BurmaNet News, February 8, 2007

[Editor]

February 8, 2007 Issue # 3138


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Tourist numbers to Myanmar fall
Irrawaddy: Break-away Karen soldiers return to KNU fold
Irrawaddy: Accused Kachin plot leader arrested
DVB: Myingyan prison stops using inmates as cheap labour
Mizzima: Ludu Sein Win hospitalised
Kaladan: Army loots goods worth Kyat five million in Arakan
Khonumthung: New 'Latpan' market has lots of space at fancy prices
Mizzima: Maung Aye's wife in Singapore for treatment

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima: India's Home Secretary to take up ULFA issue with Burma

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar to develop central part through adding more industrial zones
Lloyd’s List: India is set to clinch Myanmar gas pipeline link
Xinhua: More British Virgin Island, Singapore companies to explore gas in
Myanmar

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Fueling repression or assisting the oppressed?
Mizzima: Future Sino-Burma relation at risk

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

February 8, Agence France Presse
Tourist numbers to Myanmar fall

Tourist numbers in Myanmar, one of the world's most isolated nations, fell
last year, but tourism revenue increased due to rising accommodation fees,
an official said Thursday.

Some 630,060 foreigners visited the military-ruled country in 2006, down
five percent from 2005, the hotel and tourism ministry official said.

Despite the decrease, Myanmar's tourism revenue rose seven percent
year-on-year to 164 million dollars in 2006 due to a spike in hotel fees,
said the official, who declined to be named.
Some hotels increased their fees by 20 percent during Myanmar's tourism
season, which lasts from October to March.

Tourism is a key source of income for Myanmar, which is subject to US and
European economic sanctions because of human rights abuses and the house
arrest of 61-year-old democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi has repeatedly urged foreigners to not travel to Myanmar
in a bid to pressure the junta, which has ruled the impoverished country
since 1962.

Most of the tourists arrived in Myanmar over its land borders with
Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Thailand, but the official did not have
figures.

Of those arriving at the airport in Yangon, most were from Thailand with
30,400 tourists. China ranked second with 24,893, followed by 18,945
Japanese and 18,265 Koreans.

Among European visitors, Germany ranked top with 18,003, followed by
15,498 French, while the number of Americans totaled 18,052 in 2006.

____________________________________

February 8, Irrawaddy
Break-away Karen soldiers return to KNU fold - Shah Paung

A group of more than 60 soldiers from the Karen National Liberation Army’s
7th Brigade who joined a break-away faction of the Karen National Union
led by Maj-Gen Htain Maung have returned to the fold, according to KNU
General Secretary Mahn Sha.

The general secretary said the group comprised largely low-ranking
military commanders but also included Maj Yin Nu of 7th Brigade, a close
colleague of Htain Maung and an early member of the splinter group.

Htain Maung was dismissed from the KNU’s central committee and as head of
7th Brigade in January 30 after organizing negotiations with Burma’s
ruling State Peace and Development Council without permission of the
central committee. In response, he formed a break-away faction known as
the KNU/KNLA Peace Council.

The more than 60 soldiers—the exact numbers are not confirmed—have left
Htain Maung and returned to the KNLA’s 7th Brigade, currently under the
joint temporary command of Col Johnny and Lt-Col Tun Kyaing.

An official at KNLA headquarters told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that an
additional group of soldiers loyal to Htain Maung—estimated at about
60—have gone to Toh Kaw Koe village in Kawkareik Township, Karen State, to
establish headquarters for the splinter group.

Toh Kaw Koe has significant historical connections to ethnic Karen
opposition forces as the site where Ba U Gyi, the father of the Karen
resistance, was killed by Burmese troops on August 12, 1950.

The area is deep in SPDC-controlled territory in Karen State, and
additional soldiers wanting to return to the KNU would find it difficult
to do so, according to the KNLA official. Despite the risks, five soldiers
are known to have returned from Toh Kaw Koe, and more are expected in the
future.

Col Ner Dah Mya, son of the late Gen Bo Mya, is said to be the secretary-1
of Htain Maung’s Peace Council, but this has been disputed by his family.

Lar Poe, Ner Dah Mya’s mother, has denied any connection to the splinter
group. “The fact that my name is listed as the vice chairperson [of the
splinter group], and my children are included as members of this
organization is an evil setup. I absolutely do not accept it.”

Ner Dah Mya has yet to publicly deny his involvement with Htain Maung and
still retains his position as a tactical commander within the KNLA
headquarters and commander of Battalion 201.

Mahn Sha confirmed that Ner Dah Mya has not been dismissed from the KNU
but that he is under suspicion. “Because of his father’s influence, people
[KNU leaders] sympathize with him,” Mahn Sha said. “But if he is involved
with the growing conflict, nobody will accept him.”

According to sources along the Thai-Burmese border, security around the
Mae La refugee camp, located opposite 7th Brigade across the border, has
been tightened because of concerns that Htain Maung and the soldiers with
him might join Burmese military units and attack the KNU.

The KNU break-away faction Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, formed in 1995,
attacked Mae La camp in 1996 with support from the Burmese army.

____________________________________

February 8, Irrawaddy
Accused Kachin plot leader arrested

A Kachin Independence Organization splinter group has arrested the
suspected head of an alleged plot to assassinate its leader, a source
reported on Thursday.

N’Hkai Gam Hpang joins 10 other suspected plotters who were detained last
Saturday in a raid in which firearms were also seized.

The 11 are accused of plotting to assassinate Col Lasang Awng Wa, former
KIO intelligence chief and leader of a newly-formed opposition splinter
group. According to the source, N’Hkai Gam Hpang was arrested at a hotel
in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina on Tuesday.

Two firearms were also seized. N’Hkai Gam Hpang is being detained at the
splinter group’s base at Gwi Htu Pa, near Myitkyina.

Lasang Awng Wa’s group split from the KIO after he was accused of planning
a coup at KIO headquarters in early January 2004.

____________________________________

February 7, Democratic Voice of Burma
Myingyan prison stops using inmates as cheap labour

Officials at Myingyan prison in Mandalay division have stopped allowing
inmates to be contracted outside the facility as cheap labourers,
according to local residents.

“The practice just disappeared . . . Now the inmates are nowhere to be
seen. No one is working now where the prisoners used to be,” a Myingyan
resident said.

Prisoners were reportedly removed from construction sites one day after
DVB broadcast a report detailing the authorities’ use of inmates as a
means of earning money.

The prisoners were forced to work as manual labourers for private
companies that paid their salaries directly to prison officials, staff at
the detention facility said.

But officials said yesterday they planned to restart the labour project
and that it had only stopped temporarily.

“Now they are busy doing some agricultural chores inside the prison,” one
staff member said.

News of the break in the use of prisoners for cheap labour was welcomed by
residents in the area who said they were forced out of work by the scheme.
They said the cut-price inmate labour had meant many free labourers were
unable to find jobs.

“All of us labourers have retained our jobs . . . We have to return to our
construction and day jobs. We are very happy,” one worker said.

____________________________________

February 8, Mizzima News
Ludu Sein Win hospitalised

Veteran journalist and writer Ludu Sein Win has been admitted to a special
clinic in Rangoon because of breathing difficulty since Tuesday.

The former political prisoner Sein Win (66) has been on oxygen for quite
some time and is partially paralysed. He is in Shwegonedine Special Clinic
but his condition has improved, according to a family member

"He suffered from exhaustion due to a lung problem but he can eat
normally," she told Mizzima.

"Doctors have not fixed the date for discharge and have told him to take
rest in the hospital," she added.

Sein Win has been writing articles for local weekly papers and magazines
though he was forced to use his left hand due to paralysis after he was
released in 1980 following a long term in prison.

His articles were banned by the military junta after an article "The
Burmese people can't wait longer" appeared in International Herald
Tribune.

In this article, he said talks between the military and the National
League for Democracy was the "only way for a decent and smooth regime
change."

He began his career as a reporter for Upper Burma's "Ludu" ("The People")
newspaper, launched in 1946 which was shut down by the Ne Win government.

____________________________________

February 6, Kaladan News
Army loots goods worth Kyat five million in Arakan

Buthidaung, Burma: Soldiers of the Burmese Army looted goods worth Kyat
five million from a businessman and his associates on January 30. They
were transporting the goods to Buthidaung town from Akyab.

The businessmen Moktul Hossain (50), son of Noor Mostafa was accompanied
by two other Rakhines of “Hoya Sori village” of Buthidaung Township in
Arakan State , Burma .

Moktul Hossain and his three Rakhine partners have been ferrying goods
from Akyab to Buthidaung town after taking permission from the concerned
authorities. They trade in onions, potatoes, chilli, among other items in
Buthidaung.

On January 30, the army unit Dabyu Chaung camp received information that
some businessmen from Akyab had arrived with goods on the Mayu River bank
in Buthidaung town. At about 4 p.m. a section of army personnel went to
the spot.

The army men asked the businessmen to show the documents from the
authorities. After taking all the documents, they arrested the businessmen
and seized all the goods on the boat. Some goods were thrown into the
river by the soldiers.

The troops looted goods worth Kyat five million and then the businessmen
were released, said a relative of Moktul Hussain.

____________________________________

February 8, Khonumthung News
New 'Latpan' market has lots of space at fancy prices

Construction of the 'Latpan' market in Kalay town of Sagaing division in
Burma is on at full swing. The market was razed to the ground in a
devastating fire last year.

"The new market is quite different from the old one. It is bigger and
grander," said a source in Kalay town.

The new market under construction is said to be divided into five sections
such as AB, CD, EF, GH, IJ.

The AB section is made up of 76 rooms and the former owners of space in
the market are demanding Kyat 400,000 as rent for a room from traders for
commercial activities. CD section has 36 rooms and the rent for a room is
Kyat 180,000. EF section has 113 rooms and the going rent is Kyat 150,000.
There are 112 rooms in GH and 74 rooms in IJ section and the rent is Kyat
50,000 for a room, according to a source in Kalay town

Moreover, two restaurants are to be opened in the market and each space is
to be rented out for Kyat 220,000.

 'Latpang' market is said to be constructed by shopkeepers of the burnt
down market on a self-reliance system. No assistance was given by the
municipal authorities in Kalay town.

Till date, the amount of money contributed by each trader for the new
building could not be ascertained.

'Latpan' market caught fire around midnight last year and was reduced to
ashes. A month after the fire the new building began to be constructed on
the same land.

The authorities paid no compensation for the loss suffered by traders who
had space in the market.

The construction of 'Latpan' market was initiated by local traders around
1985.

____________________________________

February 8, Mizzima News
Maung Aye's wife in Singapore for treatment

Mya Mya San, wife of Vice-Senior General Maung Aye is in Singapore for a
medical check-up, sources told Mizzima.

Mya Mya San has been suffering from a thyroid problem and has been in
Singapore for a week but it is yet to be ascertained which hospital she is
in.

Eyewitness told Mizzima that Mya Mya San along with a group of women were
shopping in Takashima-Ya Japanese Supermarket on Orchad Road in Singapore
last Friday.

"They were all wearing longyi and looking around. She was wearing a simple
dress. They were saying, "Oh, this is beautiful, that is beautiful". They
seem to be relaxed", the eyewitness said.
Two body guards in plain clothes were following the group.

Sources close to the military told Mizzima that General Maung Aye went
along with his wife on the trip.

Singapore is a safe place for Burmese generals for treatment and shopping.
Than Shwe (73), the head of the State Peace and Development Council
secretly visited Singapore last month for treatment and stayed for two
weeks.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

February 8, Mizzima News
India's Home Secretary to take up ULFA issue with Burma - Syed Ali Mujtaba

India's Home Secretary V K Duggal will be going on a five day visit to
Burma beginning February 13, according to sources in the Home Ministry.

During his trip, issues like the United Liberation Front of Asom, the
Indian insurgents fighting against the Central government from bases in
Burmese territory, drug trafficking and effective border management are
high on the agenda. The Union Home Secretary will conclude his visit on
February 17.

Ahead of his visit, the Union Home Secretary chaired a meeting of senior
Home Ministry officials to review the situation along the India-Burma
border.

New Delhi has been demanding a crackdown on Indian insurgent groups
operating from the neighboring country but Burma has not made a firm
commitment on launching full scale army operations against them.

"India will make a fresh demand for a crackdown on ULFA militants
operating from Myanmar during the ensuing visit of the Union Home
Secretary V K Duggal to Yangon," Ministry of Home Affairs sources said.

"India has been raising the issue of shifting of boundary pillars in
Manipur by the Myanmarese Amy and this issue is likely to figure again at
the Home Secretary level talks," the sources added.
The Indian External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee visited Burma last
month.

Manipur shares a 398-km border with Burma, while Nagaland has a 258-km,
Mizoram 510-km, Arunachal Pradesh 520-km. The four states together share a
1,643-km border with Burma.

Meanwhile, the two countries have agreed to set up a police liaison post
on the border to provide a platform for daily interaction and joint
interrogation of persons arrested for drugs, arms smuggling and for
insurgency related activities.

Officials believe that liaison at the police post would help check the new
trend which had earlier been restricted to Bangladesh.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

February 8, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar to develop central part through adding more industrial zones

Myanmar is planning to develop the country's central part through
extensively setting up more industrial zones in cities along the
Ayeyawaddy River, the local weekly Yangon Times reported Thursday.

The report quoted Minister of Industry-1 U Aung Thaung as saying that the
application of the Ayeyawaddy River by vessels will become more and cities
along the river could be developed as port cities.

At present, there has been 19 local industrial zones already established
across the country in the early stage as part of Myanmar's plan of
industrial development with a total of 9,574 industrial enterprises in
operation which include small, medium and heavy industries, according to
industry sources.

With Nay Pyi Taw being developed as a new administrative capital, Myanmar
has also designated a 210,060-square-meter land plot there to make way for
establishing similar industrial zone which is likely to include a cattle
breeding zone to be aided by the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO).

Meanwhile, Myanmar will enact a special economic zone (SEZ) law this year,
aiming to absorb inflow of more foreign investment into the country to
promote its economic development, official sources disclosed.

It is expected that granting of special privileges to foreign investors
setting up SEZ will be contained in the law which mainly directs at the
emergence of the exceptional Thilawa SEZ in Yangon' s Thanlyin town-ship,
the prospective first full foreign investment SEZ in Myanmar.

Under the expected new special economic zone law, Myanmar will designate
six main commercial cities as free trade zones, local media quoted the
Forestry Ministry sources as saying, adding that the six free trade zones
will be Thilawa Port in Yangon, Mawlamyine in Mon state, Myawaddy and
Hpaan in Kayin state, Kyaukphyu in Rakhine state and Pyin Oo Lwin in
Mandalay division.

It is also predicted that once the new special economic zone law is
promulgated, 200,000 job opportunities will be created.

Besides, establishment of three other Thai-proposed special industrial
zones, located in Myawaddy and Hpaan in southeastern Kayin state and
Mawlamyine in southern Mon state is also underway. The pro-ject
constitutes part of an economic cooperation strategy (ECS) program agreed
upon at a summit of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand held in Myanmar's
Bagan in November 2003.

Under the Ayeyawaddy-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy
(ACMECS) agreed by the four countries, the three Thai- proposed industrial
zone projects are estimated to start later this year.

According to official statistics, Myanmar's industrial sector contributed
17.5 percent to the gross domestic product of the nation in the fiscal
year 2005-06 which ended in March and a 19- percent contribution is
targeted for 2006-07.

Private sector's contribution to the industrial sector stands 92.36
percent, statistics also show.

____________________________________

February 8, Lloyd’s List
India is set to clinch Myanmar gas pipeline link

India is aiming to secure a deal with Myanmar to build a 1,500 km gas
pipeline from the Burmese coast to its northeastern states, writes Shirish
Nadkarni in Mumbai.

New Delhi's strategy was underlined during a visit to Myanmar by the newly
appointed Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

India is one of at least five bidders for natural gas from two Shwe fields
under the sea off the west coast of Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal.

According to South Korea's Daewoo, the main developer of the A-1 and A-3
Blocks, the reserves have been verified to hold several billion cubic
metres of recoverable gas, making the $3bn cost of the pipeline
worthwhile, if India could secure a long-term supply agreement.

However, media reports from Myanmar quote government officials as saying
they cannot make a decision about a pipeline until the results of further
surveys are known in April or May this year.

Myanmar's deputy leader General Maung Aye said: "If the reserves prove to
be large enough and India is able to offer a competitive price, the
government would have no objection to earmarking the gas for an Indian
pipeline."

Energy analysts monitoring developments in the Shwe fields this week
expressed surprise at the news that yet more surveys are being carried out
in the fields.

"It has been well documented that US assessors Gaffney Cline last year
independently verified the size Blocks A-1 and A-3," said commodities
researcher Sar Watana.

"So it's hard to understand what the Burmese are talking about."

____________________________________

February 8, Xinhua General News Service
More British Virgin Island, Singapore companies to explore gas in Myanmar

Another one British-Virgin-Island- based company and one Singapore company
will conduct oil and natural gas exploration in Myanmar's western offshore
areas, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday.

Under the production sharing contracts signed with the state- run Myanmar
Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) under the Ministry of  Energy in Nay Pyi Taw
Tuesday, the Rimbunan Petrogas Ltd, based in British Virgin Islands, and
the IGE Pte Ltd of Singapore will  carry out the undertakings at block A
off the Rakhine coast, the  report said.

Last month, a British-Virgin-Island-based oil company -- the MRPL E and P
Pte Ltd, reached a production sharing contract with the MOGE to explore
and produce oil and gas at Block A-6 off the same Rakhine coast.

There have been a number of foreign oil companies exploring gas in the
Rakhine offshore area in recent years. These companies include a
consortium, led by South Korea's Daewoo International Corporation with
60-percent stake. Other companies go to South Korea Gas Corporation, ONGC
Videsh Ltd of India and Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL).

The consortium has found gas deposits at Block A-1 and Block A- 3 off the
Rakhine coast in January 2004 and April 2005 respectively.
The Shwe field holds a gas reserve of 4 to 6 TCF or 113.2 to 170 BCM,
while the Shwephyu 5 TCF and the Mya 2 TCF with a combined proven reserve
of 5.7 to 10 TCF being estimated by experts.

In December last year, the GAIL of India and the Silver Wave Energy of
Singapore signed a contract with the MOGE to conduct oil and gas
exploration and production at Block A-7 also in the Rakhine offshore area.

Again in January this year, the China National Petroleum Corporation
(CNPC) International Ltd of China and the MOGE also signed a contract to
explore oil and gas at three deep-sea blocks AD-1, AD-6 and AD-8 off the
same Rakhine coast which cover a total area of about 10,000
square-kilometers.

Myanmar has abundance of natural gas resources in the offshore areas. With
three main large off-shore oil and gas fields and 19  onshore ones,
Myanmar has proven recoverable reserve of 18.012 TCF or 510 billion
cubic-meters (BCM) out of 89.722 TCF or 2.54  trillion cubic-meters
(TCM)'s estimated reserve of offshore and  onshore gas, experts said.

The country is also estimated to have 3.2 billion barrels of recoverable
crude oil reserve, official statistics indicate.

The Myanmar figures also show that in the fiscal year 2005-06 which ended
in March, the country produced 7.962 million barrels of crude oil and
11.45 BCM of gas. Gas export during the year went to 9.138 BCM, earning
over 1 billion U.S. dollars.

Available statistics reveal that such investment in Myanmar's  oil and gas
sector had reached 2.635 billion dollars as of March,  the end of the
fiscal year 2005-06, since the country opened to  foreign investment in
late 1988, dominating the country's foreign  investment sectorally.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

February 8, Irrawaddy
Fueling repression or assisting the oppressed? - Dominic Faulder

Burma’s tourism industry has grown in recent years, despite a shaky start,
but the debate about whether “to go or not to go” rages on

In November 1996, I was one of fewer than a dozen foreign journalists to
witness the extraordinary opening ceremonies for “Visit Myanmar Year,” a
promotion that went down as perhaps the greatest marketing flop in the
history of world tourism.

In launching their hospitality offensive, Burmese officials had targeted
arrivals of more than 500,000 tourists, despite the lack of airline or
hotel capacity to handle such a number. They fell short of the target by
half, even after extending the campaign for another year.

It was abundantly clear that Burma’s ruling junta had no idea of how to
promote a tourism industry. Their doors were certainly not thrown open to
the international media to showcase the hermit nation’s many wonders. Most
of the journalists there seemed to have arrived by accident.


Indeed, a correspondent from The Economist and I had very nearly been
thrown out the day before. We were regarded as dangerous, having just
completed an officially sanctioned visit to the controversial Total-Unocal
gas pipeline then under construction to Thailand. We were also more than
happy to look for some value-added material from one of the world’s most
overlooked destinations. Tourism in Burma should, after all, be a huge
success story.

Perhaps predictably, Burma’s generals shot themselves in the foot at every
opportunity. A group of foreigners attempting a bicycle tour of the
hinterland had been arrested and deported as suspected spies. This was in
a country where arriving passengers were routinely instructed not to take
pictures from the plane windows for national security reasons—as if there
was anything sensitive to photograph after more than three decades
marching backwards economically.

Some things have changed since then. However badly its own people continue
to be treated, Burma is becoming far more visitor friendly, certainly by
its own remarkably xenophobic standards. In the 1970s, foreigners were
officially unwanted and could only obtain brief transit visas for Rangoon.
In the 1980s, seven-day visas were available, but fewer than 40,000 people
bothered to make use of them each year.

According to official figures, some 600,000 foreign visitors arrived in
2006, generating more than US $100 million in revenue—a pretty poor return
on the $1 billion reportedly invested in tourism from overseas since the
industry was “liberalized” in the late 1980s. Providing they are not
journalists, most foreigners can now easily obtain month-long visas, but
still tourists do not really come in any significant numbers. Arrivals may
have actually fallen since the 2005 high of 660,000. Tourism numbers have
always been rather suspect, as they often include poorly defined
cross-border traffic.

On that hot November morning in 1996, squadrons of ethnic maidens were
marched relentlessly around a stadium by a senior army officer barking
orders into the PA system. “Visit Myanmar Year” had arrived, and here
indeed was the “human zoo” denounced by Aung San Suu Kyi and all the
others advocating a tourism boycott of the country.

To the men in khaki, it was “situation normal”—parade-ground tourism
courtesy of the same marketing strategists who had attempted to render
every guide book obsolete by abruptly changing the English spellings of
all major place names, not to mention that of the country itself. To
anybody else, the scene that day was utterly bizarre and further evidence
of the complete incompetence of the military in all matters social and
economic.

More than anything, the spectacle was sad. How could such an obviously
rich and vibrant country, with its unique, multiethnic culture, be
subjected to such a complete lack of imagination? And why had nobody come?
Perhaps because it is very hard to suddenly un-isolate a country.

In early 1994, Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong gave a press
conference in Rangoon. He was at that time the most senior figure in Asean
to have visited Burma, and he made much of the need to break down the
country’s isolation. He was, of course, quite right, but much too polite
to say outright that Burma had been exceedingly good at closing itself off
from the outside world and nothing much else.

Isolation is a risky trait to encourage. Boycott proponents say that
tourist dollars subsidize military repression, which includes the use of
forced labor in the restoration of major tourist sites. This may well all
be true, but it overlooks the fact that the violent repression that
occurred in 1988 predated any upturn in tourism.

With the military-skewed national budget, there have always been enough
weapons and ordnance at hand to kill every man, woman and child in the
country. The use of forced and child labor, meanwhile, is a problem that
relates to every major project in the country, be it rebuilding the
highway from Rangoon to Pegu or restoring Fort Dufferin in Mandalay.

Tourism did not create the circumstances most people advocating a boycott
worry about. The question is really whether it can exacerbate them. It
would be extremely naïve to suggest that tourism can, in itself, solve any
of Burma’s profound problems. Crass attempts at mass tourism would
certainly be harmful to a country in such a weakened condition. Enormous
damage has already been done to the ancient capital of Pegu by
inappropriate “renovations” and structures that blot out the skyline of
Pagan.

But a better balance needs to be struck, certainly when it comes to more
judicious travelers arriving individually or in small groups. These people
should have the chance to see things for themselves and to learn more
about the country and its situation. They should not be automatically
rebuked by the politically correct for visiting the country. Ordinary
Burmese, meanwhile, would benefit from more normal access to outsiders and
the chance to run small businesses that can earn some hard currency.

As it is, most of Burma can still only support backpackers and
ecotourists. The latter travel with their mantra of trying to do no harm
and perhaps occasionally a little good.  Many fail to do any good, some
don’t. They sometimes push boundaries, and the cultural interface can be
an untidy business. But at the end of the day, the tourism boycott is no
more likely to contribute to the collapse of the junta than have Western
sanctions.

The boycott and sanctions are both statements of disapproval. They offer
safe moral high ground but no real hope of success. Those who want to
express their disapproval in this way should carry on doing so from the
comfort of their armchairs. Others should be asking themselves what they
can usefully do with a Burmese visa.

_____________________________________

February 2, Mizzima News
Future Sino-Burma relation at risk - Myat Soe

It was not a surprise to Burmese democrats and the international community
that China vetoed a US-drafted resolution calling on the Burmese regime to
stop persecution in the country, killing the measure in the UN Security
Council. This is what we were expecting from China, to use veto power in
the UNSC. The fact of the matter is: we want the world and our future
generation to know China’s stand on Burma's conflict, as it is a Burmese
historical record. First, China will have to pay a huge political price
when building a relationship with Burma's future generation. Secondly, we
must make it clear to Beijing that China will be held accountable for its
own motion.

It was not the first time that the Chinese government has interfered in
Burma's conflict. In 1956, Chinese forces invaded Burma, clashing with
Burmese troops and taking over disputed territory in northern Burma. Again
under his Chinese name, Lin Mingxian, was sent as a "volunteer" by the
Chinese government to fight alongside the BCP in the 1960s. He never went
back home and became the ruler of Special Region 4 after signing a
ceasefire in 1989. This historical fact was also published in many books
including in Le Monde diplomatique, in an article ”Burma: a 24th province
for China" translated by Donald Hounam in November 2006.

The Sino-Burma war has been published in many history books and articles.
Now again to be sure, the Chinese government's immoral stand on Burma’s
cause will be taught in middle school history textbooks in the future. We
will teach our children to learn about what the Chinese government had
done wrong in the past to the Burmese people and during our difficult
times. It will be the same history that the Chinese children have learnt
in schools about the Japanese slaughter of some 300,000 civilians in the
Chinese city of Nanjing.

Some experts on Burma issues suggested that Burma could become China's
24th province. In point of fact, Chinese migration into Myanmar has been
extensive (estimates range from one to two million Chinese being now in
the country, compared to several hundred thousand before 1988).
One-quarter of Mandalay is said to be Yunnanese Chinese, as is one-half of
Lashio.  However, in my view, I disagree. The nationalism that is so
apparent in Burma will not allow it to be either the next Tibet or China's
24th province.  Burma is a nation like Israel in its own region. No matter
who holds onto the power in Burma, the future respective government will
build friendship with its neighbouring countries, and its foreign policies
with neighbouring countries will remain the same. This China must
understand and should not overlook.

Even though Beijing is pushing Burma’s regime quietly for internal
reforms, China must join the regional and international actors to enhance
stability by pushing collectively for a change in behaviour by the Burmese
regime. China's participation would have to be based on the premise of
recognizing the need to press for change. The approach must include the
immediate and irreversible release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leadership of
the NLD and ethnic leaders and their full participation in a transparent
and sustained process of national reconciliation aimed at restoration of
democracy. China must continue to persuade Burma's regime for a dialogue
strategy with regional and international support. The failure to come up
with a dialogue strategy for political development in Burma will cost
China dearly in political terms. It will produce regional tension, and it
will have an affect on China when it comes to dealing with Burma's next
generation in the near future.

(The writer Myat Soe is a former Central Executive Committee member of All
Burma Federation of Student Unions (1988) and currently serves as the
Research Director of Justice for Human Rights in Burma. He graduated from
Indiana University, and earned his MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University.)