Posted on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Hillary Clinton makes right moves in Myanmar
The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star on Monday, Dec. 5:
Some on Capitol Hill have criticized Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Myanmar, formerly Burma. Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican, said she worried that the move sent the wrong signal to the "military thugs" in Myanmar's leadership.
But Clinton was careful to say that any aid or diplomatic recognition would depend on Myanmar's continued progress on human rights. The country has taken significant steps, including last year's release of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Clinton met with Suu Kyi, who endorsed the visit.
Clinton's trip should be seen against a surprising series of diplomatic moves to counter the bullying tendencies China has displayed in recent months. The rule of thumb in Asia is that Asian nations don't trust America but they trust each other less - and they're more worried about a belligerent China than about Washington.
The series of moves was highlighted by last month's announcement that the U.S. would base 2,500 Marines in Australia, a step China criticized as displaying a "Cold War mentality."
Meanwhile, Japan has been cooperating more closely with the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea. Washington has improved military ties with the Philippines and Indonesia. Australia has decided to sell uranium to India. And several countries in the region are working to create a trade group that would exclude China.
This is classic balance-of-power diplomacy, and it shows that Washington is aware of the long-term challenge posed by Beijing. Myanmar's liberalization is a sign the country's leadership is also interested in moving away from China's orbit, something the administration is quite right to encourage.
(c)2011 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.)
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/12/06/132292/hillary-clinton-makes-right-moves.html#ixzz1fiEoSy8U
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Vatican envoy to meet Suu Kyi in Myanmar
Published on Dec 6, 2011
The Vatican is sending an envoy to Myanmar this week for a religious celebration where he will meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, religious news agency I.Media reported on Monday. -- PHOTO: AP
VATICAN CITY (AFP) - The Vatican is sending an envoy to Myanmar this week for a religious celebration where he will meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, religious news agency I.Media reported on Monday.
Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino will attend the 100th anniversary of Yangon cathedral, where Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, a Buddhist, will be in attendance.
Representatives of all religions in Myanmar, where Catholics represent only around one per cent of the population, are being invited to Thursday's event, when Martino will read a message from Pope Benedict XVI.
The envoy will then have lunch with local clergy and 'special guests'. http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_741674.html
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Environmentalists Voice Concerns about Tavoy
By LAWI WENG Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Speaking about the Tavoy Deep Seaport after a fact-finding mission held a meeting on Friday in Sanghklaburi, Thailand, the chairman of the Foundation for Ecological Recovery said that he is worried about the environmental impact of building the massive seaport.
"We want to know how much opportunity the local Tavoy residents have to participate in the project," said Beerawat Dheeraprasart. "We also want to know how many of the residents understand the impact on the environment. This is important because they are the ones who are going to suffer from it."
The Foundation for Ecological Recovery reported that the Thai Investment Board has offered a substantial sum of money to build the Tavoy Deep Seaport and Industrial Zone. Meanwhile, some 4,000 megawatts of electrical power are required to run the industrial zone, which includes a coal facility that experts say will severely impact the environment and the livelihoods of local people.
"They are going to use water from the sea," said Beerawat. "Then, the refuse water from the plants will be deposited back into the sea. All marine life will soon be extinct."
The Burmese and Thai governments agreed in May 2008 a contract to begin construction on the Technical Zone in Tavoy Deep seaport.
The project is eight times bigger than the Map Ta Phut Industrial Zone in Rayong, Thailand, which is run by the same company, according to the Foundation for Ecological Recovery.
Map Tha Phut is estimated to have cost some 370 billion baht (US $10.5 billion) while the Tavoy project is estimated at around 303 billion baht ($8.6 billion).
Premsak Buawattana, another senior member of the Foundation for Ecological Recovery, said that he is worried for the Burmese people because they could suffer like the local people in Thailand who contracted cancer from poisoned water from the Map Ta Phut project.
"We believe that the Burmese people should know about the impact. This company has already operated in our country," he said. "Rights activists halted the company working in Thailand. Now they are moving to Burma."
The Sanghklaburi workshop included Mon human rights activists who reported that the lack of stability and democratic law in Burma is conducive to conditions in Tavoy that will lead to human rights abuses.
According to the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), about 20 local villages were evacuated by the Burmese authorities in order to make way for the construction of the deep seaport.
Nai Kasauh Mon, the director of the Mon Human Rights Foundation, said, "We are worried that the Burmese authorities will not give compensation to the villagers even though the Italian-Thai company may hand over money to the Burmese authorities."
Hathuethai Kongkoan, another senior member of the Foundation for Ecological Recovery, said that they intend to educate the villagers about the impact on the environment that this project may have.
After they are aware of the impact, they will fight for their rights," he said. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22597
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Clinton Fever Hits Burmese Readers
By THE IRRAWADDY Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Journals running front-page photos of the meetings between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Burmese pro-democracy Aung San Suu Kyi quickly sold out as Burmese readers were caught up in the excitement over Clinton's visit and the discussions between the two prominent women.
"Journals this week used smiling pictures of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Hillary Clinton as the front page. Most journals did not go to the censorship board for permission for the front-page photo and some others asked permission," said the managing editor of a weekly journal in Rangoon.
He added that the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division of the Ministry of Information, Burma's censorship board, had not yet taken any action against journals for running the Clinton-Suu Kyi front-page photos.
Most journals with front-page photos of Clinton and Suu Kyi were sold out on Monday, said journal distributors.
"This week journals with the photos are quite the bestseller and sold out," said a journal vendor working at a bus-stop in downtown Rangoon.
Journals also published detailed reports of Clinton's remarks at her press conferences in Naypyidaw and Rangoon, including her comments on the sensitive issues of political prisoners and North Korea-Burma ties.
During his meeting with Clinton at the Presidential Office in Naypyidaw on Thursday, Burmese President Thein Sein commented on the increased press freedom during his administration.
"With regard to the media sector, freedom of media was being granted step by step in conformity with freedom and accountability," Thein Sein was quoted as saying in The New Light of Myanmar, a state-run-newspaper.
The Burmese government granted visas to foreign journalists covering Clinton's visit to Burma, including the chief of the Voice of America's Burmese Service, Than Lwin Tun, who is a former student activist who left the country following the Burmese army's brutal crackdowns on demonstrators in 1988.
Media rights groups such as Reporters without Border said that Burma still holds journalists and bloggers, including 17 video journalists, in prison. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22603
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Burma Reopens Friendship Bridge
By THE IRRAWADDY Tuesday, December 6, 2011
MAE SOT---The main border route for trade between Burma and Thailand, the Mae Sot-Myawaddy Friendship Bridge, reopened on Monday morning---the day of the Thai king's 84th birthday---for the first time since Burmese authorities closed it a year and a half ago.
According to reports from Mae Sot, Burma's minister of commerce, Win Myint, attended an opening ceremony on Monday morning at the Friendship Bridge, alongside Zaw Min, the chief minister of Karen State, and Col Thet Khine Oo of the Thai-Burmese Border Sub-committee.
"As the bridge is now reopened, Thai-Myanmar border trade can be resumed as usual," said Win Myint, who himself was a wealthy businessman before being appointed Burma's commerce minister on March 30.
The Myawaddy-Mae Sot bridge was closed on July 17, 2010, by Burmese border authorities in reaction to what they first said was Thai incursions into the Moei River, but which they later contended was for reasons of border security.
Businessmen in Mae Sot said that while the border was closed, the Thai side lost around US $3 million per month. Thailand is Burma's main partner in border trading after China.
While the Myawaddy- Mae Sot bridge was closed, traders mostly used illegal border crossings along the Moei River, a tax-free alternative, but one which apparently cost more in underhand payments. Burmese migrant workers also regularly use the illegal border checkpoints to sneak into Thailand either by boat or by car.
"The reopening of the bridge means easier transportation," said Ma Yee, a Burmese merchant from Myawaddy. "Now we just need to take the bus from Mae Sot to Myawaddy. Before we needed to take a boat and a car to cross the border." http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22602
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Deadly Clashes Between Govt. and KIA Mars Peace Talks
By BA KAUNG Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Deadly clashes between an ethnic Kachin militia and Burmese government troops have continued despite well publicized peace talks between the two sides in the run-up to the historic visit to Burma of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week.
The latest fighting in Momauk Township of Kachin State over the past few days confirmed the virtual failure of peace talks held in China between Burmese government ministers and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of the 10,000-strong Kachin Independence Army (KIA).
Reports from the frontline indicate that there have been casualties on both sides, but the exact numbers remain unknown at the present time.
The clashes, which were also reported in northeastern Shan State where the KIA has bases, broke out despite the Nov. 29 negotiations being highlighted in state-run newspapers to draw international attention to government efforts to resolve long-standing ethnic issues while Clinton was in the country.
A KIO official said that the failure of talks was because Burmese government ministers did not accept that fighting between the two sides is a political issue. This is despite the KIO calling for a political dialogue over their demands for autonomy in Kachin State---the same demand made since 1961.
"Government minister Aung Min said that this is an 'arms issue,' as opposed to a political one which our leader emphasized in the meeting. So they couldn't agree about it," said the official. "During the peace talks and afterwards, the government massively reinforced its troops in Kachin State."
A US state department official told reporters in Washington on Friday that the White House intends to support the Friends of Burma group, "that would provide and bring together substantial resources to the table to support autonomy and the like" if Burma makes a serious effort to achieve national dialogue aiming for autonomy for ethnic minorities in the country.
Recent hostilities in Kachin State have displaced tens of thousands of people along the China-Burma border, and the Burmese government has denied the UN and international aid groups access to these areas.
In an interview with The Irrawaddy, UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana said that access to conflict zones will be one of his top priorities during his forthcoming visit to Burma in February. He also urged the government to initiate a peace process under the premises of civilian and democratic values.
Over the weekend, democracy activists and civil society groups from Rangoon and Mandalay went to provide aid to refugee camps in the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina and also Waimaw. Myat Thu, a 88 Generation Students leader who was visiting the camp said that refugees are in great need of support and have no hope of returning to their homes because of the fighting.
"They all look shabby and are mainly supported by Christian churches in the town," he said. "There are also refugee camps which we cannot go to since they are not under government control."
During Clinton's visit, the government signed a formal ceasefire agreement with the powerful rebel group the Shan State Army-South. The agreement contains promises of economic development for local people in Shan State, but not regarding the issue of autonomy or political dialogue which the Kachins are demanding. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22605
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Dalai Lama Wants to Visit Burma
By BA KAUNG Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama expressed his desire last week to visit Burma to pay homage at the country's holiest shrine of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon.
The message was conveyed to leaders of Burmese Buddhist monks at the Global Buddhist Congregation 2011 held in New Delhi, India, on Nov. 27.
"The Dalai Lama said he has a great friendship with Burmese monks because they are well-versed in Buddhist scripture and also strictly follow the code of conduct of monk-hood. And he wants to pay a pilgrimage to Shwedagon," said Ashin Nyanissara, an influential Burmese Buddhist monk who joined the event in Delhi.
Burmese Buddhist monks responded to the Dalai Lama by saying that he would be invited to Burma at an appropriate time, Ashin Nyanissara said in a note posted on the internet.
But it is not clear when the Dalai Lama intends to come to Burma or if the Burmese government, a major ally of China, would issue a visa. Naypyidaw has already angered Beijing recently through the suspension of the Chinese-backed hydropower dam project in northern Burma.
The Chinese government has frequently objected to foreign nations granting the exiled Tibetan leader entry to their countries. The Dalai Lama had to cancel his plans to join the 80th birthday celebration of fellow Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu in South Africa this October after being denied a visa.
He has called for a genuine autonomy for Tibetans living in Chinese-controlled Tibet, but Beijing views him as a dangerous "separatist" who wishes to remove Tibet from China.
The Dalai Lama courted controversy in the region when he joined other Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Desmond Tutu, in Thailand in 1993 to protest about Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest.
Thailand eventually agreed to provide him with a 24-hour visa to attend the event despite fierce protests from Beijing.http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22606
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Boom and bust return to Wa and Mongla
Tuesday, 06 December 2011 16:25 S.H.A.N.
Almost 3 months after Wa and Mongla signed new ceasefire agreements with Naypyitaw, on 6 and 7 September respectively, SHAN reporter investors have returned to change the slump that had taken place during the last two years, according to Arn Tai who returned recently from Mongla.
The following is his report: When we were there last year during the Shan New Year, Mongla was almost a ghost town. Most of the shops were closed after their Chinese owners left. There was nothing to see in the evening, everything dark, except at the festival ground.
But now all the shops are opened and the lights are on late into the night. There are lots of cars and lots of people, especially those coming from across the border.
We also saw 4-5 new buildings under construction. When I asked the authorities, I was told they were hotels.
The former Lan Dong hotel complex of Zhao Wei, the owner of the Kings Romans Casino in Ton Pheung, Laos, however, now looked deserted. "Only a few Kokangs are staying there," said my guide, a permanent resident there.
Roads are being enlarged too: from Hsop Lwe to Mongla and from Mongla to Hsaleu further west near the border with Wa. People in Hsaleu told me the road going from Mongphen, inside the Wa territory to Panghsang, the Wa capital, also under construction, is even a bigger affair. "It is a 4 lane one, built by Thai engineers," said a Shan administrative official.
Moreover, Mongla is embarking on building a new town at Hsop Lwe, where the Lwe meets the Lam. (The Hsop Lwe we know is called Hsop Khong, the mouth of the Khong River)
As a result, the Shan New Year this year in Mongla is swarming with cars and people from all directions. It took us 1 hour to get from our hotel to the festival ground, although it was only 1 km away. "Reminds me of Bangkok during the rush hour," one of the Shans from the Thai capital said.
With more people in Mongla, more problems have followed, especially drugs. I remember there were only 4 checkpoints last year from Mongla to Hsop Lwe (or Hsop Khong to the local people): Hsop Khong, Kiang Khang, Nampan and Hsop Lwe. But now we were counting 5 more ones.
At every checkpoint, we had to climb down our trucks which were searched by the soldiers (in green uniforms) and by the narcotics officials (in camouflage). "They have been really tough on the travelers especially after the killings at the Golden Triangle," said a local.
On 7 October, 12 Chinese crewmen, including 2 women, were found floating near Chiang Saen. It was two days after Thai authorities seized two Chinese ships where 1 dead gunman and 920,000 meth pills were found. The drugs were believed to have originated from the Wa-Mongla areas.
Meanwhile, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), the latter popularly known as Mongla, despite ceasefire agreements with Naypyitaw, are still on high alert. "We never stop training," one officer told SHAN. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4252:boom-and-bust-return-to-wa-and-mongla&catid=93:general&Itemid=291
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Yawdserk: Ceasefire pact yet to be enforced
Tuesday, 06 December 2011 11:39 S.H.A.N.
The ceasefire that was agreed Friday, 2 December, between the Shan State Government and the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) was "in principle" and further communication between the two sides is needed to implement it at the ground level, said RCSS leader Lt-Gen Yawdserk yesterday.
As a result, there were still clashes reported in three townships: Namzang and Mongkeung, southern Shan State, on 3 December and Mongpiang, Eastern Shan State, on 4 December. "However, they were not pre-planned engagements, just accidental encounters," he explained.
On the other hand, there are no reports of clashes between the Burma Army and other groups that had previously signed ceasefire agreements: United Wa State Army (UWSA), National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), renamed Kaloh HtooBaw.
The first two were not not in actual combat with the Burma Army prior to the September agreements. With the Kaloh Htoo Baw, the agreement specified that the ceasefire, signed on 4 November, was to be affected on 6 November. "We are still waiting for the Burma Army's ceasefire instructions to its units before ordering our troops to follow suit," he said. (Regime sponsored media reported the Taunggyi meeting on Sunday, 4 December)
The delegation led by Sao Sai Lu that had met the Shan State Government in Taunggyi was back in Loi Taileng, the RCSS HQ, where its armed wing the Shan State Army (SSA) 'South' is also based, on 4 December, two days after the signing.
"We will be meeting tomorrow (6 December) to receive the delegation's report and assess the situation," he said.
According to U Aung Min, who heads President Thein Sein's newly formed committee to oversee negotiations at the state level, Naypyitaw's 3 step peace roadmap includes Ceasefire, Development and "Panglong like Conference."
However the said roadmap is yet to be publicly announced.
Update News (17:00)
The Shan State Army (SSA) 'South' received today a copy of the Burma Army's directive to its Shan State units to observe the ceasefire, issued on 3 December. It has, upon receipt, issued its own ceasefire directive to all SSA units, said Lt-Gen Yawdserk. (SHAN) http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4250:yawdserk-ceasefire-pact-yet-to-be-enforced&catid=85:politics&Itemid=266
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Burma checkpoint opens up again
Published: 6/12/2011 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The Thailand-Myawaddy border checkpoint, which has been closed for over a year, was officially reopened yesterday with the Naypyidaw government saying it looks forward to better economic ties.
Thai military officers (left) join their Burmese counterparts to officially reopen the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border checkpoint at the Thai-Burmese Friendship bridge over the Moei River that separates Myawaddy and Tak's Mae Sot district. ASSAWIN PHINITWONG
Burma's Commerce Minister U Win Myint, who oversees border trade, agreed to reopen the Myawaddy border checkpoint at the request of the Thai government.
Naypyidaw closed the checkpoint on July 18 last year, claiming that Thailand's construction of a river embankment could affect the borderline.
The closure has cost Thailand an estimated 20 billion baht in lost trade through the Mae Sot customs checkpoint, according to Banphot Kokiatcharoen, the chairman of the Tak Chamber of Commerce.
Burma also announced it has now declared Myawaddy a special economic zone for border trade as part of efforts to boost its economy.
This prompted Mae Sot mayor Thoetkiat Chinsoranan and local businessmen to call on Bangkok to also lift the status of Mae Sot municipality to that of a special economic zone. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/269386/burma-checkpoint-opens-up-again
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Hillary's Hopes for Burma
---By Mac McClelland
| Mon Dec. 5, 2011 9:57 AM PST
A poster of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi sabeth718/Flickr
This past month, I was on a sort of sneaky assignment and then out of the country, and in my absence there have been some huge developments in US-Burma relations. For the first time in 50 years, an American secretary of state dropped in on the nation that generally receives little more high-level American acknowledgment beyond passing negs about tyranny in presidential speeches. As Mother Jones' resident Burmaphile, I got an email from one of the editors last week asking the all-important question about Hillary Clinton's making nice and supposedly making headway with the intractable regime: "Is this for real?"
If Washington is assuming that Burma's recent (bullshit) elections and the release of its most famous political prisoner means that we can lead the country into a future awash in democracy and rainbows, that would be a little too lovely to be believed. But that the Obama administration is cautiously optimistic, or that it senses wee little steps toward progress, and that there's an opportunity for the United States to get involved and nudge it along? Yeah. Maybe.
For decades, our policy has been to sanction Burma and wag our finger at it. I've long been a proponent of more engagement with the country. Though nobody wants to look like they're befriending bad guys, and there's no proof that getting more involved with Burma will work, there is proof of one thing: That the policy we've been pursuing so far does not work. Our sanctions are meaningless, because a) lots of other countries are happy to buy the Burmese resources we won't; b) the goods we sanction can still make it to us via roads like smuggling; and c) there are loopholes in our sanctions that still allow Chevron to operate there and make the regime big money.
We're not lifting the sanctions yet---and, for the aforementioned reasons, I kind of doubt Burma really cares---but we are starting assistance to programs that deliver health care, microlending, English instruction, and help for land mine victims. Regardless of whether you're of the school of thought that aid to corrupt/underdeveloped nations is enabling/infantilizing, this aid at least has the possibility of creating leverage, like the kind the United States and Germany wielded against Uganda when it proposed killing gay people. It's a long, long road to reconciling of Burma's problems, like, say, the systematic government-perpetrated rape and torture and ethnic cleansing going on its borderlands, issues Clinton says she "raised directly with the government" on her trip. That mention over lunch is unlikely to save lives. But what past administrations have said to Burma is, "Hey, not that there's any reason for you to listen, because we give you/cooperate with you on absolutely nothing, and you're dead to us. But: In our opinion, you should stop slaughtering people." Moving forward, the conversation might be a little more compelling when it sounds like, "Hey, stop slaughtering people. We give you money."
Burma has long been run by assholes. It remains to be seen whether the president and parliamentarians put in power by the elections are as big of assholes as the assholes who led before them. And at the very least, the Burmese people will be getting the chance for more medicine and education and microloans. It can't hurt for trying to befriend Burma and empower the population. The former has a shot, and let's definitely hear it for the latter. I'm not necessarily given to bouts of optimism, even the cautious kind, but if there's anything we were reminded of this year, it's that an empowered population is the the best tool of all against repressive regimes. http://motherjones.com/rights-stuff/2011/12/hillary-clinton-burma-myanmar
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Burma Dares What Rich Nations Dare Not
By LALIT K JHA Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Washington---By inviting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to visit their country and suspending construction of a dam financed by the Chinese and intended to supply electricity to China, the leaders of the poor nation of Burma have taken the risk of offending Beijing in manner that most rich countries would not, CNN's Fareed Zakaria said on his weekly talk show, GPS.
"One of the world's poorest countries has done something few rich nations would dare to do these days. It said no to China. I'm talking about Myanmar [Burma], an impoverished country that was until this year the world's longest serving military dictatorship," said Zakaria.
"It [Burma] shocked Beijing recently by pulling the plug on a dam that was meant to supply millions of Chinese with electricity. Beijing may have been upset, but it nonetheless invited Myanmar's top general to the capital last week. He was greeted by none other than the man who is expected to become China's president next year....," he said.
Referring to Clinton's trip to Burma last week, the first visit by a US secretary of state in 56 years, Zakaria said Burma is opening up, which is turning this country into a cockpit of international occurrence, rivalries and diplomacy.
The fact that Burma is now making overtures toward Washington suggests that "It is seeking a hedge against China's influence in the region, it wants the West to drop sanctions and it wants more generally to reengage with the world," he said, adding that these are all positive signs for Washington.
Burma's progress opens a window for the US to further strengthen its footprint in Asia and maintain a balance of power on that continent, said Zakaria.
"The Chinese will still have deep ties in Myanmar, but increasingly so will India. Myanmar clearly wants to play all three powers against each other. But in doing so, and to really get America interested, it realizes that it will have to open up its economy and its political system," he said.
"The good news is that the winners of this great power game may turn out to be the long-suffering people of Myanmar," said Zakaria.
Meanwhile, the US State Department on Monday said that its Special Envoy in Burma, Derek Mitchell, could be travelling to the region to brief the countries about Clinton's recent trip to Burma.
Clinton's trip to also figured in her meeting with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, in Bonn, Germany, a senior US official said. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22600
Hillary Clinton makes right moves in Myanmar
The following editorial appeared in the Kansas City Star on Monday, Dec. 5:
Some on Capitol Hill have criticized Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Myanmar, formerly Burma. Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican, said she worried that the move sent the wrong signal to the "military thugs" in Myanmar's leadership.
But Clinton was careful to say that any aid or diplomatic recognition would depend on Myanmar's continued progress on human rights. The country has taken significant steps, including last year's release of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Clinton met with Suu Kyi, who endorsed the visit.
Clinton's trip should be seen against a surprising series of diplomatic moves to counter the bullying tendencies China has displayed in recent months. The rule of thumb in Asia is that Asian nations don't trust America but they trust each other less - and they're more worried about a belligerent China than about Washington.
The series of moves was highlighted by last month's announcement that the U.S. would base 2,500 Marines in Australia, a step China criticized as displaying a "Cold War mentality."
Meanwhile, Japan has been cooperating more closely with the Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea. Washington has improved military ties with the Philippines and Indonesia. Australia has decided to sell uranium to India. And several countries in the region are working to create a trade group that would exclude China.
This is classic balance-of-power diplomacy, and it shows that Washington is aware of the long-term challenge posed by Beijing. Myanmar's liberalization is a sign the country's leadership is also interested in moving away from China's orbit, something the administration is quite right to encourage.
(c)2011 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.)
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/12/06/132292/hillary-clinton-makes-right-moves.html#ixzz1fiEoSy8U
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Vatican envoy to meet Suu Kyi in Myanmar
Published on Dec 6, 2011
The Vatican is sending an envoy to Myanmar this week for a religious celebration where he will meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, religious news agency I.Media reported on Monday. -- PHOTO: AP
VATICAN CITY (AFP) - The Vatican is sending an envoy to Myanmar this week for a religious celebration where he will meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, religious news agency I.Media reported on Monday.
Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino will attend the 100th anniversary of Yangon cathedral, where Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, a Buddhist, will be in attendance.
Representatives of all religions in Myanmar, where Catholics represent only around one per cent of the population, are being invited to Thursday's event, when Martino will read a message from Pope Benedict XVI.
The envoy will then have lunch with local clergy and 'special guests'. http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_741674.html
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Environmentalists Voice Concerns about Tavoy
By LAWI WENG Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Speaking about the Tavoy Deep Seaport after a fact-finding mission held a meeting on Friday in Sanghklaburi, Thailand, the chairman of the Foundation for Ecological Recovery said that he is worried about the environmental impact of building the massive seaport.
"We want to know how much opportunity the local Tavoy residents have to participate in the project," said Beerawat Dheeraprasart. "We also want to know how many of the residents understand the impact on the environment. This is important because they are the ones who are going to suffer from it."
The Foundation for Ecological Recovery reported that the Thai Investment Board has offered a substantial sum of money to build the Tavoy Deep Seaport and Industrial Zone. Meanwhile, some 4,000 megawatts of electrical power are required to run the industrial zone, which includes a coal facility that experts say will severely impact the environment and the livelihoods of local people.
"They are going to use water from the sea," said Beerawat. "Then, the refuse water from the plants will be deposited back into the sea. All marine life will soon be extinct."
The Burmese and Thai governments agreed in May 2008 a contract to begin construction on the Technical Zone in Tavoy Deep seaport.
The project is eight times bigger than the Map Ta Phut Industrial Zone in Rayong, Thailand, which is run by the same company, according to the Foundation for Ecological Recovery.
Map Tha Phut is estimated to have cost some 370 billion baht (US $10.5 billion) while the Tavoy project is estimated at around 303 billion baht ($8.6 billion).
Premsak Buawattana, another senior member of the Foundation for Ecological Recovery, said that he is worried for the Burmese people because they could suffer like the local people in Thailand who contracted cancer from poisoned water from the Map Ta Phut project.
"We believe that the Burmese people should know about the impact. This company has already operated in our country," he said. "Rights activists halted the company working in Thailand. Now they are moving to Burma."
The Sanghklaburi workshop included Mon human rights activists who reported that the lack of stability and democratic law in Burma is conducive to conditions in Tavoy that will lead to human rights abuses.
According to the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), about 20 local villages were evacuated by the Burmese authorities in order to make way for the construction of the deep seaport.
Nai Kasauh Mon, the director of the Mon Human Rights Foundation, said, "We are worried that the Burmese authorities will not give compensation to the villagers even though the Italian-Thai company may hand over money to the Burmese authorities."
Hathuethai Kongkoan, another senior member of the Foundation for Ecological Recovery, said that they intend to educate the villagers about the impact on the environment that this project may have.
After they are aware of the impact, they will fight for their rights," he said. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22597
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Clinton Fever Hits Burmese Readers
By THE IRRAWADDY Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Journals running front-page photos of the meetings between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Burmese pro-democracy Aung San Suu Kyi quickly sold out as Burmese readers were caught up in the excitement over Clinton's visit and the discussions between the two prominent women.
"Journals this week used smiling pictures of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Hillary Clinton as the front page. Most journals did not go to the censorship board for permission for the front-page photo and some others asked permission," said the managing editor of a weekly journal in Rangoon.
He added that the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division of the Ministry of Information, Burma's censorship board, had not yet taken any action against journals for running the Clinton-Suu Kyi front-page photos.
Most journals with front-page photos of Clinton and Suu Kyi were sold out on Monday, said journal distributors.
"This week journals with the photos are quite the bestseller and sold out," said a journal vendor working at a bus-stop in downtown Rangoon.
Journals also published detailed reports of Clinton's remarks at her press conferences in Naypyidaw and Rangoon, including her comments on the sensitive issues of political prisoners and North Korea-Burma ties.
During his meeting with Clinton at the Presidential Office in Naypyidaw on Thursday, Burmese President Thein Sein commented on the increased press freedom during his administration.
"With regard to the media sector, freedom of media was being granted step by step in conformity with freedom and accountability," Thein Sein was quoted as saying in The New Light of Myanmar, a state-run-newspaper.
The Burmese government granted visas to foreign journalists covering Clinton's visit to Burma, including the chief of the Voice of America's Burmese Service, Than Lwin Tun, who is a former student activist who left the country following the Burmese army's brutal crackdowns on demonstrators in 1988.
Media rights groups such as Reporters without Border said that Burma still holds journalists and bloggers, including 17 video journalists, in prison. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22603
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Burma Reopens Friendship Bridge
By THE IRRAWADDY Tuesday, December 6, 2011
MAE SOT---The main border route for trade between Burma and Thailand, the Mae Sot-Myawaddy Friendship Bridge, reopened on Monday morning---the day of the Thai king's 84th birthday---for the first time since Burmese authorities closed it a year and a half ago.
According to reports from Mae Sot, Burma's minister of commerce, Win Myint, attended an opening ceremony on Monday morning at the Friendship Bridge, alongside Zaw Min, the chief minister of Karen State, and Col Thet Khine Oo of the Thai-Burmese Border Sub-committee.
"As the bridge is now reopened, Thai-Myanmar border trade can be resumed as usual," said Win Myint, who himself was a wealthy businessman before being appointed Burma's commerce minister on March 30.
The Myawaddy-Mae Sot bridge was closed on July 17, 2010, by Burmese border authorities in reaction to what they first said was Thai incursions into the Moei River, but which they later contended was for reasons of border security.
Businessmen in Mae Sot said that while the border was closed, the Thai side lost around US $3 million per month. Thailand is Burma's main partner in border trading after China.
While the Myawaddy- Mae Sot bridge was closed, traders mostly used illegal border crossings along the Moei River, a tax-free alternative, but one which apparently cost more in underhand payments. Burmese migrant workers also regularly use the illegal border checkpoints to sneak into Thailand either by boat or by car.
"The reopening of the bridge means easier transportation," said Ma Yee, a Burmese merchant from Myawaddy. "Now we just need to take the bus from Mae Sot to Myawaddy. Before we needed to take a boat and a car to cross the border." http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22602
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Deadly Clashes Between Govt. and KIA Mars Peace Talks
By BA KAUNG Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Deadly clashes between an ethnic Kachin militia and Burmese government troops have continued despite well publicized peace talks between the two sides in the run-up to the historic visit to Burma of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week.
The latest fighting in Momauk Township of Kachin State over the past few days confirmed the virtual failure of peace talks held in China between Burmese government ministers and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of the 10,000-strong Kachin Independence Army (KIA).
Reports from the frontline indicate that there have been casualties on both sides, but the exact numbers remain unknown at the present time.
The clashes, which were also reported in northeastern Shan State where the KIA has bases, broke out despite the Nov. 29 negotiations being highlighted in state-run newspapers to draw international attention to government efforts to resolve long-standing ethnic issues while Clinton was in the country.
A KIO official said that the failure of talks was because Burmese government ministers did not accept that fighting between the two sides is a political issue. This is despite the KIO calling for a political dialogue over their demands for autonomy in Kachin State---the same demand made since 1961.
"Government minister Aung Min said that this is an 'arms issue,' as opposed to a political one which our leader emphasized in the meeting. So they couldn't agree about it," said the official. "During the peace talks and afterwards, the government massively reinforced its troops in Kachin State."
A US state department official told reporters in Washington on Friday that the White House intends to support the Friends of Burma group, "that would provide and bring together substantial resources to the table to support autonomy and the like" if Burma makes a serious effort to achieve national dialogue aiming for autonomy for ethnic minorities in the country.
Recent hostilities in Kachin State have displaced tens of thousands of people along the China-Burma border, and the Burmese government has denied the UN and international aid groups access to these areas.
In an interview with The Irrawaddy, UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana said that access to conflict zones will be one of his top priorities during his forthcoming visit to Burma in February. He also urged the government to initiate a peace process under the premises of civilian and democratic values.
Over the weekend, democracy activists and civil society groups from Rangoon and Mandalay went to provide aid to refugee camps in the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina and also Waimaw. Myat Thu, a 88 Generation Students leader who was visiting the camp said that refugees are in great need of support and have no hope of returning to their homes because of the fighting.
"They all look shabby and are mainly supported by Christian churches in the town," he said. "There are also refugee camps which we cannot go to since they are not under government control."
During Clinton's visit, the government signed a formal ceasefire agreement with the powerful rebel group the Shan State Army-South. The agreement contains promises of economic development for local people in Shan State, but not regarding the issue of autonomy or political dialogue which the Kachins are demanding. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22605
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Dalai Lama Wants to Visit Burma
By BA KAUNG Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama expressed his desire last week to visit Burma to pay homage at the country's holiest shrine of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon.
The message was conveyed to leaders of Burmese Buddhist monks at the Global Buddhist Congregation 2011 held in New Delhi, India, on Nov. 27.
"The Dalai Lama said he has a great friendship with Burmese monks because they are well-versed in Buddhist scripture and also strictly follow the code of conduct of monk-hood. And he wants to pay a pilgrimage to Shwedagon," said Ashin Nyanissara, an influential Burmese Buddhist monk who joined the event in Delhi.
Burmese Buddhist monks responded to the Dalai Lama by saying that he would be invited to Burma at an appropriate time, Ashin Nyanissara said in a note posted on the internet.
But it is not clear when the Dalai Lama intends to come to Burma or if the Burmese government, a major ally of China, would issue a visa. Naypyidaw has already angered Beijing recently through the suspension of the Chinese-backed hydropower dam project in northern Burma.
The Chinese government has frequently objected to foreign nations granting the exiled Tibetan leader entry to their countries. The Dalai Lama had to cancel his plans to join the 80th birthday celebration of fellow Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu in South Africa this October after being denied a visa.
He has called for a genuine autonomy for Tibetans living in Chinese-controlled Tibet, but Beijing views him as a dangerous "separatist" who wishes to remove Tibet from China.
The Dalai Lama courted controversy in the region when he joined other Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Desmond Tutu, in Thailand in 1993 to protest about Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest.
Thailand eventually agreed to provide him with a 24-hour visa to attend the event despite fierce protests from Beijing.http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22606
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Boom and bust return to Wa and Mongla
Tuesday, 06 December 2011 16:25 S.H.A.N.
Almost 3 months after Wa and Mongla signed new ceasefire agreements with Naypyitaw, on 6 and 7 September respectively, SHAN reporter investors have returned to change the slump that had taken place during the last two years, according to Arn Tai who returned recently from Mongla.
The following is his report: When we were there last year during the Shan New Year, Mongla was almost a ghost town. Most of the shops were closed after their Chinese owners left. There was nothing to see in the evening, everything dark, except at the festival ground.
But now all the shops are opened and the lights are on late into the night. There are lots of cars and lots of people, especially those coming from across the border.
We also saw 4-5 new buildings under construction. When I asked the authorities, I was told they were hotels.
The former Lan Dong hotel complex of Zhao Wei, the owner of the Kings Romans Casino in Ton Pheung, Laos, however, now looked deserted. "Only a few Kokangs are staying there," said my guide, a permanent resident there.
Roads are being enlarged too: from Hsop Lwe to Mongla and from Mongla to Hsaleu further west near the border with Wa. People in Hsaleu told me the road going from Mongphen, inside the Wa territory to Panghsang, the Wa capital, also under construction, is even a bigger affair. "It is a 4 lane one, built by Thai engineers," said a Shan administrative official.
Moreover, Mongla is embarking on building a new town at Hsop Lwe, where the Lwe meets the Lam. (The Hsop Lwe we know is called Hsop Khong, the mouth of the Khong River)
As a result, the Shan New Year this year in Mongla is swarming with cars and people from all directions. It took us 1 hour to get from our hotel to the festival ground, although it was only 1 km away. "Reminds me of Bangkok during the rush hour," one of the Shans from the Thai capital said.
With more people in Mongla, more problems have followed, especially drugs. I remember there were only 4 checkpoints last year from Mongla to Hsop Lwe (or Hsop Khong to the local people): Hsop Khong, Kiang Khang, Nampan and Hsop Lwe. But now we were counting 5 more ones.
At every checkpoint, we had to climb down our trucks which were searched by the soldiers (in green uniforms) and by the narcotics officials (in camouflage). "They have been really tough on the travelers especially after the killings at the Golden Triangle," said a local.
On 7 October, 12 Chinese crewmen, including 2 women, were found floating near Chiang Saen. It was two days after Thai authorities seized two Chinese ships where 1 dead gunman and 920,000 meth pills were found. The drugs were believed to have originated from the Wa-Mongla areas.
Meanwhile, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), the latter popularly known as Mongla, despite ceasefire agreements with Naypyitaw, are still on high alert. "We never stop training," one officer told SHAN. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4252:boom-and-bust-return-to-wa-and-mongla&catid=93:general&Itemid=291
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Yawdserk: Ceasefire pact yet to be enforced
Tuesday, 06 December 2011 11:39 S.H.A.N.
The ceasefire that was agreed Friday, 2 December, between the Shan State Government and the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) was "in principle" and further communication between the two sides is needed to implement it at the ground level, said RCSS leader Lt-Gen Yawdserk yesterday.
As a result, there were still clashes reported in three townships: Namzang and Mongkeung, southern Shan State, on 3 December and Mongpiang, Eastern Shan State, on 4 December. "However, they were not pre-planned engagements, just accidental encounters," he explained.
On the other hand, there are no reports of clashes between the Burma Army and other groups that had previously signed ceasefire agreements: United Wa State Army (UWSA), National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), renamed Kaloh HtooBaw.
The first two were not not in actual combat with the Burma Army prior to the September agreements. With the Kaloh Htoo Baw, the agreement specified that the ceasefire, signed on 4 November, was to be affected on 6 November. "We are still waiting for the Burma Army's ceasefire instructions to its units before ordering our troops to follow suit," he said. (Regime sponsored media reported the Taunggyi meeting on Sunday, 4 December)
The delegation led by Sao Sai Lu that had met the Shan State Government in Taunggyi was back in Loi Taileng, the RCSS HQ, where its armed wing the Shan State Army (SSA) 'South' is also based, on 4 December, two days after the signing.
"We will be meeting tomorrow (6 December) to receive the delegation's report and assess the situation," he said.
According to U Aung Min, who heads President Thein Sein's newly formed committee to oversee negotiations at the state level, Naypyitaw's 3 step peace roadmap includes Ceasefire, Development and "Panglong like Conference."
However the said roadmap is yet to be publicly announced.
Update News (17:00)
The Shan State Army (SSA) 'South' received today a copy of the Burma Army's directive to its Shan State units to observe the ceasefire, issued on 3 December. It has, upon receipt, issued its own ceasefire directive to all SSA units, said Lt-Gen Yawdserk. (SHAN) http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4250:yawdserk-ceasefire-pact-yet-to-be-enforced&catid=85:politics&Itemid=266
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Burma checkpoint opens up again
Published: 6/12/2011 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The Thailand-Myawaddy border checkpoint, which has been closed for over a year, was officially reopened yesterday with the Naypyidaw government saying it looks forward to better economic ties.
Thai military officers (left) join their Burmese counterparts to officially reopen the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border checkpoint at the Thai-Burmese Friendship bridge over the Moei River that separates Myawaddy and Tak's Mae Sot district. ASSAWIN PHINITWONG
Burma's Commerce Minister U Win Myint, who oversees border trade, agreed to reopen the Myawaddy border checkpoint at the request of the Thai government.
Naypyidaw closed the checkpoint on July 18 last year, claiming that Thailand's construction of a river embankment could affect the borderline.
The closure has cost Thailand an estimated 20 billion baht in lost trade through the Mae Sot customs checkpoint, according to Banphot Kokiatcharoen, the chairman of the Tak Chamber of Commerce.
Burma also announced it has now declared Myawaddy a special economic zone for border trade as part of efforts to boost its economy.
This prompted Mae Sot mayor Thoetkiat Chinsoranan and local businessmen to call on Bangkok to also lift the status of Mae Sot municipality to that of a special economic zone. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/269386/burma-checkpoint-opens-up-again
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Hillary's Hopes for Burma
---By Mac McClelland
| Mon Dec. 5, 2011 9:57 AM PST
A poster of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi sabeth718/Flickr
This past month, I was on a sort of sneaky assignment and then out of the country, and in my absence there have been some huge developments in US-Burma relations. For the first time in 50 years, an American secretary of state dropped in on the nation that generally receives little more high-level American acknowledgment beyond passing negs about tyranny in presidential speeches. As Mother Jones' resident Burmaphile, I got an email from one of the editors last week asking the all-important question about Hillary Clinton's making nice and supposedly making headway with the intractable regime: "Is this for real?"
If Washington is assuming that Burma's recent (bullshit) elections and the release of its most famous political prisoner means that we can lead the country into a future awash in democracy and rainbows, that would be a little too lovely to be believed. But that the Obama administration is cautiously optimistic, or that it senses wee little steps toward progress, and that there's an opportunity for the United States to get involved and nudge it along? Yeah. Maybe.
For decades, our policy has been to sanction Burma and wag our finger at it. I've long been a proponent of more engagement with the country. Though nobody wants to look like they're befriending bad guys, and there's no proof that getting more involved with Burma will work, there is proof of one thing: That the policy we've been pursuing so far does not work. Our sanctions are meaningless, because a) lots of other countries are happy to buy the Burmese resources we won't; b) the goods we sanction can still make it to us via roads like smuggling; and c) there are loopholes in our sanctions that still allow Chevron to operate there and make the regime big money.
We're not lifting the sanctions yet---and, for the aforementioned reasons, I kind of doubt Burma really cares---but we are starting assistance to programs that deliver health care, microlending, English instruction, and help for land mine victims. Regardless of whether you're of the school of thought that aid to corrupt/underdeveloped nations is enabling/infantilizing, this aid at least has the possibility of creating leverage, like the kind the United States and Germany wielded against Uganda when it proposed killing gay people. It's a long, long road to reconciling of Burma's problems, like, say, the systematic government-perpetrated rape and torture and ethnic cleansing going on its borderlands, issues Clinton says she "raised directly with the government" on her trip. That mention over lunch is unlikely to save lives. But what past administrations have said to Burma is, "Hey, not that there's any reason for you to listen, because we give you/cooperate with you on absolutely nothing, and you're dead to us. But: In our opinion, you should stop slaughtering people." Moving forward, the conversation might be a little more compelling when it sounds like, "Hey, stop slaughtering people. We give you money."
Burma has long been run by assholes. It remains to be seen whether the president and parliamentarians put in power by the elections are as big of assholes as the assholes who led before them. And at the very least, the Burmese people will be getting the chance for more medicine and education and microloans. It can't hurt for trying to befriend Burma and empower the population. The former has a shot, and let's definitely hear it for the latter. I'm not necessarily given to bouts of optimism, even the cautious kind, but if there's anything we were reminded of this year, it's that an empowered population is the the best tool of all against repressive regimes. http://motherjones.com/rights-stuff/2011/12/hillary-clinton-burma-myanmar
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Burma Dares What Rich Nations Dare Not
By LALIT K JHA Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Washington---By inviting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to visit their country and suspending construction of a dam financed by the Chinese and intended to supply electricity to China, the leaders of the poor nation of Burma have taken the risk of offending Beijing in manner that most rich countries would not, CNN's Fareed Zakaria said on his weekly talk show, GPS.
"One of the world's poorest countries has done something few rich nations would dare to do these days. It said no to China. I'm talking about Myanmar [Burma], an impoverished country that was until this year the world's longest serving military dictatorship," said Zakaria.
"It [Burma] shocked Beijing recently by pulling the plug on a dam that was meant to supply millions of Chinese with electricity. Beijing may have been upset, but it nonetheless invited Myanmar's top general to the capital last week. He was greeted by none other than the man who is expected to become China's president next year....," he said.
Referring to Clinton's trip to Burma last week, the first visit by a US secretary of state in 56 years, Zakaria said Burma is opening up, which is turning this country into a cockpit of international occurrence, rivalries and diplomacy.
The fact that Burma is now making overtures toward Washington suggests that "It is seeking a hedge against China's influence in the region, it wants the West to drop sanctions and it wants more generally to reengage with the world," he said, adding that these are all positive signs for Washington.
Burma's progress opens a window for the US to further strengthen its footprint in Asia and maintain a balance of power on that continent, said Zakaria.
"The Chinese will still have deep ties in Myanmar, but increasingly so will India. Myanmar clearly wants to play all three powers against each other. But in doing so, and to really get America interested, it realizes that it will have to open up its economy and its political system," he said.
"The good news is that the winners of this great power game may turn out to be the long-suffering people of Myanmar," said Zakaria.
Meanwhile, the US State Department on Monday said that its Special Envoy in Burma, Derek Mitchell, could be travelling to the region to brief the countries about Clinton's recent trip to Burma.
Clinton's trip to also figured in her meeting with the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, in Bonn, Germany, a senior US official said. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=22600
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War seems unlikely to cease in Burma’s Kachin State
By Zin Linn Dec 06, 2011 7:07PM UTC
Ongoing civil war in Kachin State has been on the rise in various fronts. Burmese government armed forces expanded their offensive without listening the people’s voices for peace talks in Kachin State.
There was a skirmish between Burmese government soldiers and Kachin Independence Army’s (KIA) last week. Burma Army’s Light Infantry Battalion No. 386 based in Namma was attacked by KIA troops in two separate locations according to local eyewitnesses’ report. Three government soldiers were killed in action in northern Kachin state, where in recent months the worst hostilities has been taken place and damage the country’s peace and stability within almost two decades.
On 3 November, one government soldier was killed and three others injured after an assault on a convoy roaming near Lagawng Kahtawng village located between the Mogaung ferry station and Lawa. The attack was made by the Kachin Independence Army’s battalion No. 14 under the command of the Hugawng valley-based KIA’s 2nd Brigade and fighters from the People’s Army. The People’s Army is separate from the KIA and instead led by a civilian command under the Kachin Independence Organization’s Department of General Administration, as said by the Kachin News Group (KNG).
On 4 November, two more government soldiers from the same military column were killed and many more injured after a mine planted by the KIA’s Battalion 14 exploded as a Burmese convoy travelled the well-known Stillwell Road (also known as Ledo Road). According to local witnesses, the explosion took place on the Lawa to Dumbung section of the road near the Sai Lin Hka stream.
The bodies of two government soldiers were buried near the stream whereas other injured soldiers were transported to Mogaung for treatment. In accordance with eyewitnesses’ report, before wounded soldiers were moved their uniforms were changed with civilians clothes, the local witnesses said.
A source close to the Burmese army said that the convoy under attack had been on its way to help 5 wounded government soldiers who had survived an attack on 2 December at Dai Kri. At some point in the Dai Kri attack, which occurred between Ma-U Pyin and Nam Ya in the Hpakant jade mining area, the Kachin resistance guerrillas killed five soldiers and seized a variety of guns and ammunition, KNG said.
Moreover, a surprise attack by the Kachin Independence Army in Mongkoe in Shan state killed at least 18 Burmese army personnel early Monday morning, as said by eyewitnesses’ report. The attack was occurred in downtown Mongkoe where the Government’s Military Strategic Office stationed and a police station at its next-door.
Among the dead was Major Maung Maung Myo, the commander of the Infantry Battalion No. 129 based in Chin-shwe-hawy (Nyan-kun), the KIA confirmed. Although most of the slain were soldiers, two of the dead were members of the local police force, the KIA officers said.
Several housings and offices in the military compound of the Strategic Bureau were also destroyed during the raid, a local resident said. The battle of Mongkoe near the Sino-Burma border was the most recent clash between the KIA and the government forces in an increasingly violent conflict that began in June this year.
In keeping with the Kachin News Group referring a KIA official, the raid was lasted just about 45-minute and done by KIA Battalions 36 and 38 under the 4th Brigade based in Northern Shan State. In addition, Corporal Sumlut Gam Seng of the KIA’s Battalion 36 died in action during the raid, the KIA official said.
During a military offensive against the KIA, Burmese armed forces shattered electricity power supply cables using artillery fire in Ga Ra Yang village on Nov. 1, referring KIO officials the Kachin News Group reported.
Since then on, residents of Myitkyina, the capital city of Kachin state, have been living without electricity at present. The Burmese Army knowingly destroyed the power supply lines to the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) controlled area, said KIO officials.
While fighting between the KIO and the Burmese army continues, preliminary talks between the two sides stay behind lacking any hopeful result. Late last month representatives from the KIO met with Burmese government representatives in both Thailand and China to thrash out ending the war which began in last June.
Some analysts believe armed conflicts in Kachin State possibly will become wider since the Kachin resistance groups refuse to accept the junta’s new constitution which says Burma Army is the only military institution in the country.
The Kachin rebels also consider the nominally civilian government which steadfast in the 2008 constitution will not let their basic rights or self-determination in accordance with the 1947 Panglong Agreement.
The KIO leadership has constantly declared that it will not make an armistice without facts that a truce will be pursued by crucial political dialogue. http://asiancorrespondent.com/71429/war-seems-unlikely-to-cease-in-burma%e2%80%99s-kachin-state/
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