PIA-Pangasinan
January 18, 2008
ALAMINOS CITY -- The outgoing ambassador of the Union of Myanmar, Thaung Tun, said that he and his family plans to stay in the country once he retires.
Ambassador Thaung Tun, who is slated to be his country's next ambassador to Belgium, was joined by his wife Sandar Lwin in a two-day vacation here last week.
Thaung Tun, who considers the Philippines his second home, expressed his preference to spend some time or live permanently in Alaminos City and other coastal cities in the Visayas.
The ambassador told Mayor Hernani A. Braganza during a courtesy call that he was very surprised by the splendor of the city after watching on television 'Living Asia'.
He said he became so interested about the Hundred Islands and started to read more about the city through its official website.
"We could entice more tourists from other Asian nations like Myanmar to visit Hundred Islands once an airport is built here," Thaung Tun said.
"I think it will be good if we neighboring countries will have a cooperative effort in terms of tourism promotion, "he said, adding that Myanmar "is also slowly working on it."
Thaung Tun, former Director-General of Political Department of his country, also expressed appreciation for the visions and programs of the administration of Mayor Braganza.
"I hope you will be very successful in your future endeavors for the city and more power to you," the ambassador told Braganza.
Fascinated at the way the marine environment is being preserved in the Hundred Islands, the Myanmar ambassador vowed to encourage sister city arrangement between Alaminos and key cities in his country.
"When we come back, we are no longer after the beauty of the place but (more importantly) on the people's warmth, the culture and Filipino food."
The ambassador was the first member of the diplomatic community to visit the city this year.
In 2006, Charge D'Affaires of Embassy of Nigeria S.A. Dada Olisa and top Cambodian officials were also here for an eco-tour and team building.
Also here last year to initially discuss sisterhood ties and investment ventures for Alaminos were Chinese consul Chen Lai Ping and His Excellency Abdullah Ahmed Y.A. Al-Mutawaa, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Embassy of Qatar.
Friday, 18 January 2008
Myanmar to liberalize fuel import
Jiang Yuxia
China View
YANGON, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar is deliberating on liberalizing the import of fuel by allowing the private sector to undertake the business in a bid to increase production, the local weekly Myanmar Times reported in this week's issue.
Private business organizations are set to seek fuel import through the Trade Council, the country's highest authority in charge of export and import trading businesses, the report said, quoting the Export and Import Supervisory Committee.
"Under the existing procedure, only government affiliated organizations and private companies, including the Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd and Htoo Trading Company, may import fuel directly," it said.
The move will signify the first ever allowance for the private sector to import fuel.
Myanmar mainly imports diesel from Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, heavily draining on the country's foreign currency reserve, according to the report.
Figures from the Ministry of Energy show that Myanmar produces about 80 million gallons of diesel annually for domestic demand, while importing the fuel worth some 330 million gallons a year over the past few years.
Diesel consumption has tripled in the last decade, while demand for petrol has doubled, the figures also indicate.
The report quoted domestic energy experts as saying that Myanmar imported fuel which worth as much as 600 million dollars last year.
In August 2007, the official prices of fuel in Myanmar were raised for the second time since October 2005 by 66 percent to 2,500 Kyats (about 1.96 U.S. dollars) per gallon for petrol, while those of diesel by 100 percent to 3,000 Kyats (2.36 dollars) per gallon and compressed natural gas (CNG) by over 500 percent to 273Kyats (21 U.S. cents) from 52 Kyats (4 cents) per kilogram or to 3,000 Kyats (2.36 dollars) from 500 Kyats (39 cents) per 50-liter cyclinder.
The market prices of fuel have been quoted as high as 4,600 Kyats per gallon for petrol and 4,800 Kyats for diesel ever since then.
The official fuel prices and its market prices have constantly remained a wide gap ever since in Myanmar.
The government claimed that it has maintained such constant supply of fuel domestically at a heavily subsidized lower prices in the past.
On Jan. 1, the government said that it would maintain the controlled supply of fuel of petrol and diesel to motor vehicles running in the biggest city of Yangon as usual without change, denying the allegation that fuel supply to the consumers will be cut beginning this year.
The controlled quota of fuel supply to private vehicles has remained at 2 gallons per day per car since a few years ago.
China View
YANGON, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar is deliberating on liberalizing the import of fuel by allowing the private sector to undertake the business in a bid to increase production, the local weekly Myanmar Times reported in this week's issue.
Private business organizations are set to seek fuel import through the Trade Council, the country's highest authority in charge of export and import trading businesses, the report said, quoting the Export and Import Supervisory Committee.
"Under the existing procedure, only government affiliated organizations and private companies, including the Union of Myanmar Economic Holding Ltd and Htoo Trading Company, may import fuel directly," it said.
The move will signify the first ever allowance for the private sector to import fuel.
Myanmar mainly imports diesel from Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, heavily draining on the country's foreign currency reserve, according to the report.
Figures from the Ministry of Energy show that Myanmar produces about 80 million gallons of diesel annually for domestic demand, while importing the fuel worth some 330 million gallons a year over the past few years.
Diesel consumption has tripled in the last decade, while demand for petrol has doubled, the figures also indicate.
The report quoted domestic energy experts as saying that Myanmar imported fuel which worth as much as 600 million dollars last year.
In August 2007, the official prices of fuel in Myanmar were raised for the second time since October 2005 by 66 percent to 2,500 Kyats (about 1.96 U.S. dollars) per gallon for petrol, while those of diesel by 100 percent to 3,000 Kyats (2.36 dollars) per gallon and compressed natural gas (CNG) by over 500 percent to 273Kyats (21 U.S. cents) from 52 Kyats (4 cents) per kilogram or to 3,000 Kyats (2.36 dollars) from 500 Kyats (39 cents) per 50-liter cyclinder.
The market prices of fuel have been quoted as high as 4,600 Kyats per gallon for petrol and 4,800 Kyats for diesel ever since then.
The official fuel prices and its market prices have constantly remained a wide gap ever since in Myanmar.
The government claimed that it has maintained such constant supply of fuel domestically at a heavily subsidized lower prices in the past.
On Jan. 1, the government said that it would maintain the controlled supply of fuel of petrol and diesel to motor vehicles running in the biggest city of Yangon as usual without change, denying the allegation that fuel supply to the consumers will be cut beginning this year.
The controlled quota of fuel supply to private vehicles has remained at 2 gallons per day per car since a few years ago.
After several blasts hit civilians, suspicions fall on Burmese junta
AsiaNews.It
January 17, 2008
With yesterday’s, the number of bombings now stands at four in six days. The junta points the finger at Karen rebels but so far no one has claimed responsibility. For Myanmar experts bombings are an old method used by the generals to justify tighter controls and increased repression. Meanwhile unrest in population continues as the UN and EU envoys become the butt of jokes.
Yangon (AsiaNews) – “It is the usual strategy used by the military regime, an old trick employed for decades to justify greater controls and more repression,” said Burmese experts who talked to AsiaNews about a series of bombings that hit Myanmar since the start of the month and which the ruling junta has tried to pin on rebel groups.
The latest explosion tore through a bus travelling on a road that links Mandalay to Yangon killing the driver. It is fourth of its kind since Friday.
State-controlled media have blamed the separatist Karen National Union (KNU) and their foreign supporters.
The bus in fact was travelling to Yangon from Kyaukyi, a town in a Karen-inhabited region.
For the past fifty years the Karen separatist movement has fought for independence and has recently charged the military regime with ‘genocide’ against Karen civilians.
The KNU is also the only major ethnic rebel group that has not agreed to a cease-fire with the junta.
“There are many angry people in Myanmar,” said an anonymous diplomat. “But there is a tradition of co-ordinated attacks like the last one. The question is who benefits.”
Analysts in the north of the country who asked that their names not be mentioned told AsiaNews that the government has the greatest interest in this kind of violence.
“It is not the first time” for such actions. “It is a method used for decades. When tensions are high on the home front, the authorities carry out incidents of this kind to justify tighter security measures, that is a more intense crackdown on dissent.”
Many in the population agree, “tired of the government’s lies” and abuses after it violently crushed protests by Buddhist monks.
“Unrest is growing and no one believes what official media report,” some merchants in Yangon said. “Even some monks have cautiously begun preaching against the government; not directly but with words that have double meanings. And UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari and EU representative Piero Fassino have become the butt of jokes because in spite of all their trips and meetings they have failed to take home any concrete result.”
January 17, 2008
With yesterday’s, the number of bombings now stands at four in six days. The junta points the finger at Karen rebels but so far no one has claimed responsibility. For Myanmar experts bombings are an old method used by the generals to justify tighter controls and increased repression. Meanwhile unrest in population continues as the UN and EU envoys become the butt of jokes.
Yangon (AsiaNews) – “It is the usual strategy used by the military regime, an old trick employed for decades to justify greater controls and more repression,” said Burmese experts who talked to AsiaNews about a series of bombings that hit Myanmar since the start of the month and which the ruling junta has tried to pin on rebel groups.
The latest explosion tore through a bus travelling on a road that links Mandalay to Yangon killing the driver. It is fourth of its kind since Friday.
State-controlled media have blamed the separatist Karen National Union (KNU) and their foreign supporters.
The bus in fact was travelling to Yangon from Kyaukyi, a town in a Karen-inhabited region.
For the past fifty years the Karen separatist movement has fought for independence and has recently charged the military regime with ‘genocide’ against Karen civilians.
The KNU is also the only major ethnic rebel group that has not agreed to a cease-fire with the junta.
“There are many angry people in Myanmar,” said an anonymous diplomat. “But there is a tradition of co-ordinated attacks like the last one. The question is who benefits.”
Analysts in the north of the country who asked that their names not be mentioned told AsiaNews that the government has the greatest interest in this kind of violence.
“It is not the first time” for such actions. “It is a method used for decades. When tensions are high on the home front, the authorities carry out incidents of this kind to justify tighter security measures, that is a more intense crackdown on dissent.”
Many in the population agree, “tired of the government’s lies” and abuses after it violently crushed protests by Buddhist monks.
“Unrest is growing and no one believes what official media report,” some merchants in Yangon said. “Even some monks have cautiously begun preaching against the government; not directly but with words that have double meanings. And UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari and EU representative Piero Fassino have become the butt of jokes because in spite of all their trips and meetings they have failed to take home any concrete result.”
South Korea Offers Work Permits to Burmese
Violet Cho
The Irrawaddy News
January 17, 2008
Some 2,000 people in Burma will soon be able to go to South Korea to work legally, due to the Korean government’s decision to offer working visas to foreign workers.
According to a source close to the South Korean embassy in Rangoon, an overseas job seeking agency, Shwe Innwa, has received permission from the military government to oversee the process in Burma.
Burmese workers who want to work in South Korea must fulfill certain criteria, according to Shwe Innwa. For example, they must be aged under 30 and pass a test in Korean language.
A source close to the Shwe Innwa agency said that, as a new project, they have not yet set the working arrangements and fees; however, previously, Burmese workers who wanted to work in South Korea had to pay brokers at least 5 million kyat (about US $4,000), which included finding jobs for them and travel arrangements.
There is a lot of competition between brokers in Rangoon, said a source close to Shwe Inwa, adding that most job seeking agencies were run by the families of military veterans.
Kyaw Zwa, a Burmese factory worker in South Korea, said, “The majority of Burmese people who get the opportunity to come here are military veterans’ children and those who have connections to the military.”
Kyaw Zwa claimed that brokers with offices in Burma and South Korea make huge profits from the overseas workers. “Brokers always ask workers to remit half of their salaries every month to them,” he said. “The brokers will deduct various fees, and then send the remaining money to the workers’ families that stay behind in Burma”
Burmese migrant workers in South Korea mostly work in plastics factories, noodle factories and carpentry and construction businesses. They generally have to work at least eight hours as day and they usually earn $700 to $800 per month, some 50 percent lower than South Korean workers.
According to South Korean immigration statistics, there are currently about 4,000 Burmese migrant workers in South Korea, about 700 of who are working illegally.
Although Burmese workers will have the opportunity to apply for legal working status in South Korea for the first time, observers fear that severe exploitation of migrant workers’ rights will be widespread if the overseas job seeking agencies fail to take responsibility and protect Burmese workers from unscrupulous employers.
Zaw Moe Aung, a senior member of the National League of Democracy—Liberated Area (South Korea), explained that Burmese migrant workers face many problems with Korean employers.
“Burmese workers were always ignored by the agency that brought them to South Korea,” he said. “The broker will not help them, even if they are underpaid or refused wages. They are also prohibited from seeking other employment unless they get permission from the first employer.”
The Irrawaddy News
January 17, 2008
Some 2,000 people in Burma will soon be able to go to South Korea to work legally, due to the Korean government’s decision to offer working visas to foreign workers.
According to a source close to the South Korean embassy in Rangoon, an overseas job seeking agency, Shwe Innwa, has received permission from the military government to oversee the process in Burma.
Burmese workers who want to work in South Korea must fulfill certain criteria, according to Shwe Innwa. For example, they must be aged under 30 and pass a test in Korean language.
A source close to the Shwe Innwa agency said that, as a new project, they have not yet set the working arrangements and fees; however, previously, Burmese workers who wanted to work in South Korea had to pay brokers at least 5 million kyat (about US $4,000), which included finding jobs for them and travel arrangements.
There is a lot of competition between brokers in Rangoon, said a source close to Shwe Inwa, adding that most job seeking agencies were run by the families of military veterans.
Kyaw Zwa, a Burmese factory worker in South Korea, said, “The majority of Burmese people who get the opportunity to come here are military veterans’ children and those who have connections to the military.”
Kyaw Zwa claimed that brokers with offices in Burma and South Korea make huge profits from the overseas workers. “Brokers always ask workers to remit half of their salaries every month to them,” he said. “The brokers will deduct various fees, and then send the remaining money to the workers’ families that stay behind in Burma”
Burmese migrant workers in South Korea mostly work in plastics factories, noodle factories and carpentry and construction businesses. They generally have to work at least eight hours as day and they usually earn $700 to $800 per month, some 50 percent lower than South Korean workers.
According to South Korean immigration statistics, there are currently about 4,000 Burmese migrant workers in South Korea, about 700 of who are working illegally.
Although Burmese workers will have the opportunity to apply for legal working status in South Korea for the first time, observers fear that severe exploitation of migrant workers’ rights will be widespread if the overseas job seeking agencies fail to take responsibility and protect Burmese workers from unscrupulous employers.
Zaw Moe Aung, a senior member of the National League of Democracy—Liberated Area (South Korea), explained that Burmese migrant workers face many problems with Korean employers.
“Burmese workers were always ignored by the agency that brought them to South Korea,” he said. “The broker will not help them, even if they are underpaid or refused wages. They are also prohibited from seeking other employment unless they get permission from the first employer.”
BURMA: Junta Achieves Food Shortages Amidst Plenty
Marwaan Macan-Markar
IPS News
BANGKOK, Jan 17 (IPS) - By announcing a new programme to expand its work in military-ruled Burma, a U.N. food agency has shed more light on the dire economic realities faced by that country’s impoverished people.
The World Food Programme (WFP) plans to feed 1.6 million people living in remote, rural areas over a three-year period, beginning this year. It is a marked increase from the 500,000 people the agency has catered to so far in helping ‘’vulnerable communities to overcome chronic food shortages.’’
Most of the communities due to benefit belong to ethnic minorities in the South-east Asian nation. These regions were plagued by conflict for years, where Burmese troops fought ethnic rebels. Peace deals signed between the warring parties through the 1990s saw an end to the separatist struggles.
According to the WFP, a steady supply of rice will feature in the basket of food due to the minorities living in, among other places, the Kachin State, in north-eastern Burma, near the Chinese border. The other items include pulses, vegetable oil, salt and high-protein blended food.
But such a U.N. intervention comes despite Burma, also called Myanmar, being a substantial producer of rice. ‘’Myanmar produces large amounts of rice, much of it grown in the central delta region,’’ Paul Risley, spokesman for the WFP’s Asia office in Bangkok, said in an interview. ‘’All the rice for our programmes is domestically purchased.’’
Yet what has come in the way of the home-grown grain getting to the needy is a vast network of security checkpoints set up by the military and, in some areas, by ethnic militias. Such roadblocks have forced the movement of food by local traders to a trickle, at times. Clearance to move food in trucks from one state to another requires the approval of the military’s local area commander, for which bribes have become mandatory.
Even the country’s majority Burmans are not immune to these military-imposed hurdles, consequently increasing the number of people enduring food shortages. The WFP estimates that in all nearly five million people, just under 10 percent of the country’s 54 million population, suffer from food insecurity. The impact of the restrictions on transporting food and the poverty rates has resulted in nearly 36 percent of children under five years being underweight and malnourished, according to some studies.
Such limits placed on the movement of food have little to do with security concerns of the notoriously oppressive Burmese junta. They are a military solution to control the price of food commodities, including rice, across the country. ‘’The junta has very little understanding of economics. These roadblocks have been around for decades,’’ says Win Min, a Burmese national security expert teaching at Payap University in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai.
‘’They have little security value for the junta. They were introduced to keep a check on the price of rice going up,’’ he explained in an interview. ‘’But the situation has become worse today. More checkpoints have come up. So the price of rice in one state is different to the price in the next.’’
The junta’s mishandling of the domestic rice trade is just one in a litany errors it has committed that has dismantled a once promising economy. When British colonisation ended in Burma 60 years ago, the country was known as a one of the world’s major rice exporters. ‘’(At) independence, in 1948, Burma was regarded as the South-east Asian nation ‘most likely to succeed’,’’ states ALTSEAN, a regional human rights lobby on Burma, in a recent report.
The decay set in after the military grabbed power in a 1962 coup. The strongman at the time, Gen. Ne Win, opted for a socialist agenda, titled the ‘Burmese Way to Socialism.’ It led to the nationalisation of all the major industries, banks and the international trading sector. Ne Win’s successors, including the current military leaders, opted for a more open economic agenda once they came to power, including a bow to more private sector activity.
The shift, however, produced little difference. ‘’The economic mismanagement of the current military junta, the State Peace and Development Council, is causing the collapse of social infrastructure and perpetuating serious threats to human security,’’ states ALTSEAN, which stands for the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma. ‘’The military regimes that have ruled the country since 1962 have dragged the country into disgrace and economic ruin through gross economic mismanagement (and) corruption.’’
‘’The U.N. estimates that households are (currently) spending 70 percent of their incomes on food, with more than 90 percent of the population already living on less than one US dollar a day,’’ it adds.
Such dismal figures have brought into relief the paradox in the country, since Burma is awash with natural wealth, ranging from extensive oil and gas reserves to the world-renowned pigeon-blood rubies. The rewards from such wealth, however, have been denied to the public.
The pro-democracy protests on the streets of Rangoon and elsewhere in August and September last year revealed the public anger towards unbearable economic woes. The protests, which were brutally crushed, were triggered after the junta raised the price of oil by 500 percent in mid-August with no warning.
Thailand’s estimated two million registered and unregistered migrant workers from Burma also echo a tale of economic hardship. What began as a trickle in the 1980s, largely involving workers from ethnic communities along the border, turned into a flood by the end of the 1990s, with more Burmans from the centre of the country crossing the border in search of jobs.
‘’They have left because of unemployment and a lack of money to buy food and other items for their daily needs,’’ says Moe Swe, secretary-general of Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association, a Burmese labour rights group based along the Thai-Burma border. ‘’The economy has deteriorated and the people have to leave Burma if they want to survive.’’
The profile of Burmese who have entered Thailand in search of work to feed themselves illustrates the current predicament. ‘’Some of the migrant workers here used to be teachers, nurses, government sector employees, factory workers and farmers,’’ he told IPS.
IPS News
BANGKOK, Jan 17 (IPS) - By announcing a new programme to expand its work in military-ruled Burma, a U.N. food agency has shed more light on the dire economic realities faced by that country’s impoverished people.
The World Food Programme (WFP) plans to feed 1.6 million people living in remote, rural areas over a three-year period, beginning this year. It is a marked increase from the 500,000 people the agency has catered to so far in helping ‘’vulnerable communities to overcome chronic food shortages.’’
Most of the communities due to benefit belong to ethnic minorities in the South-east Asian nation. These regions were plagued by conflict for years, where Burmese troops fought ethnic rebels. Peace deals signed between the warring parties through the 1990s saw an end to the separatist struggles.
According to the WFP, a steady supply of rice will feature in the basket of food due to the minorities living in, among other places, the Kachin State, in north-eastern Burma, near the Chinese border. The other items include pulses, vegetable oil, salt and high-protein blended food.
But such a U.N. intervention comes despite Burma, also called Myanmar, being a substantial producer of rice. ‘’Myanmar produces large amounts of rice, much of it grown in the central delta region,’’ Paul Risley, spokesman for the WFP’s Asia office in Bangkok, said in an interview. ‘’All the rice for our programmes is domestically purchased.’’
Yet what has come in the way of the home-grown grain getting to the needy is a vast network of security checkpoints set up by the military and, in some areas, by ethnic militias. Such roadblocks have forced the movement of food by local traders to a trickle, at times. Clearance to move food in trucks from one state to another requires the approval of the military’s local area commander, for which bribes have become mandatory.
Even the country’s majority Burmans are not immune to these military-imposed hurdles, consequently increasing the number of people enduring food shortages. The WFP estimates that in all nearly five million people, just under 10 percent of the country’s 54 million population, suffer from food insecurity. The impact of the restrictions on transporting food and the poverty rates has resulted in nearly 36 percent of children under five years being underweight and malnourished, according to some studies.
Such limits placed on the movement of food have little to do with security concerns of the notoriously oppressive Burmese junta. They are a military solution to control the price of food commodities, including rice, across the country. ‘’The junta has very little understanding of economics. These roadblocks have been around for decades,’’ says Win Min, a Burmese national security expert teaching at Payap University in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai.
‘’They have little security value for the junta. They were introduced to keep a check on the price of rice going up,’’ he explained in an interview. ‘’But the situation has become worse today. More checkpoints have come up. So the price of rice in one state is different to the price in the next.’’
The junta’s mishandling of the domestic rice trade is just one in a litany errors it has committed that has dismantled a once promising economy. When British colonisation ended in Burma 60 years ago, the country was known as a one of the world’s major rice exporters. ‘’(At) independence, in 1948, Burma was regarded as the South-east Asian nation ‘most likely to succeed’,’’ states ALTSEAN, a regional human rights lobby on Burma, in a recent report.
The decay set in after the military grabbed power in a 1962 coup. The strongman at the time, Gen. Ne Win, opted for a socialist agenda, titled the ‘Burmese Way to Socialism.’ It led to the nationalisation of all the major industries, banks and the international trading sector. Ne Win’s successors, including the current military leaders, opted for a more open economic agenda once they came to power, including a bow to more private sector activity.
The shift, however, produced little difference. ‘’The economic mismanagement of the current military junta, the State Peace and Development Council, is causing the collapse of social infrastructure and perpetuating serious threats to human security,’’ states ALTSEAN, which stands for the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma. ‘’The military regimes that have ruled the country since 1962 have dragged the country into disgrace and economic ruin through gross economic mismanagement (and) corruption.’’
‘’The U.N. estimates that households are (currently) spending 70 percent of their incomes on food, with more than 90 percent of the population already living on less than one US dollar a day,’’ it adds.
Such dismal figures have brought into relief the paradox in the country, since Burma is awash with natural wealth, ranging from extensive oil and gas reserves to the world-renowned pigeon-blood rubies. The rewards from such wealth, however, have been denied to the public.
The pro-democracy protests on the streets of Rangoon and elsewhere in August and September last year revealed the public anger towards unbearable economic woes. The protests, which were brutally crushed, were triggered after the junta raised the price of oil by 500 percent in mid-August with no warning.
Thailand’s estimated two million registered and unregistered migrant workers from Burma also echo a tale of economic hardship. What began as a trickle in the 1980s, largely involving workers from ethnic communities along the border, turned into a flood by the end of the 1990s, with more Burmans from the centre of the country crossing the border in search of jobs.
‘’They have left because of unemployment and a lack of money to buy food and other items for their daily needs,’’ says Moe Swe, secretary-general of Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association, a Burmese labour rights group based along the Thai-Burma border. ‘’The economy has deteriorated and the people have to leave Burma if they want to survive.’’
The profile of Burmese who have entered Thailand in search of work to feed themselves illustrates the current predicament. ‘’Some of the migrant workers here used to be teachers, nurses, government sector employees, factory workers and farmers,’’ he told IPS.
INDIA/CHINA: Eyeing Burma
John Feffer
IPS News
WASHINGTON, Jan 18 - When the world’s two most populous countries held a summit this month in Beijing, their agenda was brimful with collaboration. India and China, once adversaries that fought a war in 1962, are now leading trading partners.
But, while they see eye to eye on several key geopolitical issues such as Iran and have even conducted a joint military exercise, there is an item on the bilateral agenda that elicits somewhat less cooperation -- the country that borders them both, Burma.
Burma is not as significant a thorn in the side of the emerging alliance as Tibet or territorial claims. India’s provision of safe haven to the Tibetan resistance movement and China’s territorial claims over parts of India both figure more prominently in cross-border tensions. But the different approaches that the two Asian powers have taken toward the resource-rich but poor and isolated Burma, the largest country in Southeast Asia, reflect important differences in tactics and philosophy.
"After 1988, India with missionary zeal cut off all contact with the junta in Burma and gave the Nehru Award to Aung Sang Suu Kyi," explains Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi who was the keynote speaker at a Jan. 16 seminar in Washington, DC sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. "By the time India reversed that policy, it realised that it had lost Burma to China. China had built reconnaissance facilities on the Coco Islands. So, this shift from a moral, value-based foreign policy to realpolitik on Burma came after India burned its hands and feet and didn’t have much to show for it."
China, on the other hand, has for some time hewed close to realpolitik in its support of Burma’s military government. "China always wants to have neighbors that are friendly," explains Minxin Pei, director of the China Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Burma is like a client state. If China can’t have Burma, it will deny it to another power." Although the level of trade between the two countries remains rather modest, China provides the military junta with arms, directs considerable investment into the country, and eyes Burma’s energy resources.
In addition, China wants to stabilise several cross-border problems, including AIDS and refugees, argues Derek Mitchell, the director for Asia in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Also there is opportunism," he continues. "China sees strategic opportunity to have access since the United States is ignoring Burma."
This strategic opportunity hinges a great deal on Burma’s location. "For China, Burma is the entryway to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, and it oversees vital communication lanes in the Strait of Malacca," Chellaney points out. "China is busy completing the Irrawaddy Corridor involving road, river, rail, and energy-transport links between Burmese ports and Yunnan province."
China’s economic growth depends on increased imports of energy. Burma is one potential source. "Burma sits on vast gas reserves which are coveted by its neighbors," Chellaney adds. "But Burma, because it is hit by sanctions and is an isolated state, hasn’t reaped those dividends. Foreign investments in Burma’s gas exploration and production have not been too significant. Sanctions have prevented Burma from accessing liquefaction technology to become a liquid natural gas exporter. Its only choice is to sell natural gas by pipeline to its immediate neighbors -- to Thailand or to China once a pipeline is complete." Chellaney predicts that the pipeline to China, news of which broke at the end of last year, could be operational within a year.
The relationship between China and Burma, which might look cozy from the outside, is not without tension. Most of the energy and transportation plans are only at the agreement stage. "Work may have started on the pipeline," argues Priscilla Clapp, former U.S. charge in Burma from 1999 to 2002. "I cannot believe that it will happen in a year. Nothing happens in a year in Burma." Indian reports of a major Chinese military facility in Burma’s Coco Islands, she continues, are exaggerated. "They have some antennas down there. A few years ago India claimed that it was a major Chinese naval base, but that’s bunk. The Burmese won’t allow that. The Burmese are ferociously neutral. They’re not going to allow any other power to establish a military base or significant military presence in their country."
"China is a partner of last resort," explains Derek Mitchell. "The isolation strategy means that the Burmese junta has to turn to China. They don’t like it, but it helps them stay in power."
The competition between India and China for influence in Burma reflects a larger jockeying for power between the two Asian giants. Although the recent summit accentuated the positive, a certain unease lurks just beneath the surface. History, for instance, continues to dog the relationship. "The shadow of the 1962 war bedevils the China-India relationship," notes Chellaney. "It not only weighs heavily on the Indian psyche, but the wounds of war are kept alive by China’s assertive claims to additional Indian territory."
The different systems of political economy in China and India might also pull the two countries in divergent directions. Instead of India and China helping their fellow Asian countries to identify common norms and values -- which undergird other regional formations such as the European Union -- the two countries might part strategic ways. Chellaney speculates that two blocs could well emerge: "a China-led coalition that values centralised domestic control and whose favourite institution is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation versus a constellation of democracies loosely tied together by a web of strategic partnerships."
Another potential source of tension is water. All the major rivers of Asia, with the exception of the Ganges, originate in the Tibetan plateau. China’s control of the headwaters of the Indus, Mekong, Yangtze, Brahmaputra, and other rivers, which together serve nearly half the world’s population, may prove an increasing challenge to the region, particularly as Beijing dams these major rivers for hydropower and irrigation. "If water geopolitics were to spur interstate tensions," Chellaney warns, "the Asian renaissance would definitely stall."
Minxin Pei remains somewhat more optimistic. He notes that both countries have exercised strategic restraint in recent years. In part, this restraint can be explained by the differing strategic priorities of the countries, with China looking east toward Taiwan and Japan and India primarily focusing on South Asia. The leaders in the respective countries also "understand that gains from seizing the strategic opportunity available are far more important than possible gains from strategic competition," Pei points out. "Globalization means that India and China, with their cheap labor, will benefit from this opportunity. If they throw away this opportunity and engage in competition with each other, it is a lose-lose proposition."
With bilateral trade booming and sources of tension largely under the surface, India and China are not at risk of going head to head over their differing approaches to Burma any time soon.
India’s realpolitik engagement with the military junta is balanced by its unofficial but close links to the democracy movement. China, meanwhile, has real economic and security interests in Burma but is sensitive to international criticisms of its positions. When he raised the Burma issue in discussions with Chinese officials, Derek Mitchell was told that Burma "wasn’t on the radar screen. Chinese policy wasn’t going to change, there were too many other things going on. ‘What if others isolate China’s position?’ I asked. ‘Well, then we might think about it,’ they said. That’s the thing that China hates the most: being isolated."
Perhaps because it is not a priority issue for the two countries, Burma might evolve from a point of contention to an opportunity for even greater cooperation. A stable Burma that is part of the international community could benefit both China and India. China has demonstrated its ability in the North Korea crisis to serve as a catalyst for compromise in a regional negotiating framework. India might take a page from this book.
"India failed to persuade the junta to engage Aung San Suu Kyi more effectively and stem the growth of Chinese influence," Brahma Chellaney concludes. "Should India give up? No, it can play the role of facilitator of a final political reconciliation in Burma."
IPS News
WASHINGTON, Jan 18 - When the world’s two most populous countries held a summit this month in Beijing, their agenda was brimful with collaboration. India and China, once adversaries that fought a war in 1962, are now leading trading partners.
But, while they see eye to eye on several key geopolitical issues such as Iran and have even conducted a joint military exercise, there is an item on the bilateral agenda that elicits somewhat less cooperation -- the country that borders them both, Burma.
Burma is not as significant a thorn in the side of the emerging alliance as Tibet or territorial claims. India’s provision of safe haven to the Tibetan resistance movement and China’s territorial claims over parts of India both figure more prominently in cross-border tensions. But the different approaches that the two Asian powers have taken toward the resource-rich but poor and isolated Burma, the largest country in Southeast Asia, reflect important differences in tactics and philosophy.
"After 1988, India with missionary zeal cut off all contact with the junta in Burma and gave the Nehru Award to Aung Sang Suu Kyi," explains Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi who was the keynote speaker at a Jan. 16 seminar in Washington, DC sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. "By the time India reversed that policy, it realised that it had lost Burma to China. China had built reconnaissance facilities on the Coco Islands. So, this shift from a moral, value-based foreign policy to realpolitik on Burma came after India burned its hands and feet and didn’t have much to show for it."
China, on the other hand, has for some time hewed close to realpolitik in its support of Burma’s military government. "China always wants to have neighbors that are friendly," explains Minxin Pei, director of the China Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Burma is like a client state. If China can’t have Burma, it will deny it to another power." Although the level of trade between the two countries remains rather modest, China provides the military junta with arms, directs considerable investment into the country, and eyes Burma’s energy resources.
In addition, China wants to stabilise several cross-border problems, including AIDS and refugees, argues Derek Mitchell, the director for Asia in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Also there is opportunism," he continues. "China sees strategic opportunity to have access since the United States is ignoring Burma."
This strategic opportunity hinges a great deal on Burma’s location. "For China, Burma is the entryway to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, and it oversees vital communication lanes in the Strait of Malacca," Chellaney points out. "China is busy completing the Irrawaddy Corridor involving road, river, rail, and energy-transport links between Burmese ports and Yunnan province."
China’s economic growth depends on increased imports of energy. Burma is one potential source. "Burma sits on vast gas reserves which are coveted by its neighbors," Chellaney adds. "But Burma, because it is hit by sanctions and is an isolated state, hasn’t reaped those dividends. Foreign investments in Burma’s gas exploration and production have not been too significant. Sanctions have prevented Burma from accessing liquefaction technology to become a liquid natural gas exporter. Its only choice is to sell natural gas by pipeline to its immediate neighbors -- to Thailand or to China once a pipeline is complete." Chellaney predicts that the pipeline to China, news of which broke at the end of last year, could be operational within a year.
The relationship between China and Burma, which might look cozy from the outside, is not without tension. Most of the energy and transportation plans are only at the agreement stage. "Work may have started on the pipeline," argues Priscilla Clapp, former U.S. charge in Burma from 1999 to 2002. "I cannot believe that it will happen in a year. Nothing happens in a year in Burma." Indian reports of a major Chinese military facility in Burma’s Coco Islands, she continues, are exaggerated. "They have some antennas down there. A few years ago India claimed that it was a major Chinese naval base, but that’s bunk. The Burmese won’t allow that. The Burmese are ferociously neutral. They’re not going to allow any other power to establish a military base or significant military presence in their country."
"China is a partner of last resort," explains Derek Mitchell. "The isolation strategy means that the Burmese junta has to turn to China. They don’t like it, but it helps them stay in power."
The competition between India and China for influence in Burma reflects a larger jockeying for power between the two Asian giants. Although the recent summit accentuated the positive, a certain unease lurks just beneath the surface. History, for instance, continues to dog the relationship. "The shadow of the 1962 war bedevils the China-India relationship," notes Chellaney. "It not only weighs heavily on the Indian psyche, but the wounds of war are kept alive by China’s assertive claims to additional Indian territory."
The different systems of political economy in China and India might also pull the two countries in divergent directions. Instead of India and China helping their fellow Asian countries to identify common norms and values -- which undergird other regional formations such as the European Union -- the two countries might part strategic ways. Chellaney speculates that two blocs could well emerge: "a China-led coalition that values centralised domestic control and whose favourite institution is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation versus a constellation of democracies loosely tied together by a web of strategic partnerships."
Another potential source of tension is water. All the major rivers of Asia, with the exception of the Ganges, originate in the Tibetan plateau. China’s control of the headwaters of the Indus, Mekong, Yangtze, Brahmaputra, and other rivers, which together serve nearly half the world’s population, may prove an increasing challenge to the region, particularly as Beijing dams these major rivers for hydropower and irrigation. "If water geopolitics were to spur interstate tensions," Chellaney warns, "the Asian renaissance would definitely stall."
Minxin Pei remains somewhat more optimistic. He notes that both countries have exercised strategic restraint in recent years. In part, this restraint can be explained by the differing strategic priorities of the countries, with China looking east toward Taiwan and Japan and India primarily focusing on South Asia. The leaders in the respective countries also "understand that gains from seizing the strategic opportunity available are far more important than possible gains from strategic competition," Pei points out. "Globalization means that India and China, with their cheap labor, will benefit from this opportunity. If they throw away this opportunity and engage in competition with each other, it is a lose-lose proposition."
With bilateral trade booming and sources of tension largely under the surface, India and China are not at risk of going head to head over their differing approaches to Burma any time soon.
India’s realpolitik engagement with the military junta is balanced by its unofficial but close links to the democracy movement. China, meanwhile, has real economic and security interests in Burma but is sensitive to international criticisms of its positions. When he raised the Burma issue in discussions with Chinese officials, Derek Mitchell was told that Burma "wasn’t on the radar screen. Chinese policy wasn’t going to change, there were too many other things going on. ‘What if others isolate China’s position?’ I asked. ‘Well, then we might think about it,’ they said. That’s the thing that China hates the most: being isolated."
Perhaps because it is not a priority issue for the two countries, Burma might evolve from a point of contention to an opportunity for even greater cooperation. A stable Burma that is part of the international community could benefit both China and India. China has demonstrated its ability in the North Korea crisis to serve as a catalyst for compromise in a regional negotiating framework. India might take a page from this book.
"India failed to persuade the junta to engage Aung San Suu Kyi more effectively and stem the growth of Chinese influence," Brahma Chellaney concludes. "Should India give up? No, it can play the role of facilitator of a final political reconciliation in Burma."
Gambari says India's stand clear on Myanmar
The Times of India
January 18, 2008
WASHINGTON: Seeking "concrete action" from nations perceived close to Myanmar, a top UN envoy has pointed out that India had "clearly" said that it wanted the military-ruled country to cooperate with the world body and initiate a more inclusive process of national reconciliation.
Secretary General's Special Advisor on Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari maintained that all the countries he had approached had supported the role of the office of Secretary General on the issue.
"But I am not satisfied with that. I want that general verbal expression of support to be translated into concrete action in support. In what ways - First get the right messages to the authorities in Myanmar to address the concerns of the international community to listen to their own people," Gambari told reporters.
"Having said that, I must say that India recently it is on record following the visit of the foreign minister of Myanmar said that they would want a more inclusive national reconciliation process and further cooperation with the Good Offices of the Secretary General's role. This is something which they have said clearly," he added.
His comments came as the 15-member UN Security Council issued a statement regretting "the slow rate of progress so far toward" meeting objectives they set out last October, a month after Myanmar's military junta crushed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks. Gambari has visited Myanmar twice since the bloody military crackdown.
Stressing the importance of "further progress" toward the goal of reconciliation between the military regime and the opposition, the statement noted that an early visit by Gambari could help facilitate this.
January 18, 2008
WASHINGTON: Seeking "concrete action" from nations perceived close to Myanmar, a top UN envoy has pointed out that India had "clearly" said that it wanted the military-ruled country to cooperate with the world body and initiate a more inclusive process of national reconciliation.
Secretary General's Special Advisor on Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari maintained that all the countries he had approached had supported the role of the office of Secretary General on the issue.
"But I am not satisfied with that. I want that general verbal expression of support to be translated into concrete action in support. In what ways - First get the right messages to the authorities in Myanmar to address the concerns of the international community to listen to their own people," Gambari told reporters.
"Having said that, I must say that India recently it is on record following the visit of the foreign minister of Myanmar said that they would want a more inclusive national reconciliation process and further cooperation with the Good Offices of the Secretary General's role. This is something which they have said clearly," he added.
His comments came as the 15-member UN Security Council issued a statement regretting "the slow rate of progress so far toward" meeting objectives they set out last October, a month after Myanmar's military junta crushed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks. Gambari has visited Myanmar twice since the bloody military crackdown.
Stressing the importance of "further progress" toward the goal of reconciliation between the military regime and the opposition, the statement noted that an early visit by Gambari could help facilitate this.
U Win Tin Hospitalised
Original Report: Htet Aung Kyaw - Democratic Voice of Burma
Translated by: Nai Chi U
January 16, 2008
Rumours of the famous political prisoner U Win Tin being hospitalised, are spreading among the families of fellow prisoners, it is reported.
He was admitted to the hospital, not long after Ko Hla Myo Naung, 8888 Generation Student Leader, who has been suffering from the damaged eyes, was sent there, according to the families. However, U Maung Maung Kin, who regularly visits U Win Tin, denied knowing anything about the news. He insisted that U Win Tin was not in bad health, when he last visited him in prison, on Saturday.
U Win Tin just asked for more medicines as prescribed by a leading senior doctor but except for the tingling sensation around his stomach, where an operation has yet to be done, he was generally in good health, according to U Maung Maung Kin.
"He told me he was alright and there was nothing wrong with him, quite cheerfully."
However, U Maung Maung Khin promised to make inquiries after the concerned shown at the news of the hospitalisation of U Win Tin, as it emerged only yesterday.
U Win Tin, 78, known as master or teacher among his associates, is a well-respected and famous journalist, and also a leading figure of the National League for Democracy Party. He was arrested in 1989 by military intelligence and has been serving nearly 20 years in prison, sometime in a prison dog kennel. Lately, his health has deteriorated and he was admitted to hospital often.
He famously refused frequent offers by the military junta - his freedom in exchange for a signed promise to give up all political activities.
He commented on the meeting held between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta liaison minister :
"The good news is that the communication minister was in the meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The bad news is that nobody knows what they are talking about, not even the agenda ! "
To sign the petition for the release of Saya U Win Tin, please click here.
Translated by: Nai Chi U
January 16, 2008
Rumours of the famous political prisoner U Win Tin being hospitalised, are spreading among the families of fellow prisoners, it is reported.
He was admitted to the hospital, not long after Ko Hla Myo Naung, 8888 Generation Student Leader, who has been suffering from the damaged eyes, was sent there, according to the families. However, U Maung Maung Kin, who regularly visits U Win Tin, denied knowing anything about the news. He insisted that U Win Tin was not in bad health, when he last visited him in prison, on Saturday.
U Win Tin just asked for more medicines as prescribed by a leading senior doctor but except for the tingling sensation around his stomach, where an operation has yet to be done, he was generally in good health, according to U Maung Maung Kin.
"He told me he was alright and there was nothing wrong with him, quite cheerfully."
However, U Maung Maung Khin promised to make inquiries after the concerned shown at the news of the hospitalisation of U Win Tin, as it emerged only yesterday.
U Win Tin, 78, known as master or teacher among his associates, is a well-respected and famous journalist, and also a leading figure of the National League for Democracy Party. He was arrested in 1989 by military intelligence and has been serving nearly 20 years in prison, sometime in a prison dog kennel. Lately, his health has deteriorated and he was admitted to hospital often.
He famously refused frequent offers by the military junta - his freedom in exchange for a signed promise to give up all political activities.
He commented on the meeting held between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta liaison minister :
"The good news is that the communication minister was in the meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The bad news is that nobody knows what they are talking about, not even the agenda ! "
To sign the petition for the release of Saya U Win Tin, please click here.
Insein Prison News
Original Source: Nicknayman
Translated: Nay Chi U
January 16, 2008
On 14 January, De Nyein Linn and U Kyaw San were charged under section 505 b. There are no dates for the trial yet.
On 15 January, Ko Min Zay Yar, Ko Aung Thu, Ko Than Myint, Ko Myint Han, Ko Aung Than Myint, Ko Tin Win, Ko Aung Kyaw Kyaw, Ko Aung Naig and Ko Ko were all moved from the special unit to the main building. The reason for this move was unknown.
On 16 January, Maung Si Thu Maung (21), Maung Ye' Myat Hein (17), Maung Ye' Min Oo (22), Ko Kyi Hpyu and U Thein Swe were due to appear before Bahan magistrate court, charged under section 505 b.
Gen Than Shwe Too Busy To Run The Country, Due To Family Business Responsibilities
Original Source and Photo: Nicknayman
Translated: Nay Chi U
January 15, 2008
Translated: Nay Chi U
January 15, 2008
It is hardly surprising that senior general Than Shwe, so-called head of the State for Burma, can't cope with all the country's troublesome political, economical and humanitarian affairs. He is far too busy, looking after his family running their many businesses across the region!
The photo shows, Tun Naing Shwe, the eldest son of Than Shwe. Although he owns many businesses, he is known as the poorest in the family. He sadly owns only 12 mansions, as well as the J Doughnuts and My Milk restaurant chains. He also jointly owns 35% share of contracts with an import/export company, run by ethnic Chinese group, born in Burma.
The countless businesses he owns in the country includes Dim Sum shops, trading of imported goods from Thailand, Queen Orange Juice Concentrates, Dream Jelly and J-J Night Clubs, and Thai restaurants with Karaoke. It is reported that he also owns businesses in Thailand, China and Indonesia.
His business partner is Joseph Khin Maung Thein, son of U Aung Thein and they jointly own the J & J Company. Joseph supervises his businesses in Thailand, while his sister Carol manages the businesses in China, as a cosy family arrangement.
There has been an appeal to every responsible and self-respecting citizen to boycott all these businesses which have been taken over and run by robbers of the military junta, their families and their crowds of sycophant followers.
Construction of Kachin Baptist Church in Tarung prohibited
Kachin News
January 17, 2008
January 17, 2008
Relentless in its religious persecution the Burmese military junta has halted the construction of a Kachin Baptist Church under Kachin Baptist Convention (KBG) in Tarung Village in Hukawng Valley in Kachin State northern Burma, said local sources.
According to church leaders, over a hundred families belong to the Tarung Kachin Baptist Church. The construction of the church was banned over two years ago by the Danai-based Burmese Army, Regional Operation Command (ROC or Da-Ka-Sa).
The Da-Ka-Sa has also banned collecting of firewood from nearby forests needed to bake bricks for the construction, church leaders added.
"I saw the church has not completed the construction yet. I also saw a large pile of stones in front of the church compound," a traveler who recently came back from Tarung told KNG today.
Bangladesh: Dhaka-Rangoon To Discuss Border Dispute After 21 Years
Bangladesh: Dhaka-Rangoon To Discuss Border Dispute After 21 Years
The Daily Start - My Sinchew
Original by ASHFAQ WARES KHAN - The Daily Star - ANN
DHAKA, BANGLADESH: A high-level delegation will visit Rangoon within a month to discuss Bangladesh's longstanding maritime boundary dispute with Burma and clarify areas for deepwater gas exploration.
This move comes as part of a push to kick-start bilateral talks, after political crises in the neighbouring country last year, with foreign secretary Touhid Hossain going to Rangoon next month to hold annual discussions.
Additional Foreign Secretary MAK Mahmood will lead a high-level delegation within a month to Rangoon to start technical discussions on demarcating the maritime boundary, an issue not discussed by the neighbours in 21 years.
The boundary dispute intensified over the past five years after both India and Burma rushed into exploration for gas allegedly within Bangladesh territory.
"We have, during the past year, developed an excellent bilateral relationship with Myanmar (Burma). It is our view this would be further strengthened when we resolve the issue of maritime boundaries," Iftekhar told reporters Thursday (17 Jan).
The decision to send the delegation was made in an inter-ministerial meeting yesterday chaired by Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury and attended by senior foreign ministry officials, home ministry officials and Navy personnel.
Rangoon has increasingly warmed to Dhaka over the past year and the neighbours made significant progress in a number of key areas such as road links, border management and energy cooperation.
Most of these issues were put on hold after monks took to the streets in Burma in September last year, plunging the military-ruled state into a political crisis.
Foreign ministry sources told The Daily Star that Bangladesh has been preparing its case for gas exploration but have not been able to invite tender for block bidding as the maritime boundaries had not been demarcated.
The sensitivity of the issue has kept the maritime boundary dispute off the bilateral agenda over the last few years, said one official, adding warmer relationships have made it possible to start talks to resolve the matter.
India, Burma and Bangladesh have not demarcated their territorial water. India and Burma have agreed on an "equidistant" boundary allowing them to explore gas in the Bay of Bengal.
One foreign ministry official said Bangladesh's delay in claiming its maritime territories has allowed both India and Burma to creep into Bangladeshi territory in the Bay of Bengal.
Mahmudur Rahman, energy adviser to the last BNP-led coalition government, claimed in 2006 that Burma had encroached 18,000sq km into Bangladeshi territory and floated gas exploration tenders.
India was alleged to have encroached into 19,000sq km into Bangladeshi waters.
The caretaker government is reported to have plans to explore deepwater fossil fuel in Bangladesh's claimed 200 nautical miles of territorial water in the Bay of Bengal.
According to the Law of the Sea, Bangladesh claims 12 nautical miles of territorial sea, 200 nautical miles of Exclusive Economic Zone and 350 nautical miles of Continental Shelf in the Bay of Bengal.
The country has been allowed 10 years time to justify its claim since it ratified the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea in 2001.
(By ASHFAQ WARES KHAN/ The Daily Star/ ANN)
The Daily Start - My Sinchew
Original by ASHFAQ WARES KHAN - The Daily Star - ANN
DHAKA, BANGLADESH: A high-level delegation will visit Rangoon within a month to discuss Bangladesh's longstanding maritime boundary dispute with Burma and clarify areas for deepwater gas exploration.
This move comes as part of a push to kick-start bilateral talks, after political crises in the neighbouring country last year, with foreign secretary Touhid Hossain going to Rangoon next month to hold annual discussions.
Additional Foreign Secretary MAK Mahmood will lead a high-level delegation within a month to Rangoon to start technical discussions on demarcating the maritime boundary, an issue not discussed by the neighbours in 21 years.
The boundary dispute intensified over the past five years after both India and Burma rushed into exploration for gas allegedly within Bangladesh territory.
"We have, during the past year, developed an excellent bilateral relationship with Myanmar (Burma). It is our view this would be further strengthened when we resolve the issue of maritime boundaries," Iftekhar told reporters Thursday (17 Jan).
The decision to send the delegation was made in an inter-ministerial meeting yesterday chaired by Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury and attended by senior foreign ministry officials, home ministry officials and Navy personnel.
Rangoon has increasingly warmed to Dhaka over the past year and the neighbours made significant progress in a number of key areas such as road links, border management and energy cooperation.
Most of these issues were put on hold after monks took to the streets in Burma in September last year, plunging the military-ruled state into a political crisis.
Foreign ministry sources told The Daily Star that Bangladesh has been preparing its case for gas exploration but have not been able to invite tender for block bidding as the maritime boundaries had not been demarcated.
The sensitivity of the issue has kept the maritime boundary dispute off the bilateral agenda over the last few years, said one official, adding warmer relationships have made it possible to start talks to resolve the matter.
India, Burma and Bangladesh have not demarcated their territorial water. India and Burma have agreed on an "equidistant" boundary allowing them to explore gas in the Bay of Bengal.
One foreign ministry official said Bangladesh's delay in claiming its maritime territories has allowed both India and Burma to creep into Bangladeshi territory in the Bay of Bengal.
Mahmudur Rahman, energy adviser to the last BNP-led coalition government, claimed in 2006 that Burma had encroached 18,000sq km into Bangladeshi territory and floated gas exploration tenders.
India was alleged to have encroached into 19,000sq km into Bangladeshi waters.
The caretaker government is reported to have plans to explore deepwater fossil fuel in Bangladesh's claimed 200 nautical miles of territorial water in the Bay of Bengal.
According to the Law of the Sea, Bangladesh claims 12 nautical miles of territorial sea, 200 nautical miles of Exclusive Economic Zone and 350 nautical miles of Continental Shelf in the Bay of Bengal.
The country has been allowed 10 years time to justify its claim since it ratified the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea in 2001.
(By ASHFAQ WARES KHAN/ The Daily Star/ ANN)
Monland Restoration Party plans to step up movement in 2008
Row Mon, Loa Htaw
IMNA Mon-News
January 18, 2008
The Monland Restoration Party (MRP) plans to step up its movement in 2008 and has launched its first trip to Malaysia, said chairman Nai Pan Nyut.
Nai Pan Nyut began the trip on January 11 and it will conclude this weekend.
MRP plans to step up both its armed revolution and diplomatic maneuvers this year the chairman said. Compared to the past, the Thai local authorities have now started understanding the MRP and it can work more easily in Thailand, he added.
The Malaysian trip is aimed at encouraging all Mons in Malaysia to set up a main group together and to cooperate in working for the Mon national cause, Nai Pan Nyut said.
"We wish for all Mon here (in Malaysia) to work together and help each other," he added.
The chairman and party members Major Tamoa Chan and Kong Seik held a meeting on Wednesday in a Mon Refugee Organization at Kaula Lumpur. Similarly, MRP also had a meeting with Mon migrants in Penang province earlier this week.
Many migrant workers were pleased to meet their leaders. They want to understand about the Mon national movement both the political and the armed revolution. They also want to meet Mon revolutionary leaders often, said a Mon political observer in Malaysia.
Most migrant workers who came to the meeting also wanted to know the relationship between MRP and NMSP, he said.
"We met most of the Mon local social groups based in Kaula Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia and mostly discussed the national activities for the future," said Nai Pan Nyut.
"We also discussed how we can help prevent Mon migrant workers in Malaysia from being trafficked by Thai and Malaysian local authorities" he said.
MRP is known as the Hongsawatoi Restoration Party (HRP) and it separated from the New Mon State Party in October 2001 saying it did not like the ceasefire agreement between the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Burmese military regime. HRP changed its name to MRP in 2004 after the HRP headquarters was captured in the fighting by a Karen National Liberation Army and Muslin armed group.
During the attack, all the five children of Nai Pan Nyut were killed along with his two soldiers. He and his wife were also seriously injured and they got a lot of sympathy from Mons around the world.
"I was very pleased to meet Nai Pan Nyut and got the chance to listen about party activities. I am very proud of him because he is still able to continue to work for the Mon revolution although he lost all his children" said Nai Zay Yar Mon a migrant from Penang province.
Mon migrant workers in Malaysia support both the movements by the NMSP and the MRP. While middle aged migrant workers mostly support the NMSP political movement, the youth under 25 supports the MRP movement, which envisages attacking the Burmese military government with arms, added the political observer.
Last year, NMSP secretary General Nai Hong Sa also went to Malaysia and met Mon migrant workers.
The NMSP is one of Burma's ethnic ceasefire groups which reached a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military regime in 1995. The party aims to solve Burma's political problems through a tripartite dialogue for reconciliation.
IMNA Mon-News
January 18, 2008
The Monland Restoration Party (MRP) plans to step up its movement in 2008 and has launched its first trip to Malaysia, said chairman Nai Pan Nyut.
Nai Pan Nyut began the trip on January 11 and it will conclude this weekend.
MRP plans to step up both its armed revolution and diplomatic maneuvers this year the chairman said. Compared to the past, the Thai local authorities have now started understanding the MRP and it can work more easily in Thailand, he added.
The Malaysian trip is aimed at encouraging all Mons in Malaysia to set up a main group together and to cooperate in working for the Mon national cause, Nai Pan Nyut said.
"We wish for all Mon here (in Malaysia) to work together and help each other," he added.
The chairman and party members Major Tamoa Chan and Kong Seik held a meeting on Wednesday in a Mon Refugee Organization at Kaula Lumpur. Similarly, MRP also had a meeting with Mon migrants in Penang province earlier this week.
Many migrant workers were pleased to meet their leaders. They want to understand about the Mon national movement both the political and the armed revolution. They also want to meet Mon revolutionary leaders often, said a Mon political observer in Malaysia.
Most migrant workers who came to the meeting also wanted to know the relationship between MRP and NMSP, he said.
"We met most of the Mon local social groups based in Kaula Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia and mostly discussed the national activities for the future," said Nai Pan Nyut.
"We also discussed how we can help prevent Mon migrant workers in Malaysia from being trafficked by Thai and Malaysian local authorities" he said.
MRP is known as the Hongsawatoi Restoration Party (HRP) and it separated from the New Mon State Party in October 2001 saying it did not like the ceasefire agreement between the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Burmese military regime. HRP changed its name to MRP in 2004 after the HRP headquarters was captured in the fighting by a Karen National Liberation Army and Muslin armed group.
During the attack, all the five children of Nai Pan Nyut were killed along with his two soldiers. He and his wife were also seriously injured and they got a lot of sympathy from Mons around the world.
"I was very pleased to meet Nai Pan Nyut and got the chance to listen about party activities. I am very proud of him because he is still able to continue to work for the Mon revolution although he lost all his children" said Nai Zay Yar Mon a migrant from Penang province.
Mon migrant workers in Malaysia support both the movements by the NMSP and the MRP. While middle aged migrant workers mostly support the NMSP political movement, the youth under 25 supports the MRP movement, which envisages attacking the Burmese military government with arms, added the political observer.
Last year, NMSP secretary General Nai Hong Sa also went to Malaysia and met Mon migrant workers.
The NMSP is one of Burma's ethnic ceasefire groups which reached a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military regime in 1995. The party aims to solve Burma's political problems through a tripartite dialogue for reconciliation.
Sit Thwe Aung stabbed
Sourced: Ko Moe Thee - Golden Colour Revolution
Yangon
Yangon
Wed, January 16, 2008
It has been learnt that Sit Thwe Aung, son of Minister U Aung Phone, Ministry of Forests was stabbed in a local night club. He was stabbed at close range by an unidentified person. U Aung Phone has two sons, Sit Thwe Aung and Sit Taing Aung. They are believed to be from the Shwe Man clique.
Shwe Man’s son Aung Thet Phone and these two brothers are money hungry business entrepreneurs. These newly rich class of businessmen who became rich in this corrupt and crumbling society made money by getting import/export licenses and importing custom duty free goods.
All of them are into women, gambling and drugs.One eye witness told us that a duty conscious citizen did the stabbing because he could no longer suffer the injustices meted out to the people by the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council).
Myanmar blast kills transit worker
(CNN) -- A bomb placed in the back of a passenger bus killed the conductor Wednesday, Myanmar's state-run newspaper said.
Bicycle taxi drivers struggle through traffic outside a city market in Yangon last October.
It was the fourth bomb attack in the military-ruled southeastern Asian nation in the last week.
The explosion did not claim more lives because passengers had gotten off to get breakfast, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.
The bus, on its way from the eastern town of Kyaukkyi to Myanmar's capital Yangon, had pulled over at a road-side restaurant when the bomb went off Wednesday morning, the newspaper reported.
The 35-year-old conductor was the only casualty.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Wednesday's bus attack.
Don't Miss
The town of Kyaukkyi is in the Karen state, home to the Karen National Union (KNU). The group has been fighting for independence for the ethnic Karen people.
The government claims that the KNU has been waging attacks to destabilize the military junta that has run the country -- located between Bangladesh and Thailand -- for two decades.
In the last week, two explosions at separate railway stations in the country wounded one woman and killed another, and a bomb blast during a circus show in a rural town injured four and killed the rebel suspected of planting it, the news agency said.Myanmar Newspaper Irks Censors
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A weekly newspaper in military-ruled Myanmar skipped publication Thursday on government orders after flouting censorship rules, its publisher said.
The government's Press Scrutiny Board ordered the Myanmar-language edition of the Myanmar Times not to publish this week for having run a story earlier that was not approved, said Ross Dunkley, editor in chief and CEO of Myanmar Consolidated Media Ltd.
The story, from the news agency Agence France-Presse, was about a huge increase in Myanmar's annual license fee for using satellite TV dishes.
"We got a red card from the government for one week," Dunkley said.
He denied reports the government asked that four editors be sacked, but acknowledged he was asked to make changes in the newsroom. He did not specify what kind of changes, but said they were being implemented.
The newspaper was founded in 2000 and is partly owned by the government. Like all media in Myanmar, it is censored by the Press Scrutiny Board under the Information Ministry.
The France-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders issued a statement Wednesday criticizing the government's ban.
Japan, meanwhile, urged Myanmar's junta to hold talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and work harder to implement democratic reforms.
In a meeting Thursday, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura also urged Nyan Win, his Myanmar counterpart, to cooperate with the United Nations on improving human rights conditions in the military-ruled nation, the Foreign Ministry said.
Nyan Win was in Japan to attend the first meeting of the foreign ministers of Japan and five countries along Southeast Asia's Mekong river — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam — to promote trade and investment.
"Myanmar's transition to a stable democratic nation is crucial for the development of the Mekong region as a whole," Komura told Nyan Win, the ministry said in a statement. "Myanmar's government should begin dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi to make concrete progress toward democracy."
The government's Press Scrutiny Board ordered the Myanmar-language edition of the Myanmar Times not to publish this week for having run a story earlier that was not approved, said Ross Dunkley, editor in chief and CEO of Myanmar Consolidated Media Ltd.
The story, from the news agency Agence France-Presse, was about a huge increase in Myanmar's annual license fee for using satellite TV dishes.
"We got a red card from the government for one week," Dunkley said.
He denied reports the government asked that four editors be sacked, but acknowledged he was asked to make changes in the newsroom. He did not specify what kind of changes, but said they were being implemented.
The newspaper was founded in 2000 and is partly owned by the government. Like all media in Myanmar, it is censored by the Press Scrutiny Board under the Information Ministry.
The France-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders issued a statement Wednesday criticizing the government's ban.
Japan, meanwhile, urged Myanmar's junta to hold talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and work harder to implement democratic reforms.
In a meeting Thursday, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura also urged Nyan Win, his Myanmar counterpart, to cooperate with the United Nations on improving human rights conditions in the military-ruled nation, the Foreign Ministry said.
Nyan Win was in Japan to attend the first meeting of the foreign ministers of Japan and five countries along Southeast Asia's Mekong river — Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam — to promote trade and investment.
"Myanmar's transition to a stable democratic nation is crucial for the development of the Mekong region as a whole," Komura told Nyan Win, the ministry said in a statement. "Myanmar's government should begin dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi to make concrete progress toward democracy."
UN council upbraids Myanmar for slow reforms
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council upbraided Myanmar on Thursday for slow progress on democratic reforms as the world body's special envoy said the junta there was trying to delay his next visit until April.
In a statement, the council said Myanmar's military rulers had done too little to meet demands it laid out in October for release of political prisoners and a genuine dialogue with the opposition following a crackdown on protesters.
"Council members ... regretted the slow rate of progress so far towards meeting those objectives," said the statement, read to media by council president Giadalla Ettalhi of Libya.
"Council members underscored the importance of making further progress," it said, calling for another visit soon to Myanmar by special U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who has sought to wring concessions from the government.
The statement was significant in being agreed to by all 15 council members, including three from Asia -- China, Indonesia and Vietnam. Asian countries have been reluctant to take a tough line against Myanmar, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
Gambari, who earlier took part in Security Council consultations on Myanmar, told reporters he was trying to return to Myanmar as soon as possible for his third visit since the crisis erupted but that authorities there wanted a delay.
"I had requested to go there this month," he said. "They have sent word that it's not convenient and they will prefer mid-April. Now the (U.N.) Secretary-General has said that's not acceptable, and I agree, and so we are in the process of negotiating an early rather than a later return to Myanmar."
Gambari will pay visits this month to China and India, two countries seen as crucial because of their economic clout and trade ties with Myanmar. Gambari said he wanted concrete action and not just verbal support from Myanmar's neighbors.
The U.N. envoy noted that a senior junta official had met detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi last Friday for the fourth time since last September's crackdown but there was still no sign of real results.
"We don't know what transpired but ... these are still processes, and it's important to translate these discussions into the inauguration of a substantive dialogue that will address the grievances of the people, which are both socio-economic as well as political," he said.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Washington believed it was necessary to increase pressure on Myanmar to get results.
That pressure should come from countries with influence on Myanmar, such as China and India, but the Security Council also should take measures, including sanctions, Khalilzad said.
Sanctions are thought to have little chance of approval in the council because of opposition from veto-wielding China. (Editing by Xavier Briand)
In a statement, the council said Myanmar's military rulers had done too little to meet demands it laid out in October for release of political prisoners and a genuine dialogue with the opposition following a crackdown on protesters.
"Council members ... regretted the slow rate of progress so far towards meeting those objectives," said the statement, read to media by council president Giadalla Ettalhi of Libya.
"Council members underscored the importance of making further progress," it said, calling for another visit soon to Myanmar by special U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who has sought to wring concessions from the government.
The statement was significant in being agreed to by all 15 council members, including three from Asia -- China, Indonesia and Vietnam. Asian countries have been reluctant to take a tough line against Myanmar, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
Gambari, who earlier took part in Security Council consultations on Myanmar, told reporters he was trying to return to Myanmar as soon as possible for his third visit since the crisis erupted but that authorities there wanted a delay.
"I had requested to go there this month," he said. "They have sent word that it's not convenient and they will prefer mid-April. Now the (U.N.) Secretary-General has said that's not acceptable, and I agree, and so we are in the process of negotiating an early rather than a later return to Myanmar."
Gambari will pay visits this month to China and India, two countries seen as crucial because of their economic clout and trade ties with Myanmar. Gambari said he wanted concrete action and not just verbal support from Myanmar's neighbors.
The U.N. envoy noted that a senior junta official had met detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi last Friday for the fourth time since last September's crackdown but there was still no sign of real results.
"We don't know what transpired but ... these are still processes, and it's important to translate these discussions into the inauguration of a substantive dialogue that will address the grievances of the people, which are both socio-economic as well as political," he said.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Washington believed it was necessary to increase pressure on Myanmar to get results.
That pressure should come from countries with influence on Myanmar, such as China and India, but the Security Council also should take measures, including sanctions, Khalilzad said.
Sanctions are thought to have little chance of approval in the council because of opposition from veto-wielding China. (Editing by Xavier Briand)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)