-fire with the country’s largest ethnic-based militia, deadly clashes continue with smaller militias fighting on behalf of minorities in the mountains to the north and east. It is hard to imagine a successful democratic transition while these longstanding and often brutal little wars continue.
Reformist voices are not the only ones in the new system, and a hard-line pushback is far from inconceivable. So the Obama administration needs to do three things, and do them quickly.
First is to unambiguously voice its support for the reforms under way, while at the same time being patient and refraining from demanding too much too fast. The alternative to what is happening is not a perfect revolution; the alternative is going back to square one.
Second, the administration needs to ensure that the reform efforts receive the technical advice and knowledge they desperately require. After decades of isolation, Myanmar suffers from a dearth of skilled people in every field, from banking to environmental regulation to public health. So the United States should lift all restrictions that limit the United Nations and international financial institutions like the World Bank from offering Myanmar their technical expertise. This is not about giving money, but providing the knowledge needed to conceive and carry out reforms in the best possible way.
Third is to move toward ending trade embargoes against Myanmar. As the country opens up, it should neither become dependent on outside aid, nor become an even more corrupt crony-controlled oligarchy. Responsible trade and investment can play key roles in creating jobs, helping to build a new middle class and hastening democratic change.
What we’re seeing today is Myanmar’s best chance in half a century for a better future. America needs to help end Myanmar’s isolation, urgently.
Thant Myint-U, a historian and former United Nations official, is the author of “Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia.”
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MYANMAR: Blocked dam project raises hopes
YANGON, 5 October 2011 (IRIN) - Environmentalists and activists hope Myanmar will keep its promise to suspend construction of a controversial hydroelectric dam in the northern Kachin State, despite calls by the Chinese government for talks over the decision.
In a surprising move, on 30 September, President Thein Sein announced that construction of the dam, a project between the government and the state-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), would be suspended during his presidential term. The decision was seen as a victory for the people who battled to stop the dam over concerns about the environment and millions of livelihoods linked to the Ayeyarwady River.
"The president knows the Myitsone Dam [project] is against the will of the people," Bauk Ja, Kachin activist and member of the National Democratic Force party, told IRIN. "So, he won't let it resume in his tenure, whatever the pressures from China."
"It's amazing," said Win Min, a Myanmar scholar now living in the United States. "The president shows that he cares more about the people who will suffer from the impact of the dam than China or economic interests."
But opponents of the dam urged continued vigilance. CPI workers and equipment were still on the ground, said Ah Nan, a spokeswoman for the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) and assistant coordinator of Burma Rivers Network. There is also speculation that the Myitsone Dam project will be replaced by the construction of two smaller dams, as recommended in an environmental impact study by Myanmar and Chinese scientists.
"Only [CPI's] actions will confirm whether the dam is indeed suspended," she said.
Motivation
Thein Sein, who began a five-year presidential term in March, informed Parliament of his decision in a letter. His phrasing amazed many Burmese, who experienced decades during which the government ignored public concerns.
"As our government is elected by the people, it is to respect the people's will. We have the responsibility to address public concerns in all seriousness," Thein Sein said in his letter. "So construction of Myitsone Dam will be suspended in the time of our government."
The dam, with a flooding area larger than Singapore, is in Kachin State just 1.6km below the confluence of two rivers, an area known as Myitsone, which is the beginning of the Ayeyarwady River. The project would have forced more than 15,000 people in 60 villages to relocate, KDNG estimated.
Some observers believe the president suspended construction of the widely opposed dam not only to prevent public anger from boiling over, but also to position the country positively in upcoming regional meetings.
"The halting is designed to nip another round of public discontent-driven popular protests, especially on the eve of a trip by the Indonesian [foreign minister] to assess the [country's] ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] chair bid," said Maung Zarni, a Myanmar research fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Some point to the decision as one of several signs that the government is heeding the concerns of its people. Thein Sein's August meeting with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, for example, was applauded internationally, and Thein Sein has publicly acknowledged poverty as a problem in Myanmar.
"It seems that the president and some cabinet ministers are more open than others and willing to bring about a gradual change," Win Min said.
But he urged caution, too. He said the administration was motivated by a desire to improve its international standing, particularly in its bid for the ASEAN chairmanship in 2014, as well as to receive International Monetary Fund assistance and to lift western sanctions.
Environmentalists and activists worry future administrations may proceed with the Myitsone Dam. But some activists, such as Bauk Ja, remain confident.
"Future presidents or governments are less likely to resume this project," she said, "because people will always be totally against the dam construction."
YANGON, 5 October 2011 (IRIN) - Environmentalists and activists hope Myanmar will keep its promise to suspend construction of a controversial hydroelectric dam in the northern Kachin State, despite calls by the Chinese government for talks over the decision.
In a surprising move, on 30 September, President Thein Sein announced that construction of the dam, a project between the government and the state-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), would be suspended during his presidential term. The decision was seen as a victory for the people who battled to stop the dam over concerns about the environment and millions of livelihoods linked to the Ayeyarwady River.
"The president knows the Myitsone Dam [project] is against the will of the people," Bauk Ja, Kachin activist and member of the National Democratic Force party, told IRIN. "So, he won't let it resume in his tenure, whatever the pressures from China."
"It's amazing," said Win Min, a Myanmar scholar now living in the United States. "The president shows that he cares more about the people who will suffer from the impact of the dam than China or economic interests."
But opponents of the dam urged continued vigilance. CPI workers and equipment were still on the ground, said Ah Nan, a spokeswoman for the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) and assistant coordinator of Burma Rivers Network. There is also speculation that the Myitsone Dam project will be replaced by the construction of two smaller dams, as recommended in an environmental impact study by Myanmar and Chinese scientists.
"Only [CPI's] actions will confirm whether the dam is indeed suspended," she said.
Motivation
Thein Sein, who began a five-year presidential term in March, informed Parliament of his decision in a letter. His phrasing amazed many Burmese, who experienced decades during which the government ignored public concerns.
"As our government is elected by the people, it is to respect the people's will. We have the responsibility to address public concerns in all seriousness," Thein Sein said in his letter. "So construction of Myitsone Dam will be suspended in the time of our government."
The dam, with a flooding area larger than Singapore, is in Kachin State just 1.6km below the confluence of two rivers, an area known as Myitsone, which is the beginning of the Ayeyarwady River. The project would have forced more than 15,000 people in 60 villages to relocate, KDNG estimated.
Some observers believe the president suspended construction of the widely opposed dam not only to prevent public anger from boiling over, but also to position the country positively in upcoming regional meetings.
"The halting is designed to nip another round of public discontent-driven popular protests, especially on the eve of a trip by the Indonesian [foreign minister] to assess the [country's] ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] chair bid," said Maung Zarni, a Myanmar research fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Some point to the decision as one of several signs that the government is heeding the concerns of its people. Thein Sein's August meeting with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, for example, was applauded internationally, and Thein Sein has publicly acknowledged poverty as a problem in Myanmar.
"It seems that the president and some cabinet ministers are more open than others and willing to bring about a gradual change," Win Min said.
But he urged caution, too. He said the administration was motivated by a desire to improve its international standing, particularly in its bid for the ASEAN chairmanship in 2014, as well as to receive International Monetary Fund assistance and to lift western sanctions.
Environmentalists and activists worry future administrations may proceed with the Myitsone Dam. But some activists, such as Bauk Ja, remain confident.
"Future presidents or governments are less likely to resume this project," she said, "because people will always be totally against the dam construction."
***********************************************************
Thursday, Oct. 6, 2011
The Japan Times - Dams muddy China's image
By BRAHMA CHELLAN
NEW DELHI — China's frenzied dam building at home and abroad is emerging as a flash point in inter- and intrastate relations in Asia. Burma's decision to suspend work on a controversial Chinese-funded dam marks a tactical retreat on a project that has symbolized China's resource greed and is a trigger for renewed ethnic insurgency in areas of northern Burma (aka Myanmar).
The Myitsone Dam, where work is being halted, is one of seven dam projects in northern Burma sponsored by China to generate electricity for export to its own market, even as much of Burma suffers from long power outages every day. China also has been erecting dams on its side of the border on the rivers flowing to Burma and other countries — from Russia to India.
The projects have drawn attention to their mounting environmental and human costs. In Burma, the submergence of vast tracts of land and the forced displacement of thousands of residents have instigated new interstate disputes, leading to renewed fighting and the end of a 17-year ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Army and government forces.
The giant, 3,200-megawatt Myitsone Dam — at the headwaters of the Irrawaddy River, the cradle of Burmese civilization — was conceived as China's project for China. The suspension of work on the largest dam project, so as to help stem a groundswell of public anger, represents a blow to China and a victory for local communities who had battled to protect their livelihoods and environment.
Burma is just one of several countries where hydropower projects financed and built by China have triggered local backlashes. China — the world's biggest dam builder at home and abroad — is currently erecting giant dams in a number of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, besides damming transnational rivers on its territory and thereby spurring growing concerns in downstream countries.
China contends that its role as the global leader in exporting dams has created a "win-win" situation for the host countries and its companies.
Yet, evidence from a number of project sites shows that, until Chinese dam builders embrace environmental-sustainability standards, those dams are imposing serious social and environmental costs. China is demonstrating that it has no qualms about building dams in disputed territories, such as Pakistan-held Kashmir, or in areas torn by ethnic separatism, like northern Burma, or in other human rights-abusing countries.
In Pakistan-held Kashmir, it has even deployed thousands of People's Liberation Army troops at the dam and other strategic projects. Yet it loudly protests when foreign firms seek to explore for oil in blocks offered by Vietnam and others in the disputed South China Sea.
China's declaratory policy of "noninterference in domestic affairs" actually serves as a virtual license to pursue dam projects that flood ethnic-minority lands and forcibly uproot people in other countries, just as it is doing at home by shifting its dam-building focus from internal rivers to international rivers that originate in the Tibetan Plateau, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Manchuria.
Today, as many as 37 Chinese financial and corporate entities are involved in more than 100 dam projects in the developing world. Some of these entities are very large and have multiple subsidiaries.
For instance, Sinohydro Corporation — which is under the supervision of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of China's State Council and is made up of 10 holding companies and 18 wholly owned subsidiaries — boasts 59 overseas branches.
The frenzied dam-building at home and abroad has spawned two developments:
(1) Chinese companies now dominate the global hydropower-equipment export market. Sinohydro alone claims to control half the market.
(2) The growing clout of the state-run hydropower industry in policymaking has led China to aggressively seek dam projects overseas by offering attractive, low-interest loans and to increasingly tap the resources of rivers flowing to other countries from Chinese-ruled territories.
It was HydroChina, the country's largest dam builder, that last year revealed government-approved sites for new mega-dams, including one larger than the Three Gorges Dam to be built virtually on the disputed border with India.
In a number of nations, ranging from Burma and Congo to Laos and Zambia, Chinese dam construction is aimed at creating the energy infrastructure to extract mineral ores and other resources to feed the voracious demand in China.
Burma is not the only case where Chinese dam building has triggered violence. From Sudan to the restive Shiite-dominated areas of Pakistan-held Kashmir, such projects have sparked violent clashes and even police shootings.
In Burma, however, the violence spread from the Myitsone Dam — where several small bombs went off in April 2010 — to other Chinese projects, including the Dapein and Shweli dams.
China's dam projects in developing countries showcase its growing economic ties with them. In reality, however, these projects often serve to inflame growing anti-Chinese sentiment in those countries.
China has contributed to such sentiment by refusing to abide by international standards or its own regulations, including the State Council's 2006 directives that Chinese overseas businesses, among other things, "pay attention to environmental protection" and "support local community and people's livelihood cause."
The perception that China is engaged in exploitative practices abroad has been reinforced by the fact that it brings much of the workforce from home to build dams and other projects. This practice runs counter to the Chinese Commerce Ministry's 2006 regulations — promulgated after anti-Chinese riots in Zambia — that called for "localization," including hiring local workers and respecting local customs.
China can stop its dam builders from further undermining its image by enforcing its regulations and embracing internationally accepted standards.
Brahma Chellaney is professor of strategic studies at the independent Center for Policy Research in New Delhi and the author of the newly released "Water: Asia's New Battleground."
The Japan Times - Dams muddy China's image
By BRAHMA CHELLAN
NEW DELHI — China's frenzied dam building at home and abroad is emerging as a flash point in inter- and intrastate relations in Asia. Burma's decision to suspend work on a controversial Chinese-funded dam marks a tactical retreat on a project that has symbolized China's resource greed and is a trigger for renewed ethnic insurgency in areas of northern Burma (aka Myanmar).
The Myitsone Dam, where work is being halted, is one of seven dam projects in northern Burma sponsored by China to generate electricity for export to its own market, even as much of Burma suffers from long power outages every day. China also has been erecting dams on its side of the border on the rivers flowing to Burma and other countries — from Russia to India.
The projects have drawn attention to their mounting environmental and human costs. In Burma, the submergence of vast tracts of land and the forced displacement of thousands of residents have instigated new interstate disputes, leading to renewed fighting and the end of a 17-year ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Army and government forces.
The giant, 3,200-megawatt Myitsone Dam — at the headwaters of the Irrawaddy River, the cradle of Burmese civilization — was conceived as China's project for China. The suspension of work on the largest dam project, so as to help stem a groundswell of public anger, represents a blow to China and a victory for local communities who had battled to protect their livelihoods and environment.
Burma is just one of several countries where hydropower projects financed and built by China have triggered local backlashes. China — the world's biggest dam builder at home and abroad — is currently erecting giant dams in a number of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, besides damming transnational rivers on its territory and thereby spurring growing concerns in downstream countries.
China contends that its role as the global leader in exporting dams has created a "win-win" situation for the host countries and its companies.
Yet, evidence from a number of project sites shows that, until Chinese dam builders embrace environmental-sustainability standards, those dams are imposing serious social and environmental costs. China is demonstrating that it has no qualms about building dams in disputed territories, such as Pakistan-held Kashmir, or in areas torn by ethnic separatism, like northern Burma, or in other human rights-abusing countries.
In Pakistan-held Kashmir, it has even deployed thousands of People's Liberation Army troops at the dam and other strategic projects. Yet it loudly protests when foreign firms seek to explore for oil in blocks offered by Vietnam and others in the disputed South China Sea.
China's declaratory policy of "noninterference in domestic affairs" actually serves as a virtual license to pursue dam projects that flood ethnic-minority lands and forcibly uproot people in other countries, just as it is doing at home by shifting its dam-building focus from internal rivers to international rivers that originate in the Tibetan Plateau, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Manchuria.
Today, as many as 37 Chinese financial and corporate entities are involved in more than 100 dam projects in the developing world. Some of these entities are very large and have multiple subsidiaries.
For instance, Sinohydro Corporation — which is under the supervision of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of China's State Council and is made up of 10 holding companies and 18 wholly owned subsidiaries — boasts 59 overseas branches.
The frenzied dam-building at home and abroad has spawned two developments:
(1) Chinese companies now dominate the global hydropower-equipment export market. Sinohydro alone claims to control half the market.
(2) The growing clout of the state-run hydropower industry in policymaking has led China to aggressively seek dam projects overseas by offering attractive, low-interest loans and to increasingly tap the resources of rivers flowing to other countries from Chinese-ruled territories.
It was HydroChina, the country's largest dam builder, that last year revealed government-approved sites for new mega-dams, including one larger than the Three Gorges Dam to be built virtually on the disputed border with India.
In a number of nations, ranging from Burma and Congo to Laos and Zambia, Chinese dam construction is aimed at creating the energy infrastructure to extract mineral ores and other resources to feed the voracious demand in China.
Burma is not the only case where Chinese dam building has triggered violence. From Sudan to the restive Shiite-dominated areas of Pakistan-held Kashmir, such projects have sparked violent clashes and even police shootings.
In Burma, however, the violence spread from the Myitsone Dam — where several small bombs went off in April 2010 — to other Chinese projects, including the Dapein and Shweli dams.
China's dam projects in developing countries showcase its growing economic ties with them. In reality, however, these projects often serve to inflame growing anti-Chinese sentiment in those countries.
China has contributed to such sentiment by refusing to abide by international standards or its own regulations, including the State Council's 2006 directives that Chinese overseas businesses, among other things, "pay attention to environmental protection" and "support local community and people's livelihood cause."
The perception that China is engaged in exploitative practices abroad has been reinforced by the fact that it brings much of the workforce from home to build dams and other projects. This practice runs counter to the Chinese Commerce Ministry's 2006 regulations — promulgated after anti-Chinese riots in Zambia — that called for "localization," including hiring local workers and respecting local customs.
China can stop its dam builders from further undermining its image by enforcing its regulations and embracing internationally accepted standards.
Brahma Chellaney is professor of strategic studies at the independent Center for Policy Research in New Delhi and the author of the newly released "Water: Asia's New Battleground."
***********************************************************
Spero News - Myanmar: China: Myitsone dam: the wrath of Beijing over halt in project
Chinese Foreign Ministry demand Burmese counterpart ensures the "legitimate rights" of Chinese companies. The President of the CPI is "surprised" and "dismayed" at the decision. But the Burmese population is favorable to the president, against the "threat" of China. Doubts on expiry of the mandate ...
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
By Asia News
Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Consternation, weakly veiled threats and criticism of the government and its president Thein Sein. The controversy is still raging over the halt in construction of the Myitsone dam in Kachin territory, northern Myanmar, on the border area with China. The Beijing authorities are demanding agreements be respected and do not exclude retaliation in trade relations. The managers of the Chinese company engaged in the construction of the power plant have expressed shock and are threatening to take legal action. However, so far there have been no indications of a change in direction in Nayipydaw, which is sticking to its decision - announced last week, with the approval of Aung San Suu Kyi and the vast majority of Burmese - to halt the construction of the 3.6 billion dollar mega-plant (see AsiaNews 30/09/2011 Burmese President stops construction of Myitsone dam).
Lu Qizhou, president of state-owned China Power Investment (CPI), the project manager, said he was "surprised" by the decision of the Burmese head of state and judges choice "disconcerting". He adds that Nayipydaw must respond to "a number of legal issues", in case of failure to comply with the agreement. "The losses– he adds - would be well beyond direct investment and manufacturing costs." In addition to possible litigation and appeals in court, the fate of work already completed remains to be seen, including a 2 thousand MW power plant in Chinbwe, designed to meet the energy requirements needed for the construction of the Myitsone dam (6 thousand MW).
Meanwhile, the Beijing government is sending far from conciliatory messages to its Burmese counterparts. Hong Lei, Foreign Ministry spokesman, called the "countries concerned" to safeguard the "legitimate rights" and "the interests of Chinese companies." The Communist leadership wants to negotiate with its Burmese counterpart, stating that there will be no second thoughts about building a facility that will give 90% of its electricity production to China for the next 50 years.
However, the environmental impact that the dam will have on the Kachin area and throughout the country, due to the alteration of the course of the Irrawaddy River, the largest in Myanmar remains on the margins of the debate. If the dam were to go ahead 40 villages will be submerged and more than 10 thousand people driven from their areas of origin. The leadership of the Chinese colossus CPI plan to move the confluence of the rivers N'mai and Mali, which create the Irrawaddy. They are also brandishing surveys according to which the majority (80%) of the Burmese would welcome the plant.
In fact, environmental and opposition activists, Aung San Suu Kyi, Christians and Buddhists, ordinary citizens are united and deeply opposed to the Myitsone dam. The entire nation has welcomed with joy - mixed with astonishment - president Thein Sein's decision to suspend work. However, the presidential term expires in 2015 and there is no guarantee that the project will not be resumed after the appointment of a new head of state. Moreover, China is Myanmar's main trading partner, with investments and projects worth billions of dollars. But China's thirst for energy collides with the pride and the anger of the people of Burma, that it will not submit to demands by its powerful neighbour: "The position of the Chinese government is a threat to culture and traditions of our country - said U Ohn, leading environmentalists in Yangon – we will never abandon Myitsone, even in exchange for all [the wealth] in China. "
Chinese Foreign Ministry demand Burmese counterpart ensures the "legitimate rights" of Chinese companies. The President of the CPI is "surprised" and "dismayed" at the decision. But the Burmese population is favorable to the president, against the "threat" of China. Doubts on expiry of the mandate ...
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
By Asia News
Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Consternation, weakly veiled threats and criticism of the government and its president Thein Sein. The controversy is still raging over the halt in construction of the Myitsone dam in Kachin territory, northern Myanmar, on the border area with China. The Beijing authorities are demanding agreements be respected and do not exclude retaliation in trade relations. The managers of the Chinese company engaged in the construction of the power plant have expressed shock and are threatening to take legal action. However, so far there have been no indications of a change in direction in Nayipydaw, which is sticking to its decision - announced last week, with the approval of Aung San Suu Kyi and the vast majority of Burmese - to halt the construction of the 3.6 billion dollar mega-plant (see AsiaNews 30/09/2011 Burmese President stops construction of Myitsone dam).
Lu Qizhou, president of state-owned China Power Investment (CPI), the project manager, said he was "surprised" by the decision of the Burmese head of state and judges choice "disconcerting". He adds that Nayipydaw must respond to "a number of legal issues", in case of failure to comply with the agreement. "The losses– he adds - would be well beyond direct investment and manufacturing costs." In addition to possible litigation and appeals in court, the fate of work already completed remains to be seen, including a 2 thousand MW power plant in Chinbwe, designed to meet the energy requirements needed for the construction of the Myitsone dam (6 thousand MW).
Meanwhile, the Beijing government is sending far from conciliatory messages to its Burmese counterparts. Hong Lei, Foreign Ministry spokesman, called the "countries concerned" to safeguard the "legitimate rights" and "the interests of Chinese companies." The Communist leadership wants to negotiate with its Burmese counterpart, stating that there will be no second thoughts about building a facility that will give 90% of its electricity production to China for the next 50 years.
However, the environmental impact that the dam will have on the Kachin area and throughout the country, due to the alteration of the course of the Irrawaddy River, the largest in Myanmar remains on the margins of the debate. If the dam were to go ahead 40 villages will be submerged and more than 10 thousand people driven from their areas of origin. The leadership of the Chinese colossus CPI plan to move the confluence of the rivers N'mai and Mali, which create the Irrawaddy. They are also brandishing surveys according to which the majority (80%) of the Burmese would welcome the plant.
In fact, environmental and opposition activists, Aung San Suu Kyi, Christians and Buddhists, ordinary citizens are united and deeply opposed to the Myitsone dam. The entire nation has welcomed with joy - mixed with astonishment - president Thein Sein's decision to suspend work. However, the presidential term expires in 2015 and there is no guarantee that the project will not be resumed after the appointment of a new head of state. Moreover, China is Myanmar's main trading partner, with investments and projects worth billions of dollars. But China's thirst for energy collides with the pride and the anger of the people of Burma, that it will not submit to demands by its powerful neighbour: "The position of the Chinese government is a threat to culture and traditions of our country - said U Ohn, leading environmentalists in Yangon – we will never abandon Myitsone, even in exchange for all [the wealth] in China. "
***********************************************************
Jakarta Globe - What Made Burma Shelve the Chinese Megadam? Hint: It Wasn’t Public Opinion
Bertil Lintner | October 05, 2011
At a time when Asian countries are increasingly worried about China’s growing assertiveness, Burma’s rejection of a huge Chinese hydroelectric dam project has raised new questions: Is this a rare victory for civil society in a repressive country? Or does it indicate an internal dispute over the country’s dependence on China?
Regardless of the answers to these questions, the public dispute over a close ally’s project marks a new stage in the Burma-China relationship.
On Sept. 30, Burma’s new president, Thein Sein, sent a statement to the country’s Parliament announcing that a joint venture with China to build a megadam in Burma’s far north had been suspended because “it was contrary to the will of the people.” The $3.6 billion Myitsone Dam would have been world’s 15th tallest and submerged 766 square kilometers of forestland, an area bigger than Singapore.
It’s unclear if Chinese counterparts were consulted before the decision was made public. Burma has depended on its powerful northern neighbor for trade, political support and arms since the West shunned the Burmese regime following massacres of pro-democracy demonstrators in 1988.
Public opinion may have played its part. Under the 2006 deal, 90 percent of power generated from Myitsone would have gone to China. Anger over environmental destruction galvanized people against the regime in a way the country had not seen for years. The dam was a dagger in the heart of the Kachins, the area’s predominant ethnic minority. Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi threw her support behind the anti-dam movement. Many made their voices heard over Facebook — a new tool for anti-regime activists.
People inside Burma can’t protest openly, but “Save the Irrawaddy” meetings have been held in Rangoon. Burmese exiles have staged anti-Chinese demonstrations outside Burmese and Chinese embassies abroad. Anti-Chinese sentiment is growing in Burma, especially in northern Kachin state, where Chinese influence is the strongest. According to reports, many Chinese nationals working there have fled to their home country following the outbreak of hostilities between the Kachin Independence Army and government forces.
Despite all that, however, the Burmese regime has never cared enough about public opinion to let it impact something as monumental as this. More likely, dissatisfaction within the armed forces over China’s growing influence in the country was the real reason for suspending the dam project.
The relationship between Burma and its northern neighbor has historically been strained. After Gen. Ne Win staged a coup in 1962 against a Burmese government that had long maintained a cordial relationship with Beijing, the Chinese prepared for all-out support of the insurgent Communist Party of Burma. Anti-Chinese riots in Rangoon in 1967 — orchestrated, ironically, by domestic military authorities to deflect public anger over a deteriorating economy — provided an excuse for the Chinese to intervene. On New Year’s Day 1968, armed CPB units entered northeastern Burma from China’s Yunnan province. In the next decade, China poured more aid into the CPB effort than any other communist movement outside of Indochina.
Mao’s death in 1976,however, and the subsequent return to power of pragmatist Deng Xiaoping marked the beginning of the end to massive Chinese aid for the CPB. Supporting revolutionary movements in the region was no longer in Beijing’s interest. Still, China coveted Burma’s forests, rich mineral and natural gas deposits and hydroelectric potential.
After the bloody 1988 suppression of a pro-democracy movement in Burma, Sino-Burmese relations grew by leaps and bounds. By 1991, apart from supplying Burma with vast quantities of military hardware, the Chinese had sent experts to assist in a series of infrastructure projects.
More recently, China has provided Burma with low-interest loans, and Chinese investment in the sanctions-hit economy is substantial. This is particularly true of the energy sector. For example, an agreement on a gas pipeline from the Bay of Bengal will be supplemented with an oil pipeline designed to allow Chinese ships carrying Middle Eastern oil to skirt the congested and pirate-ridden Malacca Strait.
This heavy dependence has led to consternation among many Burmese military leaders. They have not forgotten yesterday’s battles against the China-backed CPB, nor their comrades who were killed by Chinese arms. Aung Lynn Htut, a former intelligence officer who sought political asylum in the United States in 2005, drew on such memories in a September commentary for The Irrawaddy, a Burmese exile newsmagazine run out of Thailand.
China has called for “talks” after Thein Sein’s proclamation, but skeptics point out that a 2009 internal report by the China Power Investment Corporation, the company behind the dam, had already called for the project to be scrapped, saying its size was unnecessary. China still has contracts to build six other megadams in Burma.
That Thein Sein dared to make his such a public pronouncement reveals a wrinkle in Sino-Burmese relations, and it signals a possible return for Burma to its former policy of strict neutrality and non-alignment.
Some academic observers assert that Beijing’s influence has been exaggerated. China, according to author Andrew Selth, “has not been as successful in winning Burma’s confidence as often is reported.” The source of Burma’s arms supply offers evidence: Although China has provided Burma with up to $1.6 billion worth of military hardware since 1989, the regime has recently turned to Russia, Ukraine and North Korea.
Instead of democratizing the country, Burma’s new government seems to have chosen to play “the China card,” an attempt to win the support of the West. An unsigned opinion piece in The Bangkok Post, written by a Burmese government official, reportedly approved at the highest level in Naypyidaw, lays out its position: “We do not want our country to become a satellite state of the Chinese government. However, Western countries should not force us into a corner where we have no option but to increasingly rely on China.”
In this context, “force” means insistence on genuine democratic reforms. From the Burmese regime’s point of view, improved relations with the West could be accomplished simply by playing up the Chinese threat, with the hope of diminishing Western criticism of the regime.
But the regime has time and again stressed that how the country is governed is an internal matter. The West must decide if it will play along.
Bertil Lintner | October 05, 2011
At a time when Asian countries are increasingly worried about China’s growing assertiveness, Burma’s rejection of a huge Chinese hydroelectric dam project has raised new questions: Is this a rare victory for civil society in a repressive country? Or does it indicate an internal dispute over the country’s dependence on China?
Regardless of the answers to these questions, the public dispute over a close ally’s project marks a new stage in the Burma-China relationship.
On Sept. 30, Burma’s new president, Thein Sein, sent a statement to the country’s Parliament announcing that a joint venture with China to build a megadam in Burma’s far north had been suspended because “it was contrary to the will of the people.” The $3.6 billion Myitsone Dam would have been world’s 15th tallest and submerged 766 square kilometers of forestland, an area bigger than Singapore.
It’s unclear if Chinese counterparts were consulted before the decision was made public. Burma has depended on its powerful northern neighbor for trade, political support and arms since the West shunned the Burmese regime following massacres of pro-democracy demonstrators in 1988.
Public opinion may have played its part. Under the 2006 deal, 90 percent of power generated from Myitsone would have gone to China. Anger over environmental destruction galvanized people against the regime in a way the country had not seen for years. The dam was a dagger in the heart of the Kachins, the area’s predominant ethnic minority. Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi threw her support behind the anti-dam movement. Many made their voices heard over Facebook — a new tool for anti-regime activists.
People inside Burma can’t protest openly, but “Save the Irrawaddy” meetings have been held in Rangoon. Burmese exiles have staged anti-Chinese demonstrations outside Burmese and Chinese embassies abroad. Anti-Chinese sentiment is growing in Burma, especially in northern Kachin state, where Chinese influence is the strongest. According to reports, many Chinese nationals working there have fled to their home country following the outbreak of hostilities between the Kachin Independence Army and government forces.
Despite all that, however, the Burmese regime has never cared enough about public opinion to let it impact something as monumental as this. More likely, dissatisfaction within the armed forces over China’s growing influence in the country was the real reason for suspending the dam project.
The relationship between Burma and its northern neighbor has historically been strained. After Gen. Ne Win staged a coup in 1962 against a Burmese government that had long maintained a cordial relationship with Beijing, the Chinese prepared for all-out support of the insurgent Communist Party of Burma. Anti-Chinese riots in Rangoon in 1967 — orchestrated, ironically, by domestic military authorities to deflect public anger over a deteriorating economy — provided an excuse for the Chinese to intervene. On New Year’s Day 1968, armed CPB units entered northeastern Burma from China’s Yunnan province. In the next decade, China poured more aid into the CPB effort than any other communist movement outside of Indochina.
Mao’s death in 1976,however, and the subsequent return to power of pragmatist Deng Xiaoping marked the beginning of the end to massive Chinese aid for the CPB. Supporting revolutionary movements in the region was no longer in Beijing’s interest. Still, China coveted Burma’s forests, rich mineral and natural gas deposits and hydroelectric potential.
After the bloody 1988 suppression of a pro-democracy movement in Burma, Sino-Burmese relations grew by leaps and bounds. By 1991, apart from supplying Burma with vast quantities of military hardware, the Chinese had sent experts to assist in a series of infrastructure projects.
More recently, China has provided Burma with low-interest loans, and Chinese investment in the sanctions-hit economy is substantial. This is particularly true of the energy sector. For example, an agreement on a gas pipeline from the Bay of Bengal will be supplemented with an oil pipeline designed to allow Chinese ships carrying Middle Eastern oil to skirt the congested and pirate-ridden Malacca Strait.
This heavy dependence has led to consternation among many Burmese military leaders. They have not forgotten yesterday’s battles against the China-backed CPB, nor their comrades who were killed by Chinese arms. Aung Lynn Htut, a former intelligence officer who sought political asylum in the United States in 2005, drew on such memories in a September commentary for The Irrawaddy, a Burmese exile newsmagazine run out of Thailand.
China has called for “talks” after Thein Sein’s proclamation, but skeptics point out that a 2009 internal report by the China Power Investment Corporation, the company behind the dam, had already called for the project to be scrapped, saying its size was unnecessary. China still has contracts to build six other megadams in Burma.
That Thein Sein dared to make his such a public pronouncement reveals a wrinkle in Sino-Burmese relations, and it signals a possible return for Burma to its former policy of strict neutrality and non-alignment.
Some academic observers assert that Beijing’s influence has been exaggerated. China, according to author Andrew Selth, “has not been as successful in winning Burma’s confidence as often is reported.” The source of Burma’s arms supply offers evidence: Although China has provided Burma with up to $1.6 billion worth of military hardware since 1989, the regime has recently turned to Russia, Ukraine and North Korea.
Instead of democratizing the country, Burma’s new government seems to have chosen to play “the China card,” an attempt to win the support of the West. An unsigned opinion piece in The Bangkok Post, written by a Burmese government official, reportedly approved at the highest level in Naypyidaw, lays out its position: “We do not want our country to become a satellite state of the Chinese government. However, Western countries should not force us into a corner where we have no option but to increasingly rely on China.”
In this context, “force” means insistence on genuine democratic reforms. From the Burmese regime’s point of view, improved relations with the West could be accomplished simply by playing up the Chinese threat, with the hope of diminishing Western criticism of the regime.
But the regime has time and again stressed that how the country is governed is an internal matter. The West must decide if it will play along.
***********************************************************
New Straits Times - Myanmar robber bashed to death
2011/10/05
KUALA LUMPUR: A Myanmar man was bashed to death by members of the public while attempting to rob two women from China at the Pudu Market here yesterday.
Dang Wangi police chief ACP Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman said the suspect was had another Myanmar accomplice when attempting to rob the women at about 8.30pm.
"In the incident, the suspect in his 30's also injured his victims with a sharp weapon," he told Bernama after a pinning of the ranks ceremony at the Dang Wangi Police Headquarters here today.
He said before the incident, the two women, both aged 30, were walking around the market area before being waylaid by the two suspects, who tried to snatch the handbag of one of the victims.
"The victims then shouted for help and the suspects stunned by the reaction of the victims, tried to flee but the first suspect was caught by members of the public moments who heard the calls for help.
"The first suspect was then beaten up by members of the public while the second suspect managed to escape," he said.
He said investigations were ongoing including to find out who responsible fo the suspects death.
Earlier at the ceremony, 66 lance corporals from the Dang Wangi police district were promoted to corporals while two Sergeant Majors were promoted to Sub-Inspectors.
One of the promoted corporals, I. Premalatha, 32, who is attached with Dang Wangi CID, said she was very pleased with the promotion after having served the force for 12 years as lance corporal.
"We have waited long for the promotion and are grateful that our service is appreciated," she said.
2011/10/05
KUALA LUMPUR: A Myanmar man was bashed to death by members of the public while attempting to rob two women from China at the Pudu Market here yesterday.
Dang Wangi police chief ACP Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman said the suspect was had another Myanmar accomplice when attempting to rob the women at about 8.30pm.
"In the incident, the suspect in his 30's also injured his victims with a sharp weapon," he told Bernama after a pinning of the ranks ceremony at the Dang Wangi Police Headquarters here today.
He said before the incident, the two women, both aged 30, were walking around the market area before being waylaid by the two suspects, who tried to snatch the handbag of one of the victims.
"The victims then shouted for help and the suspects stunned by the reaction of the victims, tried to flee but the first suspect was caught by members of the public moments who heard the calls for help.
"The first suspect was then beaten up by members of the public while the second suspect managed to escape," he said.
He said investigations were ongoing including to find out who responsible fo the suspects death.
Earlier at the ceremony, 66 lance corporals from the Dang Wangi police district were promoted to corporals while two Sergeant Majors were promoted to Sub-Inspectors.
One of the promoted corporals, I. Premalatha, 32, who is attached with Dang Wangi CID, said she was very pleased with the promotion after having served the force for 12 years as lance corporal.
"We have waited long for the promotion and are grateful that our service is appreciated," she said.
***********************************************************
The Nation - Red light still on in property development in Burma
October 5, 2011 10:59 am
With a gradual opening and new pro-development economic policies in the works, the real estate sector in Burma could next year see a dramatic new course, according to the first Yangon property market report from Colliers International Thailand.
"You could say that the situation for investors is a bit like amber at a traffic light with everybody ready to go after the sanctions are lifted and a new investment law passed", said Patima Jeerapaet, managing director of Colliers. Land prices in prime locations such as Pyay road and downtown attaining the same levels as that of the centre of Bangkok in anticipation of an opening up in the near term.
"There is some caution within the optimism, though," he said.
He cautioned that the country once opened its door, just to close it later. This time, he believed that as the country slipped to bottom of the ASEAN economic league table, below that of Laos and Cambodia, Burma would see the need for a reform.
Tony Picon, associate director of research at Colliers, the history of the country over the past twenty years has significantly altered the way investors should think about real estate in Yangon, often known as Rangoon and is the commercial centre of the country.
"One example is that the most sought after and expensive units of an apartment or condominium are on the ground floor, which is totally opposite from other countries and for good reason", he remarked. In fact the definition of what differentiates an apartment from a condominium is also unusual. "In Burma, a condominium has a lift whereas an apartment doesn’t, as there is no law defining actual strata title," added Picon.
The office market is in high demand with total supply limited to around 50,000 square metres, less than many individual office buildings in Bangkok. According to Surachet Kongcheep, senior manger of research at Colliers, occupancy is at 100 per cent in all but one of the buildings. "There was no new supply for the whole of the last decade and one new office building opened in 2010", explained Surachet. "Many businesses and NGOs occupy space in residential units and some have taken up space in hotels and serviced apartments."
Both the hotel and serviced apartment market are now seeing very robust demand mostly on the back of a surge in growth from tourists following the release of Suu Kyi and renewed interest of businesspeople in the country.
Picon pointed out that hotels have to turn people away due to increased demand and so little supply. "It wasn’t long ago when they remained largely empty and having their rooms converted to office space was the only means of surviving such difficult times", he claimed. Many in the tourist industry are concerned that such limited supply will create bottle necks in the future for the whole of Burma as Yangon is the main entry point and tourists will wish stay for a few days and visit the many sights in the city before travelling elsewhere.
The next year will be a critical one for the country as it is expected to pass an investment law that could lead to a pro-development growth model based on export led manufacturing. "That is the only way that sustainable growth for the country can occur as has happened in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the past ten years or so", said Picon. Gestures of reconciliation between the government and opposition could become more tangible and eventually lead to an ending of sanctions. New finance regulations are planned that will bring the official rate of the Kyat currency in line with the market rate and allow smoother operations in what is essentially a cash based economy. Picon sees the currency, investment law and sanctions as the three pillars keeping the traffic light on amber. "Once these three are dealt with the green light will appear but although like any emerging economy the road will be difficult with many obstacles, the country will soar and the Yangon Property Report for 2021 will be a very different one from 2011, we hope".
October 5, 2011 10:59 am
With a gradual opening and new pro-development economic policies in the works, the real estate sector in Burma could next year see a dramatic new course, according to the first Yangon property market report from Colliers International Thailand.
"You could say that the situation for investors is a bit like amber at a traffic light with everybody ready to go after the sanctions are lifted and a new investment law passed", said Patima Jeerapaet, managing director of Colliers. Land prices in prime locations such as Pyay road and downtown attaining the same levels as that of the centre of Bangkok in anticipation of an opening up in the near term.
"There is some caution within the optimism, though," he said.
He cautioned that the country once opened its door, just to close it later. This time, he believed that as the country slipped to bottom of the ASEAN economic league table, below that of Laos and Cambodia, Burma would see the need for a reform.
Tony Picon, associate director of research at Colliers, the history of the country over the past twenty years has significantly altered the way investors should think about real estate in Yangon, often known as Rangoon and is the commercial centre of the country.
"One example is that the most sought after and expensive units of an apartment or condominium are on the ground floor, which is totally opposite from other countries and for good reason", he remarked. In fact the definition of what differentiates an apartment from a condominium is also unusual. "In Burma, a condominium has a lift whereas an apartment doesn’t, as there is no law defining actual strata title," added Picon.
The office market is in high demand with total supply limited to around 50,000 square metres, less than many individual office buildings in Bangkok. According to Surachet Kongcheep, senior manger of research at Colliers, occupancy is at 100 per cent in all but one of the buildings. "There was no new supply for the whole of the last decade and one new office building opened in 2010", explained Surachet. "Many businesses and NGOs occupy space in residential units and some have taken up space in hotels and serviced apartments."
Both the hotel and serviced apartment market are now seeing very robust demand mostly on the back of a surge in growth from tourists following the release of Suu Kyi and renewed interest of businesspeople in the country.
Picon pointed out that hotels have to turn people away due to increased demand and so little supply. "It wasn’t long ago when they remained largely empty and having their rooms converted to office space was the only means of surviving such difficult times", he claimed. Many in the tourist industry are concerned that such limited supply will create bottle necks in the future for the whole of Burma as Yangon is the main entry point and tourists will wish stay for a few days and visit the many sights in the city before travelling elsewhere.
The next year will be a critical one for the country as it is expected to pass an investment law that could lead to a pro-development growth model based on export led manufacturing. "That is the only way that sustainable growth for the country can occur as has happened in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the past ten years or so", said Picon. Gestures of reconciliation between the government and opposition could become more tangible and eventually lead to an ending of sanctions. New finance regulations are planned that will bring the official rate of the Kyat currency in line with the market rate and allow smoother operations in what is essentially a cash based economy. Picon sees the currency, investment law and sanctions as the three pillars keeping the traffic light on amber. "Once these three are dealt with the green light will appear but although like any emerging economy the road will be difficult with many obstacles, the country will soar and the Yangon Property Report for 2021 will be a very different one from 2011, we hope".
***********************************************************
Published: Wednesday October 5, 2011 MYT 7:58:00 PM
The Star - Six Myanmar nationals nabbed for suspected drug peddling
By AUSTIN CAMOENS
KUALA LUMPUR: Six Myanmar nationals believed to be peddling drugs were arrested by city police during a swoop in Kepong near here last week.
Police also seized 76 packets of drugs believed to be heroin from them, following the raid conducted on an apartment in Kepong at around 7.30pm on Sept 28. The six men were aged between 26 and 33.
City Narcotics Crimes Investigations Department chief ACP Kang Chez Chiang said Wednesday further checks inside the apartment led to the recovery of another 184gm of drugs worth about RM8,000.
ACP Kang said that police also seized a weighing scale, some plastic bags believed to be used to package the drugs and several mobile phones.
All of them have been remanded to facilitate investigations under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and Section 12(2) and Section 15(1) of the same act for drug possession and drug abuse.
The Star - Six Myanmar nationals nabbed for suspected drug peddling
By AUSTIN CAMOENS
KUALA LUMPUR: Six Myanmar nationals believed to be peddling drugs were arrested by city police during a swoop in Kepong near here last week.
Police also seized 76 packets of drugs believed to be heroin from them, following the raid conducted on an apartment in Kepong at around 7.30pm on Sept 28. The six men were aged between 26 and 33.
City Narcotics Crimes Investigations Department chief ACP Kang Chez Chiang said Wednesday further checks inside the apartment led to the recovery of another 184gm of drugs worth about RM8,000.
ACP Kang said that police also seized a weighing scale, some plastic bags believed to be used to package the drugs and several mobile phones.
All of them have been remanded to facilitate investigations under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 and Section 12(2) and Section 15(1) of the same act for drug possession and drug abuse.
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New York Post - A chance to stand up to China
Benny Avni
Last Updated: 12:15 AM, October 5, 2011
The Burmese junta’s claim to infamy is a total disregard for the welfare of its people and for the opinions of the entire outside world except China -- so the decision this week to suspend construction of a dam on the Irrawaddy River in northern Burma is curious.
If America plays its cards right, it could signal a regional turning point.
The $3.6 billion Irrawaddy project is part of Beijing’s campaign to influence and intimidate its neighbors while enhancing China’s economic growth and promoting its strategic interests.
Chinese energy conglomerates have invested millions preparing the construction of the dam -- one in a series of seven dams that are part of China’s drive to satisfy its ever-growing energy needs.
Why Burma? It’s been controlled by a military junta (which changed the country’s name to Myanmar) since 1962. Only last year, the generals shed their military uniforms to become “civilian” leaders -- after conducting a sham “election.”
Gen. (now “President”) Thein Sein still leads one of the world’s most repressive and regressive regimes. The paranoid military men even replaced the traditional capital, Rangoon, with Naypyidaw, a ghost city built in the jungles, so they can escape contact with the citizenry.
The junta also fears outsiders. When Cyclone Negris hit the country in 2008, the generals barred any foreign ships offering aid, risking millions of lives.
In other words, it’s the kind of regime no one except Beijing could love. So while other neighbors trade with Burma and enable its regime, China is its main benefactor.
Beijing was long considered the only outsider with any influence over Naypyidaw’s secretive rulers. But China’s leaders may have overplayed their hand. “Some people inside the regime in Burma think China has become too arrogant,” a veteran Washington-based Burmese dissident, Aung Din, told me this week.
In recent weeks, Burma’s most famous freedom-fighter, the Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi (who was released from jail only recently), organized an impressive campaign against the Chinese-backed dam. Her followers said the project would be hazardous to the country’s environment and damage the livelihoods of millions of poor people around the Irrawaddy (Burma’s equivalent of the Mississippi).
The State Department also takes credit, indicating that its “nuanced diplomacy” -- boosting Suu Qyi and her followers, even while “engaging” with the regime -- was crucial in Burma’s reversal. Indeed, the project’s suspension was announced a week after Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin became the first regime high official in memory to visit Washington.
But success may yet prove short-lived. China, reportedly livid, is adamantly trying to push the generals to revert to their default mode of ignoring their citizens and kowtowing to China.
This may turn into a test of wills: In its quest to dominate the region, China has for most of President Obama’s tenure intimidated America’s regional allies, including Japan and South Korea. To date, the administration has attempted to balance our allies’ needs with those of an increasingly aggressive China.
Last month, for example, Washington declined to sell Taiwan new jet fighters, opting only to upgrade its current fleet of F-16s. Pentagon and State Department officials deny their decision was influenced by outsiders, but it’s hard to ignore China’s pressure to deny Taiwan its defense needs.
As the fight over the Irrawaddy dam heats up, the Obama administration had better stick to its guns. If US pressure on Burma’s generals turns their temporary suspension of the project into an outright cancelation, the State Department will rightly be able to declare a victory.
Such a victory would show the region that America is willing to confront China, reversing a dangerous trend. Beijing has scared the entire neighborhood, and US allies are losing faith in our ability to protect them from its bullying.
But will Obama go the last mile? That depends on who makes the final decision: those in his administration who are always eager to compromise -- or the few who still believe that, in some cases, confrontation can benefit America and the world.
The best advice in China’s case is: When in doubt, escalate.
Benny Avni
Last Updated: 12:15 AM, October 5, 2011
The Burmese junta’s claim to infamy is a total disregard for the welfare of its people and for the opinions of the entire outside world except China -- so the decision this week to suspend construction of a dam on the Irrawaddy River in northern Burma is curious.
If America plays its cards right, it could signal a regional turning point.
The $3.6 billion Irrawaddy project is part of Beijing’s campaign to influence and intimidate its neighbors while enhancing China’s economic growth and promoting its strategic interests.
Chinese energy conglomerates have invested millions preparing the construction of the dam -- one in a series of seven dams that are part of China’s drive to satisfy its ever-growing energy needs.
Why Burma? It’s been controlled by a military junta (which changed the country’s name to Myanmar) since 1962. Only last year, the generals shed their military uniforms to become “civilian” leaders -- after conducting a sham “election.”
Gen. (now “President”) Thein Sein still leads one of the world’s most repressive and regressive regimes. The paranoid military men even replaced the traditional capital, Rangoon, with Naypyidaw, a ghost city built in the jungles, so they can escape contact with the citizenry.
The junta also fears outsiders. When Cyclone Negris hit the country in 2008, the generals barred any foreign ships offering aid, risking millions of lives.
In other words, it’s the kind of regime no one except Beijing could love. So while other neighbors trade with Burma and enable its regime, China is its main benefactor.
Beijing was long considered the only outsider with any influence over Naypyidaw’s secretive rulers. But China’s leaders may have overplayed their hand. “Some people inside the regime in Burma think China has become too arrogant,” a veteran Washington-based Burmese dissident, Aung Din, told me this week.
In recent weeks, Burma’s most famous freedom-fighter, the Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi (who was released from jail only recently), organized an impressive campaign against the Chinese-backed dam. Her followers said the project would be hazardous to the country’s environment and damage the livelihoods of millions of poor people around the Irrawaddy (Burma’s equivalent of the Mississippi).
The State Department also takes credit, indicating that its “nuanced diplomacy” -- boosting Suu Qyi and her followers, even while “engaging” with the regime -- was crucial in Burma’s reversal. Indeed, the project’s suspension was announced a week after Burmese Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin became the first regime high official in memory to visit Washington.
But success may yet prove short-lived. China, reportedly livid, is adamantly trying to push the generals to revert to their default mode of ignoring their citizens and kowtowing to China.
This may turn into a test of wills: In its quest to dominate the region, China has for most of President Obama’s tenure intimidated America’s regional allies, including Japan and South Korea. To date, the administration has attempted to balance our allies’ needs with those of an increasingly aggressive China.
Last month, for example, Washington declined to sell Taiwan new jet fighters, opting only to upgrade its current fleet of F-16s. Pentagon and State Department officials deny their decision was influenced by outsiders, but it’s hard to ignore China’s pressure to deny Taiwan its defense needs.
As the fight over the Irrawaddy dam heats up, the Obama administration had better stick to its guns. If US pressure on Burma’s generals turns their temporary suspension of the project into an outright cancelation, the State Department will rightly be able to declare a victory.
Such a victory would show the region that America is willing to confront China, reversing a dangerous trend. Beijing has scared the entire neighborhood, and US allies are losing faith in our ability to protect them from its bullying.
But will Obama go the last mile? That depends on who makes the final decision: those in his administration who are always eager to compromise -- or the few who still believe that, in some cases, confrontation can benefit America and the world.
The best advice in China’s case is: When in doubt, escalate.
***********************************************************
Sydney Morning Herald - China angry as Burma halts dam
Lindsay Murdoch
October 6, 2011
A STATE-OWNED Chinese company has reacted angrily to the scrapping of a huge hydro-electric dam on Burma's Irrawaddy River, signalling it intends to take legal action to protect its $US3.6 billion ($A3.8 billion) investment.
Lu Qizhou, president of China Power Investment, told Xinhua News Agency he was ''totally astonished'' when Burma last week announced the environmentally sensitive project had been halted until at least 2015.
Mr Lu said Burma had not consulted with his company before the decision was announced, which he learnt about in the media.
He said the Chinese side had followed all laws and regulations and ''diligently fulfilled our duties and obligations'' and the decision ''will lead to a series of legal issues''.
The comments follow a call by the Chinese government for Burma to protect multibillion-dollar investments, which include six other dam projects upstream from the now suspended Myitsone project.
Chinese companies pledged $US20 billion for investments in Burma in the past year alone.
Projects under way include a gas pipeline from the Shwe gas fields in the Bay of Bengal across Burma to south-western China that will allow China to send oil and gas imports without having to pass through waters further south, including the strategically important Strait of Malacca.
Another $US60 billion Thai-backed project provides for a high-speed rail and road link from a deep water port on Burma's east coast to China's Yunnan Province.
The decision to halt the Myitsone project has prompted debate over whether Burma's military-dominated civilian government is entering a new era of political and economic reform or if it is announcing concessions to appease the international community as it seeks the lifting of economic sanctions.
But the decision has also raised questions about Burma's relationship with China, for decades its most important strategic partner.
Chinese investments have fuelled some anti-Chinese sentiments, analysts say, as Chinese companies preferred Chinese workers ahead of Burmese.
Ninety per cent of the power generated from the Myitsone project was to be sent to China after its proposed completion in 2019 while few Burmese towns have reliable electricity.
Meanwhile, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has raised concerns about fighting between the Burmese army and ethnic rebel groups in Burma's border areas, which has intensified in recent months.
''I think we should all be concerned about hostilities breaking out all over the country,'' Ms Suu Kyi said in a video-link to a group at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.
''We do intend to get in a position where we are a true union of hearts and minds.''
Ms Suu Kyi was among the Myitsone project's critics, which included ethnic groups and human rights and environmental organisations.
After spending 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest, Ms Suu Kyi has held three recent meetings with Burmese president Thein Sein, a moderate former general.
Ms Suu Kyi told the Johannesburg group that the international community should closely follow events in Burma and either criticise or reward its government as is warranted.
Lindsay Murdoch
October 6, 2011
A STATE-OWNED Chinese company has reacted angrily to the scrapping of a huge hydro-electric dam on Burma's Irrawaddy River, signalling it intends to take legal action to protect its $US3.6 billion ($A3.8 billion) investment.
Lu Qizhou, president of China Power Investment, told Xinhua News Agency he was ''totally astonished'' when Burma last week announced the environmentally sensitive project had been halted until at least 2015.
Mr Lu said Burma had not consulted with his company before the decision was announced, which he learnt about in the media.
He said the Chinese side had followed all laws and regulations and ''diligently fulfilled our duties and obligations'' and the decision ''will lead to a series of legal issues''.
The comments follow a call by the Chinese government for Burma to protect multibillion-dollar investments, which include six other dam projects upstream from the now suspended Myitsone project.
Chinese companies pledged $US20 billion for investments in Burma in the past year alone.
Projects under way include a gas pipeline from the Shwe gas fields in the Bay of Bengal across Burma to south-western China that will allow China to send oil and gas imports without having to pass through waters further south, including the strategically important Strait of Malacca.
Another $US60 billion Thai-backed project provides for a high-speed rail and road link from a deep water port on Burma's east coast to China's Yunnan Province.
The decision to halt the Myitsone project has prompted debate over whether Burma's military-dominated civilian government is entering a new era of political and economic reform or if it is announcing concessions to appease the international community as it seeks the lifting of economic sanctions.
But the decision has also raised questions about Burma's relationship with China, for decades its most important strategic partner.
Chinese investments have fuelled some anti-Chinese sentiments, analysts say, as Chinese companies preferred Chinese workers ahead of Burmese.
Ninety per cent of the power generated from the Myitsone project was to be sent to China after its proposed completion in 2019 while few Burmese towns have reliable electricity.
Meanwhile, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has raised concerns about fighting between the Burmese army and ethnic rebel groups in Burma's border areas, which has intensified in recent months.
''I think we should all be concerned about hostilities breaking out all over the country,'' Ms Suu Kyi said in a video-link to a group at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.
''We do intend to get in a position where we are a true union of hearts and minds.''
Ms Suu Kyi was among the Myitsone project's critics, which included ethnic groups and human rights and environmental organisations.
After spending 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest, Ms Suu Kyi has held three recent meetings with Burmese president Thein Sein, a moderate former general.
Ms Suu Kyi told the Johannesburg group that the international community should closely follow events in Burma and either criticise or reward its government as is warranted.
***********************************************************
The Huffington Post - The Myitsone Dam Decision in Burma
David Scott Mathieson
Burma Researcher, Human Rights Watch
Posted: 10/4/11 03:18 PM ET
Burmese President Thein Sein burnished his perception as a reformist last week by suspending one of the country's largest -- and potentially most destructive -- foreign investment projects. The Myitsone hydro-electric dam, the largest of seven dams to be constructed by the Beijing-controlled China Power Investment Corporation, would have flooded an area of more than 700 square kilometers, and displaced tens of thousands of villagers in northern Kachin State, close to the state capital of Myitkina. Several thousand have already been displaced by the first dam, built to provide the electricity for the larger ones in the series.
The dam project, affecting the Irrawaddy River, Burma's largest, was fast becoming one of the country's most contentious national issues. Its suspension goes against decades of state-directed resource grabs for Burma's neighbors and energy companies: logging, fisheries, oil and gas, and mining concessions sold off to China, Thailand, India, and other Asian and Western corporations.
The past few weeks did see some uncharacteristically open debate on the dam project in Burma, including public dissension from senior ministers. While some in Burma's parliament called for the project to be reviewed, the Electric Power Minister U Zaw Win, prior to the president's announcement, insisted: "we will not back down just because environmental groups are against it ... we will not back down now in fact we are to go ahead." Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi joined prominent artists and writers at an art exhibition about the Irrawaddy River, and the regulated Burmese media debated it. There has not been open discussion and high-level disagreement, at least not publicly, on an issue like this in Burma for a long time.
It's less clear that the suspension represents Thein Sein's newfound support for the environment or a more open society. Kachin environmental groups and community leaders in the dam areas and others have done exemplary work in documenting the project and its effects on Kachin State, which has encouraged more overt community activism in recent years. A recently leaked 900-page environmental impact survey on the dam project, produced by Burmese and Chinese government experts, was damning in saying the project was ill-advised. And it didn't help matters that the Myitsone dam site is situated just 100 kilometers from a major earthquake fault line.
The breakdown of the 17-year ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Organization in June was another headache for the government. The dam project had become a flashpoint for the renewal of armed conflict between the Burmese army and ethnic Kachin rebels that has so far displaced more than 30,000 civilians.
Many important questions remain: Is the Myitsone project on its way to being cancelled or is the government just waiting for the outrage to die down? Will the local community have a role in future discussions about the project, such as whether the mega damn at Myitsone will be reworked into a number of smaller dams? Did the Chinese agree to the suspension, and was it a temporary trade-off because China wants to ensure the strategically more important oil and gas pipelines? The answers to these questions are not just crucial for environmental protection and foreign investment in Burma, but for whether the Burmese government's claims of being more open and accountable are for real.
Meanwhile, there are more than enough energy projects in Burma that have potentially disastrous community and environmental and human rights impacts: the hydro dams on the Salween River, including the pipelines, massive Chinese agri-business ventures in the north that involve land-grabbing and semi-feudal working conditions, the Dawei (Tavoy) port project and industrial park in southern Burma, and the Kaladan River and road project being pursued by Indian firms in western Burma. Add to this the widespread practice of the Burmese military to seize land for their own business interests, or to hand over to military connected companies, and there are more than enough abusive practices that adversely affect both ethnic minorities in conflict areas and the general population. These and many more environmental and human rights abuses have been well documented by community groups for several years.
Overall, people in Burma should be heartened by the suspension of the dam project. It is tempting to believe it signals a significant shift in the autocratic, plunder-and-profit mentality of the Burmese authorities. But it is doubtful. If it does lead to more open community discussion of development projects, and more regulation and oversight, it is a good thing, but don't expect the government's rapacious commercial practices to reform in a major way anytime soon. If the Myitsone decision is to have far-reaching consequences for sustainable development in Burma, it is up to Burma's leaders to ensure that their decisions about business are about people too.
David Scott Mathieson is a Senior Researcher in the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.
David Scott Mathieson
Burma Researcher, Human Rights Watch
Posted: 10/4/11 03:18 PM ET
Burmese President Thein Sein burnished his perception as a reformist last week by suspending one of the country's largest -- and potentially most destructive -- foreign investment projects. The Myitsone hydro-electric dam, the largest of seven dams to be constructed by the Beijing-controlled China Power Investment Corporation, would have flooded an area of more than 700 square kilometers, and displaced tens of thousands of villagers in northern Kachin State, close to the state capital of Myitkina. Several thousand have already been displaced by the first dam, built to provide the electricity for the larger ones in the series.
The dam project, affecting the Irrawaddy River, Burma's largest, was fast becoming one of the country's most contentious national issues. Its suspension goes against decades of state-directed resource grabs for Burma's neighbors and energy companies: logging, fisheries, oil and gas, and mining concessions sold off to China, Thailand, India, and other Asian and Western corporations.
The past few weeks did see some uncharacteristically open debate on the dam project in Burma, including public dissension from senior ministers. While some in Burma's parliament called for the project to be reviewed, the Electric Power Minister U Zaw Win, prior to the president's announcement, insisted: "we will not back down just because environmental groups are against it ... we will not back down now in fact we are to go ahead." Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi joined prominent artists and writers at an art exhibition about the Irrawaddy River, and the regulated Burmese media debated it. There has not been open discussion and high-level disagreement, at least not publicly, on an issue like this in Burma for a long time.
It's less clear that the suspension represents Thein Sein's newfound support for the environment or a more open society. Kachin environmental groups and community leaders in the dam areas and others have done exemplary work in documenting the project and its effects on Kachin State, which has encouraged more overt community activism in recent years. A recently leaked 900-page environmental impact survey on the dam project, produced by Burmese and Chinese government experts, was damning in saying the project was ill-advised. And it didn't help matters that the Myitsone dam site is situated just 100 kilometers from a major earthquake fault line.
The breakdown of the 17-year ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Organization in June was another headache for the government. The dam project had become a flashpoint for the renewal of armed conflict between the Burmese army and ethnic Kachin rebels that has so far displaced more than 30,000 civilians.
Many important questions remain: Is the Myitsone project on its way to being cancelled or is the government just waiting for the outrage to die down? Will the local community have a role in future discussions about the project, such as whether the mega damn at Myitsone will be reworked into a number of smaller dams? Did the Chinese agree to the suspension, and was it a temporary trade-off because China wants to ensure the strategically more important oil and gas pipelines? The answers to these questions are not just crucial for environmental protection and foreign investment in Burma, but for whether the Burmese government's claims of being more open and accountable are for real.
Meanwhile, there are more than enough energy projects in Burma that have potentially disastrous community and environmental and human rights impacts: the hydro dams on the Salween River, including the pipelines, massive Chinese agri-business ventures in the north that involve land-grabbing and semi-feudal working conditions, the Dawei (Tavoy) port project and industrial park in southern Burma, and the Kaladan River and road project being pursued by Indian firms in western Burma. Add to this the widespread practice of the Burmese military to seize land for their own business interests, or to hand over to military connected companies, and there are more than enough abusive practices that adversely affect both ethnic minorities in conflict areas and the general population. These and many more environmental and human rights abuses have been well documented by community groups for several years.
Overall, people in Burma should be heartened by the suspension of the dam project. It is tempting to believe it signals a significant shift in the autocratic, plunder-and-profit mentality of the Burmese authorities. But it is doubtful. If it does lead to more open community discussion of development projects, and more regulation and oversight, it is a good thing, but don't expect the government's rapacious commercial practices to reform in a major way anytime soon. If the Myitsone decision is to have far-reaching consequences for sustainable development in Burma, it is up to Burma's leaders to ensure that their decisions about business are about people too.
David Scott Mathieson is a Senior Researcher in the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.
***********************************************************
MFA China (press release) - Ambassador Li Junhua Visit Chinese Investment Projects in Myanmar
(From Chinese Embassy in Myanmar）
2011/10/05
During a field visit at the start of the National Day Holiday to the sites of Myanmar-China Oil & Gas Pipeline and Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd., two major joint projects between Myanmar and China, Chinese Ambassador Li Junhua conveyed greetings to Chinese and local staff and joined their celebrations on the founding of the PRC.
On 1st October, Ambassador Li addressed the ceremony marking the start of the construction of section four of the Myanmar section of Myanmar-China Myanmar-China Oil & Gas Pipeline. Listing the Pipeline Project as an important part of the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, he called on the Chinese company to forge close working relations with its Myanmar partner to make this project a living symbol of the traditional "PaukPhaw" Friendship between the two peoples. Ambassador Li went on to ask the company to ensure safety and quality, give priority to environmental protection, abide by Myanmar laws and regulations and get along well with local staff and residents. U Than Htay, Myanmar Minister for Energy highlighted the significance of this project to both nations and asked the local government and residents to work closely with the Chinese enterprise to ensure the smooth construction and operation of the project. U Soe Aung, Deputy Minister for Energy, Mr. Tang Ying, Chinese Consul General in Mandalay and project managers from China also attended the ceremony.
On 2nd Oct., Ambassador Li travelled to Mon Ywa Copper Mine of Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd where he conveyed greetings to the Chinese staff. After a briefing on project progress , Ambassador Li exchanged ideas with Chinese and foreign staff followed by a visit to a relocation villiage and a newly-built temple. He asked the Chinese company to fufill its social responsiblity, protect environment and make contributions to local development of society and economy.
(From Chinese Embassy in Myanmar）
2011/10/05
During a field visit at the start of the National Day Holiday to the sites of Myanmar-China Oil & Gas Pipeline and Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd., two major joint projects between Myanmar and China, Chinese Ambassador Li Junhua conveyed greetings to Chinese and local staff and joined their celebrations on the founding of the PRC.
On 1st October, Ambassador Li addressed the ceremony marking the start of the construction of section four of the Myanmar section of Myanmar-China Myanmar-China Oil & Gas Pipeline. Listing the Pipeline Project as an important part of the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, he called on the Chinese company to forge close working relations with its Myanmar partner to make this project a living symbol of the traditional "PaukPhaw" Friendship between the two peoples. Ambassador Li went on to ask the company to ensure safety and quality, give priority to environmental protection, abide by Myanmar laws and regulations and get along well with local staff and residents. U Than Htay, Myanmar Minister for Energy highlighted the significance of this project to both nations and asked the local government and residents to work closely with the Chinese enterprise to ensure the smooth construction and operation of the project. U Soe Aung, Deputy Minister for Energy, Mr. Tang Ying, Chinese Consul General in Mandalay and project managers from China also attended the ceremony.
On 2nd Oct., Ambassador Li travelled to Mon Ywa Copper Mine of Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd where he conveyed greetings to the Chinese staff. After a briefing on project progress , Ambassador Li exchanged ideas with Chinese and foreign staff followed by a visit to a relocation villiage and a newly-built temple. He asked the Chinese company to fufill its social responsiblity, protect environment and make contributions to local development of society and economy.
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Inspire Magazine - Aung San Suu Kyi backs UK charity Thai Children’s Trust
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has given her backing to Thai Children’s Trust, the UK charity helping Burmese refugee children on the Thai border.
In her letter, read out by Rev Jane Hedges, Canon of Westminster at a reception for the charity in Westminster Abbey on Tuesday 4 October, Aung San Suu Kyi called on people to support the work of the Thai Children’s Trust, which provides care for some of the 350,000 Burmese refugees currently in Thailand.
In her message Aung San Suu Kyi said: “Children are the most vulnerable members of human society because of their physical weakness and material dependency. At the same time they are our greatest strength because it is they who will decide the future shape of our world.
“The fate of migrant and refugee children is of particular concern; in addition to the deprivations they suffer they are often not certain if there is any part of the world they can call their own. The country they have left behind becomes a distant, unreal land to them. Yet the country where they find themselves may be inhospitable and their new home hardly less precarious than the old one.
“Any effort to make the lives of such children healthier, happier or more secure is a truly worthwhile project. It will not only be a contribution towards the fulfillment of immediate needs, it will also constitute a contribution towards a better future for our country. I hope that all who are in a position to help the work of the Thai Children’s Trust will do so with generosity and enthusiasm.”
Andrew Scadding, Director of Thai Children’s Trust, says: “The situation for the ever-increasing numbers of ‘forgotten’ Burmese refugees is desperate. Aung San Suu Kyi’s words of support are timely and greatly appreciated.
“Around half the Burmese children living in the Thai border town Mae Sot are malnourished, so we are currently supporting a food programme delivering essential supplies to 3,800 children in school boarding houses, as well as providing shelter and education to thousands more vulnerable children along the border.”
Thai Children’s Trust is the UK’s largest charity focusing solely on Thailand. Working with local partner organisations across the country, the charity helps nearly 4,000 disadvantaged children, providing care, nutrition, education and a home to children with HIV/Aids, disabilities, children at risk and refugees.
Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has given her backing to Thai Children’s Trust, the UK charity helping Burmese refugee children on the Thai border.
In her letter, read out by Rev Jane Hedges, Canon of Westminster at a reception for the charity in Westminster Abbey on Tuesday 4 October, Aung San Suu Kyi called on people to support the work of the Thai Children’s Trust, which provides care for some of the 350,000 Burmese refugees currently in Thailand.
In her message Aung San Suu Kyi said: “Children are the most vulnerable members of human society because of their physical weakness and material dependency. At the same time they are our greatest strength because it is they who will decide the future shape of our world.
“The fate of migrant and refugee children is of particular concern; in addition to the deprivations they suffer they are often not certain if there is any part of the world they can call their own. The country they have left behind becomes a distant, unreal land to them. Yet the country where they find themselves may be inhospitable and their new home hardly less precarious than the old one.
“Any effort to make the lives of such children healthier, happier or more secure is a truly worthwhile project. It will not only be a contribution towards the fulfillment of immediate needs, it will also constitute a contribution towards a better future for our country. I hope that all who are in a position to help the work of the Thai Children’s Trust will do so with generosity and enthusiasm.”
Andrew Scadding, Director of Thai Children’s Trust, says: “The situation for the ever-increasing numbers of ‘forgotten’ Burmese refugees is desperate. Aung San Suu Kyi’s words of support are timely and greatly appreciated.
“Around half the Burmese children living in the Thai border town Mae Sot are malnourished, so we are currently supporting a food programme delivering essential supplies to 3,800 children in school boarding houses, as well as providing shelter and education to thousands more vulnerable children along the border.”
Thai Children’s Trust is the UK’s largest charity focusing solely on Thailand. Working with local partner organisations across the country, the charity helps nearly 4,000 disadvantaged children, providing care, nutrition, education and a home to children with HIV/Aids, disabilities, children at risk and refugees.
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The Irrawaddy - Was Dam Decision a Case of 'China Be Damned'?
By BA KAUNG Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Was Burmese President Thein Sein's decision last week to suspend work on the Myitsone hydropower dam a rash attempt to bolster his government's reformist credentials at the expense of relations with Beijing, or part of a more calculated effort to improve Burma's standing in the West while still retaining close ties with China?
While the jury is still out on this question, it appears that Thein Sein's decision has indeed helped to improve his image as a reformer, and that so far, he hasn't had to pay too great a price for shelving a project prized by energy-hungry China.
To the Burmese public and the outside world, the move was a wholly unexpected political concession to a growing popular movement opposed to the dam, located at the source of Burma's most important river, the Irrawaddy, and in the heartland of Kachin culture.
The result has been a sudden upsurge in support for Thein Sein's six-month-old administration, which until last week had been struggling to convince a skeptical public and the international community that Burma has made a genuine political transition from military rule.
Even his staunchest critics have hailed his decision as almost unprecedented in the half-century since the army first seized power, marking the first time that a military-backed ruler had responded positively to public demands.
At the same time, however, it appears that Thein Sein believed that he could afford to make such a dramatic gesture without seriously harming relations with China. Beijing still has a lot to gain from Burma's untapped natural resources and also needs to successfully implement its other investments in the country, such as the economically and strategically important oil pipeline now being constructed from the Bay of Bengal to China's Yunnan Province through Burma.
Furthermore, Thein Sein knows that Beijing will want to maintain its status as his government's foremost ally, to prevent Burma from growing closer to the Western powers that are showing a strong interest in engaging Naypyidaw.
For his part, Thein Sein also knows that he needs China's backing, because Burma remains under international sanctions—despite tentative praise from the West over the Myitsone decision and his engagement with the Aung San Suu Kyi-led opposition—and because he himself, as a senior member of the former ruling junta, could face prosecution for massive human rights abuses.
China is also important because wars with ethnic minorities continue to rage near the Sino-Burmese border, and resolving these conflicts will require Chinese cooperation.
Although Beijing has long since abandoned its policy of fomenting insurgency in Burma's borderlands, its influence over such groups as the 20,000-strong United Wa State Army and the 10,000-strong Kachin Independence Army, both operating on the two countries' shared border, can't be neglected by Naypyidaw if it is serious about resolving the country's ethnic issues.
Despite these considerations, however, Thein Sein has been remarkably unresponsive to calls from the Chinese Foreign Ministry for “consultations” over the Myitsone issue and warnings from the president of the state-owned China Power Investment Corporation that Napyidaw could face legal action over the suspension of the project.
It remains unclear if Thein Sein will guarantee China that the project can be resumed after his presidency ends in 2016, but he can be expected to patch up relations with Beijing by offering other economic concessions and making sure that construction of the oil pipeline proceeds without any glitches.
At any rate, Thein Sein appears to be confident that good relations can be maintained. In his letter to the Burmese Hluttaws, or Houses of Parliament, in which he announced his decision, he said: “I would like to inform the Hluttaws that coordination will be made with the neighboring friendly nation, the People's Republic of China, to accept the agreements regarding the project without undermining cordial relations.”
Chan Tun, a former Burmese ambassador to Beijing, expressed hope that both governments will successfully resolve this issue.
“I don't think this issue will damage bilateral relations. They will work it out smoothly, I think,” he said.
Meanwhile, some observers have suggested that Beijing and Naypyidaw may in fact be collaborating with each other to defuse resistance to the Myitsone Project by postponing it for a few years, with the intention of restarting it again in a few years.
Others, however, have not ruled out the possibility that Thein Sein's decision was designed to throw Beijing off balance.
Burmese analyst Dr Zarni, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, said that though Naypyidaw probably tipped off Chinese leaders about its plan to suspend the dam project, it was possible that the dam decision was an act of calculated recklessness.
“Pyongyang also does this kind of thing from time to time,” he said.
By BA KAUNG Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Was Burmese President Thein Sein's decision last week to suspend work on the Myitsone hydropower dam a rash attempt to bolster his government's reformist credentials at the expense of relations with Beijing, or part of a more calculated effort to improve Burma's standing in the West while still retaining close ties with China?
While the jury is still out on this question, it appears that Thein Sein's decision has indeed helped to improve his image as a reformer, and that so far, he hasn't had to pay too great a price for shelving a project prized by energy-hungry China.
To the Burmese public and the outside world, the move was a wholly unexpected political concession to a growing popular movement opposed to the dam, located at the source of Burma's most important river, the Irrawaddy, and in the heartland of Kachin culture.
The result has been a sudden upsurge in support for Thein Sein's six-month-old administration, which until last week had been struggling to convince a skeptical public and the international community that Burma has made a genuine political transition from military rule.
Even his staunchest critics have hailed his decision as almost unprecedented in the half-century since the army first seized power, marking the first time that a military-backed ruler had responded positively to public demands.
At the same time, however, it appears that Thein Sein believed that he could afford to make such a dramatic gesture without seriously harming relations with China. Beijing still has a lot to gain from Burma's untapped natural resources and also needs to successfully implement its other investments in the country, such as the economically and strategically important oil pipeline now being constructed from the Bay of Bengal to China's Yunnan Province through Burma.
Furthermore, Thein Sein knows that Beijing will want to maintain its status as his government's foremost ally, to prevent Burma from growing closer to the Western powers that are showing a strong interest in engaging Naypyidaw.
For his part, Thein Sein also knows that he needs China's backing, because Burma remains under international sanctions—despite tentative praise from the West over the Myitsone decision and his engagement with the Aung San Suu Kyi-led opposition—and because he himself, as a senior member of the former ruling junta, could face prosecution for massive human rights abuses.
China is also important because wars with ethnic minorities continue to rage near the Sino-Burmese border, and resolving these conflicts will require Chinese cooperation.
Although Beijing has long since abandoned its policy of fomenting insurgency in Burma's borderlands, its influence over such groups as the 20,000-strong United Wa State Army and the 10,000-strong Kachin Independence Army, both operating on the two countries' shared border, can't be neglected by Naypyidaw if it is serious about resolving the country's ethnic issues.
Despite these considerations, however, Thein Sein has been remarkably unresponsive to calls from the Chinese Foreign Ministry for “consultations” over the Myitsone issue and warnings from the president of the state-owned China Power Investment Corporation that Napyidaw could face legal action over the suspension of the project.
It remains unclear if Thein Sein will guarantee China that the project can be resumed after his presidency ends in 2016, but he can be expected to patch up relations with Beijing by offering other economic concessions and making sure that construction of the oil pipeline proceeds without any glitches.
At any rate, Thein Sein appears to be confident that good relations can be maintained. In his letter to the Burmese Hluttaws, or Houses of Parliament, in which he announced his decision, he said: “I would like to inform the Hluttaws that coordination will be made with the neighboring friendly nation, the People's Republic of China, to accept the agreements regarding the project without undermining cordial relations.”
Chan Tun, a former Burmese ambassador to Beijing, expressed hope that both governments will successfully resolve this issue.
“I don't think this issue will damage bilateral relations. They will work it out smoothly, I think,” he said.
Meanwhile, some observers have suggested that Beijing and Naypyidaw may in fact be collaborating with each other to defuse resistance to the Myitsone Project by postponing it for a few years, with the intention of restarting it again in a few years.
Others, however, have not ruled out the possibility that Thein Sein's decision was designed to throw Beijing off balance.
Burmese analyst Dr Zarni, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, said that though Naypyidaw probably tipped off Chinese leaders about its plan to suspend the dam project, it was possible that the dam decision was an act of calculated recklessness.
“Pyongyang also does this kind of thing from time to time,” he said.
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The Irrawaddy - Does Yingluck Have a Key to Open the Border?
By WAI MOE Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Since being sworn in as Thailand's first female prime minister on Aug. 5, Yingluck Shinawatra has enjoyed four relatively straightforward official trips abroad—routine goodwill visits to Southeast Asian partners Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos.
But on Wednesday she embarked on a trickier mission—a one-day round-trip to Naypyidaw, the capital of Thailand's troublesome neighbor, Burma, a country that Thailand relies on for natural gas and cheap labor, but which has been a thorn in its side for decades with its eternal civil war, its stubborn military rulers and its stagnant economy.
Several Thai businesspeople and investors are waiting anxiously to see if the political novice—Yingluck was until recently the director of her brother's telecoms company—could succeed in convincing the notoriously difficult Burmese authorities to reopen the two countries’ main trade route between Myawaddy and Mae Sot.
“After the prime minister’s trip, there should be a strong possibility that the Myawaddy-Mae Sot checkpoint reopens,” said a Thai businessman who exports construction items to Burma. “During the trip, Thailand and Burma could sign further bilateral economic agreements, including the Myawaddy-Pa-an Highway, which will rely on Thai investment.”
Mass Communications Organization of Thailand (MCOT) reported on Wednesday that the trip was to “foster close relations and cooperation between the two neighboring countries which are both members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“High on the agenda are the opening of permanent border checkpoints, assistance to develop national and human resources, as well as boosting cooperation to jointly tackle border-related problems, including suppression of illicit drugs and illegal workers,” MCOT added.
Burma has two major cross-border trading routes—in the north is the Muse-Ruili crossing between China and Burma, while the other is the Myawaddy-Mae Sot route connecting Thailand and Burma via the Friendship Bridge across the River Moei, a road that the Burmese authorities closed on July 18, 2010, in protest against Thai construction companies developing that side of the riverbank.
Later, the Burmese revised their story, and said that “security” was the real reason the bridge had been closed, but promised to review the situation after the country's general election on Nov. 7.
Since then, the situation has lingered with the Thais appearing more desperate for a resumption in cross-border trade than their Burmese counterparts.
On Sept. 19, Burma's state-run-The New Light of Myanmar quoted the country's Commerce Minister Win Myint as saying in Parliament that cross-border trade with Thailand would only be resumed when “factors contributing much to border trade promotion” are in place.
The key factors, Win Myint said, included internal security and peace, smooth transportation operations, a bilateral agreement on bilateral trade, customs and banking agreements, and a balance of exports and imports between the two countries.
After closing the checkpoint in July 2010, the Thai authorities estimated that as much as 140 billion baht (US $4.3 billion) in trade was lost in the following year.
However, according to several Thai businessmen, that figure is too high. Most estimate the current value of cross-border trade at about 1.5 billion baht ($46 million) per month—using illegal crossings. If the border were reopened, most said, some 3 billion baht ($92 million) in goods would be crossing the Friendship Bridge every month.
Burmese dissidents in Thailand are also watching the Thai premier's visit with interest as they fear Yingluck may be talked into cracking down on illegal migrants and exiled Burmese who live on Thai soil.
“At the moment, there are no signs of a crackdown on Burmese dissidents on the Thai-Burmese border,” said Aung Moe Zaw, a border-based Burmese politician and chairman of the Democratic Party for a New Society. “But we cannot speculate with certainty.”
“With regard to the reopening of the Myawaddy-Mae Sot checkpoint—we don’t know what the regime in Naypyidaw wants from the Thais,” he said, adding that Burma’s National Defense and Security Council is authorized to rule on the decision.
Last month, a major international medical aid group, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), announced it had decided to halt all operations in Thailand due to interference by the Thai authorities. MSF programs were treating as many as 55,000 migrant workers in Thailand who mainly came from Burma.
“We had enormous difficulties with the authorities to find strategies acceptable to them and to us,” said MSF’s head of mission in Thailand, Denis Penoy, to Agence France-Presse.
“We were forced to close one of our private clinics and pushed to close the other,” he said. “We will not conduct any more activities and will have no representation in Thailand.”
By WAI MOE Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Since being sworn in as Thailand's first female prime minister on Aug. 5, Yingluck Shinawatra has enjoyed four relatively straightforward official trips abroad—routine goodwill visits to Southeast Asian partners Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos.
But on Wednesday she embarked on a trickier mission—a one-day round-trip to Naypyidaw, the capital of Thailand's troublesome neighbor, Burma, a country that Thailand relies on for natural gas and cheap labor, but which has been a thorn in its side for decades with its eternal civil war, its stubborn military rulers and its stagnant economy.
Several Thai businesspeople and investors are waiting anxiously to see if the political novice—Yingluck was until recently the director of her brother's telecoms company—could succeed in convincing the notoriously difficult Burmese authorities to reopen the two countries’ main trade route between Myawaddy and Mae Sot.
“After the prime minister’s trip, there should be a strong possibility that the Myawaddy-Mae Sot checkpoint reopens,” said a Thai businessman who exports construction items to Burma. “During the trip, Thailand and Burma could sign further bilateral economic agreements, including the Myawaddy-Pa-an Highway, which will rely on Thai investment.”
Mass Communications Organization of Thailand (MCOT) reported on Wednesday that the trip was to “foster close relations and cooperation between the two neighboring countries which are both members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“High on the agenda are the opening of permanent border checkpoints, assistance to develop national and human resources, as well as boosting cooperation to jointly tackle border-related problems, including suppression of illicit drugs and illegal workers,” MCOT added.
Burma has two major cross-border trading routes—in the north is the Muse-Ruili crossing between China and Burma, while the other is the Myawaddy-Mae Sot route connecting Thailand and Burma via the Friendship Bridge across the River Moei, a road that the Burmese authorities closed on July 18, 2010, in protest against Thai construction companies developing that side of the riverbank.
Later, the Burmese revised their story, and said that “security” was the real reason the bridge had been closed, but promised to review the situation after the country's general election on Nov. 7.
Since then, the situation has lingered with the Thais appearing more desperate for a resumption in cross-border trade than their Burmese counterparts.
On Sept. 19, Burma's state-run-The New Light of Myanmar quoted the country's Commerce Minister Win Myint as saying in Parliament that cross-border trade with Thailand would only be resumed when “factors contributing much to border trade promotion” are in place.
The key factors, Win Myint said, included internal security and peace, smooth transportation operations, a bilateral agreement on bilateral trade, customs and banking agreements, and a balance of exports and imports between the two countries.
After closing the checkpoint in July 2010, the Thai authorities estimated that as much as 140 billion baht (US $4.3 billion) in trade was lost in the following year.
However, according to several Thai businessmen, that figure is too high. Most estimate the current value of cross-border trade at about 1.5 billion baht ($46 million) per month—using illegal crossings. If the border were reopened, most said, some 3 billion baht ($92 million) in goods would be crossing the Friendship Bridge every month.
Burmese dissidents in Thailand are also watching the Thai premier's visit with interest as they fear Yingluck may be talked into cracking down on illegal migrants and exiled Burmese who live on Thai soil.
“At the moment, there are no signs of a crackdown on Burmese dissidents on the Thai-Burmese border,” said Aung Moe Zaw, a border-based Burmese politician and chairman of the Democratic Party for a New Society. “But we cannot speculate with certainty.”
“With regard to the reopening of the Myawaddy-Mae Sot checkpoint—we don’t know what the regime in Naypyidaw wants from the Thais,” he said, adding that Burma’s National Defense and Security Council is authorized to rule on the decision.
Last month, a major international medical aid group, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), announced it had decided to halt all operations in Thailand due to interference by the Thai authorities. MSF programs were treating as many as 55,000 migrant workers in Thailand who mainly came from Burma.
“We had enormous difficulties with the authorities to find strategies acceptable to them and to us,” said MSF’s head of mission in Thailand, Denis Penoy, to Agence France-Presse.
“We were forced to close one of our private clinics and pushed to close the other,” he said. “We will not conduct any more activities and will have no representation in Thailand.”
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The Irrawaddy - Naypyidaw Shelves BGF to Prepare for Ethnic Peace Talks
By SAW YAN NAING Wednesday, October 5, 2011
The Burmese government has stopped pushing its Border Guard Force (BGF) plan to instead concentrate on peace talks with separate ethnic armed groups in a new tactic ordered directly by Naypyidaw, claim rebel sources.
The latest attempt by President Thein Sein's administration to achieve peace talks was to approach the Shan State Army-South (SSA-South) ethnic armed group via the Thai authorities, according to local rebels.
Speaking with The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, SSA-South spokesman Sai Lao Hseng said that they told the Thai authorities that the group was willing to hold peace talks with the government if they receive an official offer.
A group-by-group approach by Naypyidaw’s delegations has been accelerated since a government announcement on Aug. 18 which encouraged ethnic rebels to contact their respective state or division authorities as a first step.
The government delegations held talks with the United Wa State Army and its ally of the Mongla Group—also known as National Democratic Alliance Army—in September and temporarily dropped its calls to adopt the BGF.
Similarly, other state-level delegations comprised of Christian and Buddhist leaders have approached Karen rebels such as Karen National Union (KNU) and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
An observer who recently accessed Karen rebel-controlled areas said that that Naypyidaw does not bring up the BGF plan at the moment, but let its delegations hold several general talks with Karen rebels. The delegations did not talk about the BGF but only a plan to make peace.
A different government delegation in Mon State also separately approached the New Mon State Party (NMSP) for peace talks, while other Naypyidaw representatives in Tenassarim Division told members of the local Karen community that they would be willing to hold peace talks with KNU Brigade 4 based in nearby Tavoy.
The NMSP has also formed a “peace mission” and is expected to hold ceasefire talks with the Mon State government in mid-October.
Government MP Han Bi, an ethnic Karen who represents the Union Solidarity and Development Party in Tenassarim Division, told the local Karen community in Tavoy that the plan for group-by-group peace offers came directly from Naypyidaw, according to Eh Na, the editor of Thailand-based Karen news organization Kwekalu.
But critics claim the move by Naypyidaw to enter peace talks with the NMSP while continuing to fight the Kachin Independence Army, KNU, SSA-South and SSA-North is creating misunderstanding, distrust and division among ethnic groups.
Observers said that Naypyidaw blatantly ignored calls by ethnic groups for an alliance talk involving all ethnic rebels and the government, and kept talking with certain ethnic armed groups to cause divisions by approaching each independently.
Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese analyst who focuses on military affairs on the Sino-Burmese border, said attempts by Naypyidaw to hold peace talks with ethnic rebels separately is its way to divide the armed groups.
However, leaders of ethnic armed groups also said that they are cautious when dealing with the government delegations and wanted to talk directly with Naypyidaw to achieve ceasefires.
Ethnic groups claim they will only convey to the government delegation that the offer of peace talks is welcome, but the talks themselves must be held between Naypyidaw and an umbrella organization of ethnic armed groups, the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC).
KNU General Secretary Zipporah Sein said that group-by-group meetings with the state-level authorities could lead to divisions between ethnic armed groups. However, all the UNFC members agreed to firstly meet with the state-level authorities individually to push for direct talks between the Naypyidaw and UNFC.
“We would like to say that political conflicts should be solved with all ethnic groups,” said Zipporah Sein.
Observers, however, have said that both Naypyidaw and ethnic armed groups are merely “testing the water” at the present time.
By SAW YAN NAING Wednesday, October 5, 2011
The Burmese government has stopped pushing its Border Guard Force (BGF) plan to instead concentrate on peace talks with separate ethnic armed groups in a new tactic ordered directly by Naypyidaw, claim rebel sources.
The latest attempt by President Thein Sein's administration to achieve peace talks was to approach the Shan State Army-South (SSA-South) ethnic armed group via the Thai authorities, according to local rebels.
Speaking with The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, SSA-South spokesman Sai Lao Hseng said that they told the Thai authorities that the group was willing to hold peace talks with the government if they receive an official offer.
A group-by-group approach by Naypyidaw’s delegations has been accelerated since a government announcement on Aug. 18 which encouraged ethnic rebels to contact their respective state or division authorities as a first step.
The government delegations held talks with the United Wa State Army and its ally of the Mongla Group—also known as National Democratic Alliance Army—in September and temporarily dropped its calls to adopt the BGF.
Similarly, other state-level delegations comprised of Christian and Buddhist leaders have approached Karen rebels such as Karen National Union (KNU) and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
An observer who recently accessed Karen rebel-controlled areas said that that Naypyidaw does not bring up the BGF plan at the moment, but let its delegations hold several general talks with Karen rebels. The delegations did not talk about the BGF but only a plan to make peace.
A different government delegation in Mon State also separately approached the New Mon State Party (NMSP) for peace talks, while other Naypyidaw representatives in Tenassarim Division told members of the local Karen community that they would be willing to hold peace talks with KNU Brigade 4 based in nearby Tavoy.
The NMSP has also formed a “peace mission” and is expected to hold ceasefire talks with the Mon State government in mid-October.
Government MP Han Bi, an ethnic Karen who represents the Union Solidarity and Development Party in Tenassarim Division, told the local Karen community in Tavoy that the plan for group-by-group peace offers came directly from Naypyidaw, according to Eh Na, the editor of Thailand-based Karen news organization Kwekalu.
But critics claim the move by Naypyidaw to enter peace talks with the NMSP while continuing to fight the Kachin Independence Army, KNU, SSA-South and SSA-North is creating misunderstanding, distrust and division among ethnic groups.
Observers said that Naypyidaw blatantly ignored calls by ethnic groups for an alliance talk involving all ethnic rebels and the government, and kept talking with certain ethnic armed groups to cause divisions by approaching each independently.
Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese analyst who focuses on military affairs on the Sino-Burmese border, said attempts by Naypyidaw to hold peace talks with ethnic rebels separately is its way to divide the armed groups.
However, leaders of ethnic armed groups also said that they are cautious when dealing with the government delegations and wanted to talk directly with Naypyidaw to achieve ceasefires.
Ethnic groups claim they will only convey to the government delegation that the offer of peace talks is welcome, but the talks themselves must be held between Naypyidaw and an umbrella organization of ethnic armed groups, the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC).
KNU General Secretary Zipporah Sein said that group-by-group meetings with the state-level authorities could lead to divisions between ethnic armed groups. However, all the UNFC members agreed to firstly meet with the state-level authorities individually to push for direct talks between the Naypyidaw and UNFC.
“We would like to say that political conflicts should be solved with all ethnic groups,” said Zipporah Sein.
Observers, however, have said that both Naypyidaw and ethnic armed groups are merely “testing the water” at the present time.
***********************************************************
Burmese Parliament disagrees on private school registration bill
Wednesday, 05 October 2011 21:54 Myo Thant
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese Upper House of Parliament on Wednesday opposed an amended private school registration bill, marking the first disagreement between the two parliamentary houses.
The Upper House opposed the bill because the Lower House Bill Committee had amended some restrictions in the version of the bill approved in the Upper House.
The amended Lower House bill allowed private primary schools to be set up by state or regional administrative office chiefs, and also allowed ethnic students to study their native language.
MPs Nu and Khin Maung Yi of the Union Solidarity and Development Party; New National Democracy Party MP Phone Myint Aung; and Wa Democratic Party MP Sai Paung Nap objected to the amendments made by the Lower House committee. More than 300 MPs voted to return the bill to the Lower House.
The bill will now be discussed in the Union Assembly, a joint parliamentary session of both houses, at a date to be announced later.
Originally, Education Minister Dr. Mya Aye submitted the eight-chapter bill to the Upper House. The bill contained 41 laws. Originally, the bill did not allow for the setting up of private primary schools and that version was approved by the Upper House on September 7.
Then the bill was submitted to the Lower House and the Lower House Bill Committee amended it. The bill was then read out in the Lower House and approved when there was no objection.
The revised bill provided that ethnic students could study their mother-tongue language as an extra subject.
The amended Lower House version of the bill also said that private schools must follow the curriculum set by the Education Ministry, and it prohibited foreigners from setting up private schools.
Wednesday, 05 October 2011 21:54 Myo Thant
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese Upper House of Parliament on Wednesday opposed an amended private school registration bill, marking the first disagreement between the two parliamentary houses.
The Upper House opposed the bill because the Lower House Bill Committee had amended some restrictions in the version of the bill approved in the Upper House.
The amended Lower House bill allowed private primary schools to be set up by state or regional administrative office chiefs, and also allowed ethnic students to study their native language.
MPs Nu and Khin Maung Yi of the Union Solidarity and Development Party; New National Democracy Party MP Phone Myint Aung; and Wa Democratic Party MP Sai Paung Nap objected to the amendments made by the Lower House committee. More than 300 MPs voted to return the bill to the Lower House.
The bill will now be discussed in the Union Assembly, a joint parliamentary session of both houses, at a date to be announced later.
Originally, Education Minister Dr. Mya Aye submitted the eight-chapter bill to the Upper House. The bill contained 41 laws. Originally, the bill did not allow for the setting up of private primary schools and that version was approved by the Upper House on September 7.
Then the bill was submitted to the Lower House and the Lower House Bill Committee amended it. The bill was then read out in the Lower House and approved when there was no objection.
The revised bill provided that ethnic students could study their mother-tongue language as an extra subject.
The amended Lower House version of the bill also said that private schools must follow the curriculum set by the Education Ministry, and it prohibited foreigners from setting up private schools.
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Policeman questioned in connection with murder of NLD member
Wednesday, 05 October 2011 21:37 Kyaw Kha
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Officers at the Thongwa police station questioned a policeman on Tuesday in connection with the murder of a young member of the National League for Democracy (NLD).
Naing Win, 29, of No. 9 Ward was found dead on a street near his house on Tuesday at 4 a.m. He was Youth In-charge (2) of the NLD Thongwa Township branch.
Police told Mizzima that witnesses said the murder victim and a policeman had quarreled in the neighbourhood a few hours before his death. The pair had been drinking together, they said.
“Naing Win had a quarrel with this policeman for saying that police activities were wrong. But we are still recording the statements, and I hope we can solve this case soon,” said a police officer at the station.
Naing Win was found dead lying on his face near his home with bruises and fractures on his face and head. Family members took the case to police.
The policeman being questioned is a policeman in the Mingaladon Township Pyinmabin No. 8 Police Battalion. He took leave from his battalion on October 1 and returned to his hometown of Thongwa.
According to statements taken at the Thongwa police station, the policeman and victim reportedly had a quarrel on the activities of government, the police and the NLD. According to statements, the policeman did not return to his home that night, police said.
NLD Thongwa Township Youth In-charge (1) Win Zaw told Mizzima: “We will work to see justice is done. I believe the authorities will also seek justice and truth.”
Naing Win lived with his parents and worked in a blacksmith business. He actively took part in social and political work in the township NLD branch, Win Zaw said.
Naing Win’s older brother, Ye Win, told Mizzima, “My younger brother was a breadwinner in our family. My family planned to rely on him when I am no more. His untimely death is an irreparable loss for our family.”
Wednesday, 05 October 2011 21:37 Kyaw Kha
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Officers at the Thongwa police station questioned a policeman on Tuesday in connection with the murder of a young member of the National League for Democracy (NLD).
Naing Win, 29, of No. 9 Ward was found dead on a street near his house on Tuesday at 4 a.m. He was Youth In-charge (2) of the NLD Thongwa Township branch.
Police told Mizzima that witnesses said the murder victim and a policeman had quarreled in the neighbourhood a few hours before his death. The pair had been drinking together, they said.
“Naing Win had a quarrel with this policeman for saying that police activities were wrong. But we are still recording the statements, and I hope we can solve this case soon,” said a police officer at the station.
Naing Win was found dead lying on his face near his home with bruises and fractures on his face and head. Family members took the case to police.
The policeman being questioned is a policeman in the Mingaladon Township Pyinmabin No. 8 Police Battalion. He took leave from his battalion on October 1 and returned to his hometown of Thongwa.
According to statements taken at the Thongwa police station, the policeman and victim reportedly had a quarrel on the activities of government, the police and the NLD. According to statements, the policeman did not return to his home that night, police said.
NLD Thongwa Township Youth In-charge (1) Win Zaw told Mizzima: “We will work to see justice is done. I believe the authorities will also seek justice and truth.”
Naing Win lived with his parents and worked in a blacksmith business. He actively took part in social and political work in the township NLD branch, Win Zaw said.
Naing Win’s older brother, Ye Win, told Mizzima, “My younger brother was a breadwinner in our family. My family planned to rely on him when I am no more. His untimely death is an irreparable loss for our family.”
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BRN responds to interview on Myitsone dam by CPI president
Wednesday, 05 October 2011 12:08 Mizzima News
Mizzima News - The following quotations come from an interview with the president of the China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) Lu Qizhou about Burma’s Myitsone dam project. The interview appeared in the Chinese media on October 3. The umbrella activist group Burma Rivers Network (BRN) here releases its response to key points made by the CPI president. Burma’s president Thein Sein announced a halt to the controversial Myitsone Dam project on September 30. Thein Sein also said that discussions would follow with China.
Lu Qizhou: “I also learnt about this through the media, and I was totally astonished. Before this, the Myanmar side never communicated with us in any way about the ‘suspension’.”
BRN: The villagers at the dam site, numerous political and community organizations, and international human rights organizations have attempted to contact CPI and discuss the concerns about the impacts and process of the project. Even though CPI never responded to these attempts at a dialogue, they cannot claim to be unaware of the feeling about this project by the people of Burma.
It is impossible that CPI could not have been aware that Burma is in the midst of civil war and that the Irrawaddy-Myitsone dams project is in an active conflict zone. The armed ethnic group in this area, the Kachin Independence Organisation, had directly warned the Chinese government that local people were against the project earlier this year and that proceeding with the dams could fuel further fighting. Without national reconciliation and peace, all investments in Burma face these types of risks.
Lu Qizhou: “Ever since CPI and Myanmar Ministry of Electric Power No. 1 MOEP (1) signed the MOU in December 2006, CPI has always followed the principle of mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win result.”
BRN: Up to now all major investment projects in Burma are negotiated by Burma’s military government and the main benefits have gone to the military. Any win-win result has only been for the military and this is resented by the people of Burma. The lack of transparency by the military and foreign investors increases this resentment. The role and share of the Burmese companies should also be disclosed, including the benefits to Asia World Company and whether military holding companies, the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (UMEHL) and the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) are involved.
Lu Qizhou: “We hired topnotch hydropower design institutes, research institutes, consultancies and authoritative experts in China to carry out planning, design, specific study, consultation and supervision for the upstream-Ayeyawady hydropower project.”
BRN: The impact assessment jointly carried out by the Chinese Changjiang Institute and the Burmese BANCA stated very clearly that the Myitsone dam should be scrapped and that the majority of the local people were against this project. Why did CPI hire “topnotch” institutes and then not follow their advice? The original EIA was completed in October 2009, which was only leaked earlier this year. CPI has just released an edited version of the EIA and dated it March 2010, which has deleted the key findings and recommendations.
Although it was recommended, the original assessment did not include a social impact assessment or an assessment of the impacts on the entire river, particularly downstream.
In the current political context, where there is civil war and where communities fear retribution by Burma’s military government, assessors are unable to genuinely access affected communities or collect reliable data.
Lu Qizhou: “In February this year, Myanmar's Prime Minister (Thein Sein) urged us to accelerate the construction when he inspected the project site, so the sudden proposal of suspension now is very bewildering.”
BRN: Thein Sein should explain his actions if he indeed wanted to accelerate the project. In addition, the Burmese military government must disclose all agreements signed with CPI so that this is a transparent process for everyone to see.
Lu Qizhou: “The upstream-Ayeyawady hydropower project is located near the China-Myanmar border, developing hydropower resources here not only can meet Myanmar's power demand for industrialization, but also can provide clean energy for China. It is based on this consideration that we decided to invest in this mutually beneficial and double winning hydropower project.”
BRN: We understand that this is a double winning project for China as it can receive 90 per cent of the energy from the dam while Burma has to bear all the social and economic costs.
Lu Qizhou: “The Myanmar government will gain economic benefits of USD $54 billion via taxation, free electricity and share dividends, far more than CPI's return on investment during our operation period.”
BRN: Over the past several years, Burma’s military government has received billions in revenues from the sale of natural gas to Thailand, yet the country remains impoverished with some of the worst social and economic indicators in the world. The “economic benefits” therefore do not reach the broader public and do not contribute to the genuine development of the country.
Lu Qizhou: “As far as I know, in the more than 100-year history of hydropower development, no flood or destructive earthquake has ever been caused by dam construction. We are able to ensure the safety of dam construction.”
BRN: Given the increasing frequency and severity of earthquakes, there cannot be a guarantee of safety. No studies about the safety of the dam or about disaster preparation have been disclosed to the public.
The world’s worst dam disaster occurred in Henan Province in central China in 1975. Twenty years after the disaster, details started emerging that as many as 230,000 people may have died.
Lu Qizhou: “It has become a common consensus that hydropower is the only renewable energy suitable for large-scale development now.”
BRN: Rural communities in Burma and Kachin State are utilizing the appropriate technology of small hydropower to realize their electricity needs on their own. The Kachin capital of Myitkyina is one of the few cities in Burma that currently receives 24-hour electricity due to an existing small hydropower project. Decentralized management and the right of local people to manage and utilize the electricity generated by small hydro needs to be promoted in Burma, not large scale projects that are environmentally destructive and export electricity rather than using it domestically.
Lu Qizhou: “The Myanmar government attaches significant importance to resettlement for the upstream-Ayeyawady hydropower project, and has effectively led and organized the planning, design and implementation of resettlement… According to the agreement, we assisted in the resettlement work and proactively fulfilled our social responsibilities and obligations, while fully respecting local religion, ethnic customs and the wish of migrants.”
BRN: Villagers fear for their lives if they complain or resist relocation at the hands of armed military personnel and have thus been forced to give up their farmlands, accept inadequate compensation, and be herded into a relocation camp where there is not enough farmland and water for livelihoods. People now either have no jobs or low-wage temporary jobs and they cannot continue cultural practices linked to their original homelands. Villagers living in the relocation camp are restricted in movement and are constantly under military surveillance.
Over 60 villages, approximately 15,000 people, will eventually be permanently displaced from their homelands due to the Irrawaddy Myitsone project. This dislocation will cause many secondary social problems including conflicts over jobs and land, and an increase in migration and trafficking to neighbouring countries. Women will be particularly impacted.
Lu Qizhou: “When Myitsone Hydropower Station is completed, it will effectively control and reduce the flood peak, raise the anti-flooding standard in the downstream area, and reduce life and property losses caused by downstream flood on people living on both banks.”
BRN: Water releases from hydroelectric dams are entirely dependent on the electricity generating needs of the electricity buyer. In this case, all seven dams of the Irrawaddy Myitsone project will serve China’s electricity needs, not the downstream agricultural, transportation or health needs of Burma. Chinese engineers running the dams will decide how much water to release downstream according to orders from Beijing, not Naypyitaw. As seen with the Mekong, this can cause unexpected and devastating water surges and shortages.
Wednesday, 05 October 2011 12:08 Mizzima News
Mizzima News - The following quotations come from an interview with the president of the China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) Lu Qizhou about Burma’s Myitsone dam project. The interview appeared in the Chinese media on October 3. The umbrella activist group Burma Rivers Network (BRN) here releases its response to key points made by the CPI president. Burma’s president Thein Sein announced a halt to the controversial Myitsone Dam project on September 30. Thein Sein also said that discussions would follow with China.
Lu Qizhou: “I also learnt about this through the media, and I was totally astonished. Before this, the Myanmar side never communicated with us in any way about the ‘suspension’.”
BRN: The villagers at the dam site, numerous political and community organizations, and international human rights organizations have attempted to contact CPI and discuss the concerns about the impacts and process of the project. Even though CPI never responded to these attempts at a dialogue, they cannot claim to be unaware of the feeling about this project by the people of Burma.
It is impossible that CPI could not have been aware that Burma is in the midst of civil war and that the Irrawaddy-Myitsone dams project is in an active conflict zone. The armed ethnic group in this area, the Kachin Independence Organisation, had directly warned the Chinese government that local people were against the project earlier this year and that proceeding with the dams could fuel further fighting. Without national reconciliation and peace, all investments in Burma face these types of risks.
Lu Qizhou: “Ever since CPI and Myanmar Ministry of Electric Power No. 1 MOEP (1) signed the MOU in December 2006, CPI has always followed the principle of mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win result.”
BRN: Up to now all major investment projects in Burma are negotiated by Burma’s military government and the main benefits have gone to the military. Any win-win result has only been for the military and this is resented by the people of Burma. The lack of transparency by the military and foreign investors increases this resentment. The role and share of the Burmese companies should also be disclosed, including the benefits to Asia World Company and whether military holding companies, the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (UMEHL) and the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) are involved.
Lu Qizhou: “We hired topnotch hydropower design institutes, research institutes, consultancies and authoritative experts in China to carry out planning, design, specific study, consultation and supervision for the upstream-Ayeyawady hydropower project.”
BRN: The impact assessment jointly carried out by the Chinese Changjiang Institute and the Burmese BANCA stated very clearly that the Myitsone dam should be scrapped and that the majority of the local people were against this project. Why did CPI hire “topnotch” institutes and then not follow their advice? The original EIA was completed in October 2009, which was only leaked earlier this year. CPI has just released an edited version of the EIA and dated it March 2010, which has deleted the key findings and recommendations.
Although it was recommended, the original assessment did not include a social impact assessment or an assessment of the impacts on the entire river, particularly downstream.
In the current political context, where there is civil war and where communities fear retribution by Burma’s military government, assessors are unable to genuinely access affected communities or collect reliable data.
Lu Qizhou: “In February this year, Myanmar's Prime Minister (Thein Sein) urged us to accelerate the construction when he inspected the project site, so the sudden proposal of suspension now is very bewildering.”
BRN: Thein Sein should explain his actions if he indeed wanted to accelerate the project. In addition, the Burmese military government must disclose all agreements signed with CPI so that this is a transparent process for everyone to see.
Lu Qizhou: “The upstream-Ayeyawady hydropower project is located near the China-Myanmar border, developing hydropower resources here not only can meet Myanmar's power demand for industrialization, but also can provide clean energy for China. It is based on this consideration that we decided to invest in this mutually beneficial and double winning hydropower project.”
BRN: We understand that this is a double winning project for China as it can receive 90 per cent of the energy from the dam while Burma has to bear all the social and economic costs.
Lu Qizhou: “The Myanmar government will gain economic benefits of USD $54 billion via taxation, free electricity and share dividends, far more than CPI's return on investment during our operation period.”
BRN: Over the past several years, Burma’s military government has received billions in revenues from the sale of natural gas to Thailand, yet the country remains impoverished with some of the worst social and economic indicators in the world. The “economic benefits” therefore do not reach the broader public and do not contribute to the genuine development of the country.
Lu Qizhou: “As far as I know, in the more than 100-year history of hydropower development, no flood or destructive earthquake has ever been caused by dam construction. We are able to ensure the safety of dam construction.”
BRN: Given the increasing frequency and severity of earthquakes, there cannot be a guarantee of safety. No studies about the safety of the dam or about disaster preparation have been disclosed to the public.
The world’s worst dam disaster occurred in Henan Province in central China in 1975. Twenty years after the disaster, details started emerging that as many as 230,000 people may have died.
Lu Qizhou: “It has become a common consensus that hydropower is the only renewable energy suitable for large-scale development now.”
BRN: Rural communities in Burma and Kachin State are utilizing the appropriate technology of small hydropower to realize their electricity needs on their own. The Kachin capital of Myitkyina is one of the few cities in Burma that currently receives 24-hour electricity due to an existing small hydropower project. Decentralized management and the right of local people to manage and utilize the electricity generated by small hydro needs to be promoted in Burma, not large scale projects that are environmentally destructive and export electricity rather than using it domestically.
Lu Qizhou: “The Myanmar government attaches significant importance to resettlement for the upstream-Ayeyawady hydropower project, and has effectively led and organized the planning, design and implementation of resettlement… According to the agreement, we assisted in the resettlement work and proactively fulfilled our social responsibilities and obligations, while fully respecting local religion, ethnic customs and the wish of migrants.”
BRN: Villagers fear for their lives if they complain or resist relocation at the hands of armed military personnel and have thus been forced to give up their farmlands, accept inadequate compensation, and be herded into a relocation camp where there is not enough farmland and water for livelihoods. People now either have no jobs or low-wage temporary jobs and they cannot continue cultural practices linked to their original homelands. Villagers living in the relocation camp are restricted in movement and are constantly under military surveillance.
Over 60 villages, approximately 15,000 people, will eventually be permanently displaced from their homelands due to the Irrawaddy Myitsone project. This dislocation will cause many secondary social problems including conflicts over jobs and land, and an increase in migration and trafficking to neighbouring countries. Women will be particularly impacted.
Lu Qizhou: “When Myitsone Hydropower Station is completed, it will effectively control and reduce the flood peak, raise the anti-flooding standard in the downstream area, and reduce life and property losses caused by downstream flood on people living on both banks.”
BRN: Water releases from hydroelectric dams are entirely dependent on the electricity generating needs of the electricity buyer. In this case, all seven dams of the Irrawaddy Myitsone project will serve China’s electricity needs, not the downstream agricultural, transportation or health needs of Burma. Chinese engineers running the dams will decide how much water to release downstream according to orders from Beijing, not Naypyitaw. As seen with the Mekong, this can cause unexpected and devastating water surges and shortages.
***********************************************************
DVB News - Zarganar family visits spur rumours
By NAW NOREEN
Published: 5 October 2011
Zarganar has been the subject of recent rumours over his impending release
The family of imprisoned comedian Zarganar is allowed once more to pay him visits following a lengthy ban, fuelling rumours that he will be released in a looming prisoner amnesty.
His sister-in-law, Ma Nyein, told DVB that she had inquired with officials in Myitkyina prison, where the popular comedian is serving a 35 year jail term, following reports that the family could once again see him.
Zarganar, who had been publicly critical of the former junta, particularly its lax response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008, has not been allowed to receive visitors for nearly 18 months.
“So we heard the news and called up the prison for confirmation and the administer chief there said we are now allowed to visit him,” said Ma Nyein, adding that they would travel to the prison, in Burma’s northern Kachin state, by the end of October.
The Burmese government has mooted an amnesty for prisoners, but as yet has given no details on who will be released, or when. A much-publicised amnesty earlier this year drew anger from pro-democracy voices when it emerged that only a handful of the country’s nearly 2000 political prisoners were included.
Ma Nyein said that the family had heard no news on whether Zarganar would be released. “These [rumours] are common. Usually, those who are released from prison before their sentence is up are sent directly to their homes.
“If it’s true, then we would be informed by the local police’s Special Branch [intelligence.”
Zarganar, who has received numerous international freedom of expression awards, was initially given a 59-year sentence, but that was later reduced.
Among Burma’s prisoner population are nearly 2000 jailed activists, lawyers, doctors and journalists. The government however refuses to acknowledge that it holds political prisoners.
Their continued detention however, often following highly arbitrary charges, is seen as one of the biggest indicators of a lack of progress in the country since elections last year.
Zarganar was banned from performing in public in 2006, before being arrested and sentenced in November 2008 after he gave interviews to foreign media in which he berated the junta’s poor reaction to the devastating cyclone, which eventually claimed the lives of nearly 140,000 people.
By NAW NOREEN
Published: 5 October 2011
Zarganar has been the subject of recent rumours over his impending release
The family of imprisoned comedian Zarganar is allowed once more to pay him visits following a lengthy ban, fuelling rumours that he will be released in a looming prisoner amnesty.
His sister-in-law, Ma Nyein, told DVB that she had inquired with officials in Myitkyina prison, where the popular comedian is serving a 35 year jail term, following reports that the family could once again see him.
Zarganar, who had been publicly critical of the former junta, particularly its lax response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008, has not been allowed to receive visitors for nearly 18 months.
“So we heard the news and called up the prison for confirmation and the administer chief there said we are now allowed to visit him,” said Ma Nyein, adding that they would travel to the prison, in Burma’s northern Kachin state, by the end of October.
The Burmese government has mooted an amnesty for prisoners, but as yet has given no details on who will be released, or when. A much-publicised amnesty earlier this year drew anger from pro-democracy voices when it emerged that only a handful of the country’s nearly 2000 political prisoners were included.
Ma Nyein said that the family had heard no news on whether Zarganar would be released. “These [rumours] are common. Usually, those who are released from prison before their sentence is up are sent directly to their homes.
“If it’s true, then we would be informed by the local police’s Special Branch [intelligence.”
Zarganar, who has received numerous international freedom of expression awards, was initially given a 59-year sentence, but that was later reduced.
Among Burma’s prisoner population are nearly 2000 jailed activists, lawyers, doctors and journalists. The government however refuses to acknowledge that it holds political prisoners.
Their continued detention however, often following highly arbitrary charges, is seen as one of the biggest indicators of a lack of progress in the country since elections last year.
Zarganar was banned from performing in public in 2006, before being arrested and sentenced in November 2008 after he gave interviews to foreign media in which he berated the junta’s poor reaction to the devastating cyclone, which eventually claimed the lives of nearly 140,000 people.
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DVB News - Army puts ransom on Kachin porters
Published: 5 October 2011
Locals villagers in Kachin state abducted by the Burmese army to porter supplies in its ongoing battle against rebels will only be released if their families can pay a hefty ransom fee.
Residents in state capital Myitkyina claim a number of locals from Talawgyi village tract, around 20 miles north, had been taken by troops and forced to carry supplies for patrolling Burmese army columns.
The price of their return is around 500,000 kyat ($US590), a huge demand for families in Burma’s poor rural north.
A man from Myitkyina who asked not to be named said that those who could afford to pay the fee and were released had relayed information about their ordeal, and said that two villages in the tract had lost the majority of inhabitants to the army.
Troops are being sent up from lower Burma to assist in the offesnive against the opposition Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Fighting has died down in recent days, following a four-day period of sustained artillery fire against Kachin targets.
But the additional Burmese troops are reportedly mobilising on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River in preparation for an assault on the Kachin rebels.
The Myitkyina resident said that two men from his town, identified as Ko Nyi and U Gam Aung, were also forced to porter for the army.
“They were corn merchants. Their motorbikes were also seized by the troops. Their families had to pay the army 500,000 kyat for each of them to be released,” said the man.
Forced portering by the Burmese army is a regular occurrence during offensives against ethnic armed groups in the country’s border regions. Human Rights Watch said in a report in July that the tactic, which includes using civilians as human shields and minesweepers, could amount to war crimes.
The report also detailed how prisoners had been taken from their cells and transported hundreds of miles to conflict zones to carry equipment.
Published: 5 October 2011
Locals villagers in Kachin state abducted by the Burmese army to porter supplies in its ongoing battle against rebels will only be released if their families can pay a hefty ransom fee.
Residents in state capital Myitkyina claim a number of locals from Talawgyi village tract, around 20 miles north, had been taken by troops and forced to carry supplies for patrolling Burmese army columns.
The price of their return is around 500,000 kyat ($US590), a huge demand for families in Burma’s poor rural north.
A man from Myitkyina who asked not to be named said that those who could afford to pay the fee and were released had relayed information about their ordeal, and said that two villages in the tract had lost the majority of inhabitants to the army.
Troops are being sent up from lower Burma to assist in the offesnive against the opposition Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Fighting has died down in recent days, following a four-day period of sustained artillery fire against Kachin targets.
But the additional Burmese troops are reportedly mobilising on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River in preparation for an assault on the Kachin rebels.
The Myitkyina resident said that two men from his town, identified as Ko Nyi and U Gam Aung, were also forced to porter for the army.
“They were corn merchants. Their motorbikes were also seized by the troops. Their families had to pay the army 500,000 kyat for each of them to be released,” said the man.
Forced portering by the Burmese army is a regular occurrence during offensives against ethnic armed groups in the country’s border regions. Human Rights Watch said in a report in July that the tactic, which includes using civilians as human shields and minesweepers, could amount to war crimes.
The report also detailed how prisoners had been taken from their cells and transported hundreds of miles to conflict zones to carry equipment.
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