With Myanmar's military junta facing increasing international isolation, Prime Minister Soe Win heads to China this week expecting to expand ties with his nation's strongest and most loyal ally.
Even as Myanmar's fellow Southeast Asian neighbors show growing signs of unhappiness over the regime's political and human rights records, China has remained solidly behind the generals while looking to broaden trade links.
"We expect that this visit will further expand and deepen the traditional friendship between China and Myanmar," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan (
PHOTO: AFP
Kong said the two nations would sign trade agreements during Soe Win's four-day trip, while he is scheduled to receive red carpet treatment during meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao (
However the UN's former envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail, called on China to start pressuring the junta to reform.
"China has a critical role to play in the efforts to bring reforms and democracy in Myanmar," said Razali, a Malaysian diplomat who resigned in frustration in December after being denied access to the country for two years. "The Chinese know if they exert the political will, they can get Myanmar back on the track towards reforms. China is extremely close with Myanmar."
China, however, has given no indication it will encourage the junta to reform, with Kong insisting his government will not deviate from its strict policy of not interfering in Myanmar's "internal affairs."
Ralph Cossa, director of the Pacific Forum think tank at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said China's stance had become more important for the junta as other regional governments abandoned them.
For a long time, ASEAN had followed a similar policy of "non-interference" with member Myanmar, but last year demanded it move towards democracy and release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"China has become not only an important economic contributor, but also its political protector," Cossa said.
Cossa said this support had become "critical" in multilateral forums, with China lobbying other nations privately and publicly to avoid placing pressure on Myanmar's generals.
"You see the Chinese at every one of these meetings speaking out for Myanmar. No one else is carrying the flag for them. Politically it helps to take some of the heat off Myanmar," he said.
The US said last week it was considering introducing a resolution at the UN Security Council to step up international pressure on Myanmar over rights abuses.
China, a permanent member of the Security Council, would likely veto any such move, with Myanmar so confident of the fact that Soe Win would not even raise the matter this week, a former Thai ambassador to the UN said.
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
RSS