BurmaNet News, January 18, 2008

[Editor]

January 18, 2008 Issue # 3383

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Myanmar opposition asks junta for Aung San Suu Kyi meeting
Mizzima News: Palpable tension in Taungkok, protests likely
Irrawaddy: Security forces on alert in Rangoon after bombings
Irrawaddy: Mandalay journals act as junta mouthpieces
Irrawaddy: Time for Kyaw Hsan to switch off
Irrawaddy: Western Embassy staff complain of visa problems in Burma
Mizzima News: Junta's obduracy makes ICRC helpless
DVB: SSA in low-level clash with state troops

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar to liberalize fuel import
Borneo Bulletin: Myanmar delegates visit NCCIBD, sign MoU on cooperation

REGIONAL
Inter Press Service: India/China:  Eyeing Burma
The Nation: Japan grants no money to Burma
The Hindu: Snap ties with Myanmar, India urged
Narinjara: Dhaka and Naypyidaw meeting to clarify maritime boundary for
gas exploration

INTERNATIONAL
UN: UN envoy’s return to Myanmar could spur further progress, says
Security Council
Guardian Unlimited: Sanctions "not central" to Myanmar policy – EU

DPA: EU's Myanmar envoy to launch whirlwind diplomatic tour
Press Trust of India: Brown to raise Myanmar issue with PM
The Australian: Generosity a mark of the man
Sify – India: Why Stallone stayed away from Afghanistan, Iraq

STATEMENT
UN News Service: UN Security Council: Security Council Press Statement on
Myanmar

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 18, Agence France Presse
Myanmar opposition asks junta for Aung San Suu Kyi meeting

Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) on Friday urged
the ruling junta to allow its detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet
senior party members.

The NLD also repeated its call for the military to free Aung San Suu Kyi
and her deputy Tin Oo, and said the junta should allow senior party
members to meet them while they are in detention.

"The authorities should allow these two leaders and other central
executive committee members to meet so they can discuss freely," the party
said in a statement.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 12 of the past 18
years under house arrest at her rambling lakeside home in Yangon, deprived
of almost all contact with the outside world.

Amid stiff international pressure on the regime following its deadly
crackdown on pro-democracy protests in September, the junta appointed
Labour Minister Aung Kyi to coordinate official contacts with her.

The two have met four times since the military opened fire on peaceful
protesters in the streets of Yangon, leaving at least 31 dead and 74
missing, according to a UN report.

She was also once allowed to meet top party members, and to hold talks
with UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

The NLD said the junta should allow her to meet again with the party's
central committee to jump start efforts for a dialogue on national
reconciliation.

"At this juncture, all the Central Executive Committee members, including
the leader Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, should get permission to find a solution
by discussing together on a process of national reconciliation," the
statement said.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962, leaving the nation's
economy in a shambles.

Although Aung San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a landslide victory in elections
in 1990, the military has never recognised the result.

____________________________________

January 18, Mizzima News
Palpable tension in Taungkok, protests likely – Than Htaik Oo

After yesterday's demonstration in Taungkok was aborted, palpable tension
hangs in the air between local residents and the authorities, NLD members
said.

The police, fire brigade personnel, township and ward level local
authorities, USDA members and Swanahshin, armed with weapons rushed into
quell the protests even as about 200 demonstrators, including some monks
were gathering near Myoma market. The protesters had to abort their plan.
Tension prevails between the local people and the local authority.

Local residents disgruntled with yesterday's aborted demonstration said,
"We cannot say when the next outburst will happen. The people are totally
dissatisfied with the current situation," Ko Bala who is close to the
local NLD told Mizzima.

"Yes, there is tension here. The people have the feeling of vengeance
boiling inside them over the regime and the local authorities. If this
time we had to abort, next time we must do whatever we have to and will
face the consequences. That's the way the people are thinking," a local
woman told Mizzima.

The local people had planned to highlight their daily hardships they were
facing by way of the demonstrations.

Now the local authorities have stationed security forces at some of the
road junctions near Paungdaw Oo pagoda in Taungkok. Security men in cars
are patrolling the town.

Though there were no fresh arrests for yesterday's plan to demonstrate 13
people including Taungkok NLD Vice-Chairman U Khin Hla and treasurer Ko
Min Aung are still behind bars for joining the 'Saffron Revolution' in
September.

____________________________________

January 18, Irrawaddy
Security forces on alert in Rangoon after bombings – Min Lwin

Increased security forces have been deployed around important buildings,
upscale supermarkets and Rangoon railways stations after four bomb blasts
in the country since last Friday, according to residents in Rangoon.

“There are a lot of security forces assigned downtown, especially around
Sule pagoda and near Rangoon railway stations,” said one resident. “Some
say they have found bombs or some type of devices.”

The latest bomb blast occurred on Wednesday in Pyinbonegyi, 105 km north
of Rangoon, according to The New Light of Myanmar.

Three people have been killed in the explosions.

The first bomb went off in the new administrative capital of Naypidaw; the
second in the northern town of Pyu; and the third in the main Rangoon
Railway Station.

No group has claimed responsibility for the explosions.

Soldiers of the No 77 Light Infantry Division are reinforcing police and
the Swan-Arh-Shin, a militia whose members helped surpress the
pro-democracy protests.

Private vehicles carrying soldiers and Swarn-Ah-Shin members patrolled
streets in downtown in Rangoon on Thursday night.

“They (security forces) are searching carefully. They locked the toilets
in some buildings, even a toilet in Sakura Tower on Sule Pagoda Road,”
said an employee in Sakura Tower, one of tallest buildings in Rangoon.

Both police and soldiers are stationed at the International Trade Centre
near Puzundaung Market, the scene of a deadly bomb blast on May 7, 2005,
in which two dozen people died and more than 160 were injured.

Traffic police have also been beefed up at major intersections in Rangoon,
according to a Rangoon resident.

A well-inform source said the authorities are alarmed that the bomb
explosions have continued in different locations and have now occurred in
Rangoon.

The military regime has blamed the explosions on foreign aid
organizations, claming they have sent terrorist saboteurs with explosives
across the border to destabilize Burma.

____________________________________

January 18, Irrawaddy
Mandalay journals act as junta mouthpieces – Min Lwin

“If I do things wrong, you all have the right to write about it,” King
Mindon once proudly told journalists in Mandalay.

Father of Burma’s last king, Thibaw, and founder of Mandalay in 1858, King
Mindon apparently welcomed criticism of his policies, his family and
himself by the local publications. One of those early newspapers, the
Yadanarbone Daily, was actively encouraged by the king to write about the
affairs of the palace.

King Mindon granted the media far more freedom of expression than exists
today in Burma. Under the current regime there is no freedom of
expression.

According to a journalist based in Mandalay, nowadays all media-related
enterprises in the city are monopolized by the pro-junta Union Solidarity
and Development Association and must be verified by the government’s Press
Scrutiny and Registration Division.

Even journals, which mainly target rural people in upper Burma and which
have always been considered essential sources of information, fall under
the watchful eye of the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development
Association.

According to the journalist, five journals— the Mandalay Times, Nanmyint,
Upper Myanmar, Shwe Mandalay and Mantoungyeait—are provided with financial
and political support from Aung Thaung, Minister of Industry 1, and head
of USDA Mandalay Division.

“These journals propagate USDA misinformation and anti-NLD (National
League for Democracy) rhetoric,” said a writer in Mandalay. “They write
articles criticizing international sanctions, but support the activities
of deposed NLD member Dr Soe Linn and his Wuntharnu party.”

Myo Min Min, a senior member of USDA Mandalay Division, is—in name
only—the publisher of Shwe Mandalay, Upper Myanmar and the Mandalay Times.
However, he is directly involved with gambling and the lottery, and uses
these journals to launder his money, a source in Mandalay told The
Irrawaddy, although he could not provide further details.

“Some editors of these journals claim that their publications are free
from government interference, but they continue to publish propaganda on
behalf of the USDA and attack foreign media,” said the Mandalay-based
journalist.

Shwe Mandalay, a popular journal in Burma’s second city, circulates some
3,000 copies per week and reports news and celebrity gossip. It also
publicizes the activities of senior USDA officials and attacks the British
Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Free Burma, the Voice of America, and the
Democratic Voice of Burma, all of which are based outside the country.

During the September uprising, the journal Nanmyint expressly criticized
the monks’ refusal to accept alms from military families.

It is estimated that the five journals in Mandalay and Upper Burma have a
total circulation of 7,000 copies.

“I don’t buy any of those journals,” said a businessman in Mandalay. “I am
not interested in reading pro-junta propaganda and the activities of USDA
members.”

Meanwhile, publishing permits are strictly controlled in Mandalay.
Authorities only issue licenses to USDA senior members and their cronies;
permission to publish or print is out of the question for ordinary
citizens.

“We tried to submit an application to publish a journal in Mandalay, but
the censorship board in Rangoon refused permission,” said Ko Paing, a poet
in Mandalay.

After the Second World War, Mandalay enjoyed a cultural boom. Two
newspapers—Ludu, founded by two well-known journalists, Hla and Ahmar, and
the Hanthawaddy, edited by Win Tin, who is now in Insein prison—were well
respected publications that reported independent news and critical
articles.

“The Ludu was much more free than current journals; it didn’t have to pass
the censorship board before it was printed,” said an editor based in
Mandalay. “In those days, it was so easy to publish and circulate a
journal.”

____________________________________

January 18, Irrawaddy
Time for Kyaw Hsan to switch off – Yeni

The official order suspending publication of Burma’s partly
government-owned weekly, The Myanmar Times, and the resignation under
pressure of one of its reporters, Win Kyaw Oo, in a newsroom
reorganization are the latest examples of how Minister of Information
Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan is clumsily harassing the country’s media.

The Burmese-language edition of The Myanmar Times was suspended for one
week as a penalty for carrying a report about a huge increase in satellite
TV fees in its January 11 issue. The newspaper apparently published the
story, which quoted an Agence France-Presse dispatch, without requesting
the censorship board’s permission.

"The latest sanctions against news media that are already subject to
censorship and self-censorship appear to be linked to recent official
statements on press freedom," said the organizations Reporters Without
Borders and the Burma Media Association in a joint statement.

That is true. Kyaw Hsan recently told Burma’s national association of
printers and publishers that they should “place emphasis on improvement of
the national economy and guard against destructionists that will undermine
the national interest.” Kyaw Hsan warned editors, writers and publishers
that the censorship board would “take action” if they wrote “news which
can discourage the national interest.”

Since early 2006, Kyaw Hsan has been using his influence on a handful of
editors and publishers in Burma to counter criticism of the country’s
military regime by opposition and media groups in the West and exiles
operating throughout the region.

Burma’s media groups, including The Myanmar Times, are forced to follow
the junta’s party line, while some seem to do so out of genuine support
for Burma’s military government.

While suppressing press freedom, Kyaw Hsan has opened wider opportunities
for local journalists to get information and data from government
officials. He has allowed reporters to cover natural disasters, poverty
and health issues, such as HIV/AIDS—topics that were previously banned in
Burma’s tightly-controlled media environment. He also presents a friendly
face at press conferences.

He still has much to learn about dealing with the foreign press, however.
Lesson one contains a warning not to prejudge the political leanings of a
foreign media organization—as he reportedly did when inviting a team from
the TV station Al Jazeera into the country to film a report on Burma. Kyaw
Hsan and other generals apparently thought the TV station was
anti-American because of its sometimes critical coverage of US foreign
policy.

Kyaw Hsan told Al Jazeera presenter Veronica Pedrosa and her crew: “We
fully understand the nature of the media and we do not ask to be biased
for us. Yet, we hope that your news reports on Myanmar will be balanced
and fair, reflecting the background history, actual conditions and
situations.”

Just how little he knew about the “nature of the media” was painfully
apparent to Kyaw Hsan and his government colleagues when they viewed Al
Jazeera’s coverage of the September demonstrations. The excellent film
reports were devoured by a large international audience and made Al
Jazeera the favorite source of news in Burmese households.

Kyaw Hsan’s blunders earned him the soubriquet Burma’s Comical Ali in the
Bangkok English-language daily The Nation, a reference to former Iraqi
Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf.

“In recent days, Southeast Asia has witnessed the emergence of its own
version of Comical Ali, Burmese Information Minister Kyaw Hsan of the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the highest decision-making
body in Burma’s military ruled state,” the newspaper said.

Kyaw Hsan’s latest dumb move was to announce a drastic increase in the
annual satellite TV fee, from the equivalent of US $5 to $800, and a
$1,000 charge for each TV owned by a hotel.

The increase triggered a storm of criticism, particularly from gambling
businesses which need satellite TV coverage of international football
matches. The generals are said to be deeply involved in the lucrative
gambling business—and Kyaw Hsan’s fee hikes were not appreciated by the
top brass, who apparently remained deaf to suggestions that the move would
restrict the number of households able to receive foreign broadcasts.

While Kyaw Hsan was having second thoughts about the fee rise, The Myanmar
Times went ahead and reported it. Woops!

____________________________________

January 18, Irrawaddy
Western Embassy staff complain of visa problems in Burma – Wai Moe

The Burmese junta has tightened its visa rules on Western diplomats, their
family members and NGO employees working in Burma, sources told The
Irrawaddy on Friday.

The diplomatic community in Rangoon was taken by surprise when the regime
failed to renew or extend visas for some staff and family members of
Western embassies.

An official at a Western embassy said there have been unusually long
delays in the visa process for some embassy staff, NGO workers and UN
officials based in Burma.

A source familiar with the Rangoon-based embassies said the difficulties
have impacted about 30 diplomats, officials and family members in recent
weeks.

It was unclear at the present time, if the problems are the result of an
official policy or just administration difficulties or confusion, sources
said.

Diplomatic sources in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy that it is difficult to
know how the Burmese authorities plan to handle visas and passports these
days.

The Irrawaddy called the Burma Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Naypyidaw,
but the official who answered said she could not comment on the issue.

Some western diplomats said people in Western embassies appear to have
more difficulties than the average foreigner who lives and works in Burma.

Some sources speculated that since several Western countries have placed
visa bans on Burmese officials, the military government may be playing the
same game.

Others expressed concerns that if they left they country, they may not be
allowed to return.

Earlier, the passports of two Burmese staff members at the US embassy in
Rangoon were seized by authorities at the Rangoon International Airport
when they returned from an overseas trip. The incident took place in
December.

The US has been a vocal critic of the regime, calling for a meaningful
democratic transition in the country and has increased economic sanctions
on the regime since the bloody crackdown in September.

After the crackdown, the US imposed targeted sanctions on dozens of
Burmese officials and businesses.

____________________________________

January 18, Mizzima News
Junta's obduracy makes ICRC helpless

The logjam between the International Committee of the Red Cross and an
adamant Burmese military junta continues. The ICRC said it has failed to
adhere to the requests of family members of political prisoners to
continue prison visits, as there has been no breakthrough in negotiations
with the ruling junta over its programme.

The Geneva based UN aid agency, which terminated its prison visits in late
2005 following interference by a junta-backed organization, said family
members of political prisoners have requested them to continue their
programme as it would help improve the situation of prisoners.

Thierry Ribaux, ICRC's deputy head of delegation in Burma, said as there
has been no progress so far in negotiations with the ruling junta on
prison visits, the group has been conducting home visits and facilitating
meetings between political prisoners and family members.

"We have two programmes still continuing today, one is support to
orthopedics prospective facility and another one is to support what we
call family visiting programme, which is visits by relative to detainees
or prisoners," Ribaux said.

While the ICRC has been open to dialogue with the ruling junta to
negotiate its prison visits, Ribaux said so far there has been no
progress, with no sign of talks with the government in the near future.

The ICRC, which maintained a presence in Burma since 1999, terminated its
prison visits in December 2005 when junta-backed civil organization –
Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) – insisted on
accompanying it in its prison visits.

The ICRC said it has a global standard of conducting programmes
independently and refused to allow the USDA members to accompany them.

The junta in a further restriction in ICRC work forced a temporary
shut-down of its five field offices in October 2006. But the government
continues to impose restriction even when it allowed re-opening of the
field offices.

In response to the restrictions, the ICRC in March 2007 closed down two of
its field offices and reduced its staff. The ICRC further said that it is
seriously considering the closure of its other three field offices.

Though the ICRC continues to maintain its presence, there has not been
much activity by the group, Ribaux said.

____________________________________

January 18, Democratic Voice of Burma
SSA in low-level clash with state troops

The Shan State Army-South clashed with Burmese government troops on 13
January in their first encounter this year, according to an SSA-S
spokesperson.

Major Sai Lao Hseng said that the government troops took some casualties
in the skirmish, which took place near Naung-aw village, not far from the
Thai-Burma border in Shan state.

“It was just a small clash as our troops ran into soldiers from the
government’s Light Infantry Battalion 131 about two kilometres east of
Naung-aw village,” said Sai Lao Hseng.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 18, Xinhua
Myanmar to liberalize fuel import

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.

____________________________________

January 18, Borneo Bulletin
Myanmar delegates visit NCCIBD, sign MoU on cooperation – Rosli Abidin Yahya

The exchanging of the MoU between NCCIBD and UMFCCI. - ROSLI ABIDIN YAHYA
A ten-member delegation representing the Union of Myanmar Federation of
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) on Wednesday morning visited the
National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Brunei Darussalam (NCCIBD) at
Beribi Industrial Site in an effort to establish closer contacts and
promote cooperation in trade, investment and joint ventures.

Led by U Win Myint, Chairman of UMFCCI, the group was greeted by NCCIBD
President Razali Johari and its committee members, as well as local
entrepreneurs.

Also present at the event were Dyg Mariani bte Sabtu, an officer from the
Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR), and other staff
members.

During the visit, U Win Myint gave a briefing on Myanmar's trade and
economy. Myanmar is a resource-rich country and is most productive in
extractive industries, especially oil and gas, as well as mining and
timber.

"Our agricultural products include rice, pulses, beans, sesame seeds,
groundnuts, sugarcanes, hardwood and fish, while our industries comprise
of agricultural processing such as wood and wood products, copper, tin,
tungsten, iron, construction materials, pharmaceuticals, fertilisers,
natural gas, garments, and gem stones.

"Our export commodities are gas, wood products, pulses, beans, fish, rice,
clothing and gem stones mainly to Thailand, India, China and Japan.

"Goods such as fabric, petroleum products, fertilisers, plastics,
machinery, transport equipment, construction materials, crude oil, food
products, edible oil are meanwhile imported mainly from China, Thailand,
Singapore and Malaysia," he said.

Meanwhile, the NCCIBD president welcomed the visitors and hoped that the
Sultanate is attractive enough for Myanmar to invest here.

At the end of the visit, the two parties signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) where they agreed to promote mutual cooperation in
trade, investment and joint ventures.

Both parties also made an agreement to devote particular attention to
development of cooperation in the field of Small and Medium Enterprises
(SMEs), exchange information on economy, trade rules and customs, as well
as to promote cooperation for transfer of technologies, human resources,
development and tourism.

Furthermore, they agreed to provide assistance for companies in both
countries to participate in exhibitions, fairs and advertising and
information events in Brunei and Myanmar.

In the MoU, the two business federations agreed to hold regular
consultations to eliminate possible obstacles that restrain the
development of bilateral economic cooperation and to work together in
promoting bilateral trade for both countries through seminars,
conferences, exhibitions, employment exchanges and training.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 18, Inter Press Service
India/China:  Eyeing Burma - John Feffer

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."

____________________________________

January 18, The Nation
Japan grants no money to Burma - Supalak G Khundee

Tokyo - Sanction-hit Burma got nothing Wednesday as Japan pledged
approximately US$20 million (Bt662 million) for development projects in
the Mekong basin.

Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win together with his counterparts from the
Mekong region - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam - were in Tokyo for
the first MekongJapan foreign ministers' meeting.

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura signed a memorandum of
understanding with his Laotian counterpart, Thongloun Sisoulith,
Cambodia's Hor Namhong and Vietnam's Pham Gia Khiem. It provides financial
assistance through the JapanAsean Integration Fund to those countries.

Japan cancelled nearly $5 million in development assistance to juntaruled
Burma in October last year in response to the military crackdown on street
protests in late September. At least 31 were killed, including Japanese
news photographer Kenji Nagai.

Some 40 Burmese activists in Japan staged a protest yesterday in front of
the meeting venue, and the hotel where Nyan Win is staying.

They are demanding an end to international assistance for the
militaryruled country.

They displayed portraits of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and
posters reading "stop killing in Burma".

The $20million fund will be spent improving transport and freight along
the EastWest Economic Corridor, the link from Thailand, via Laos, to
Vietnam as well as the CambodiaLaosVietnam Development Triangle.

Japan and the three countries decided on a list of projects, which
included a feasibility study of road improvements in Cambodia, Laos and
Vietnam.

Thailand is not a recipient, but joined the meeting as a partner with Japan.

Koumura praised Thailand's role in the Mekongbasin development.

The region's countries appreciate Japan and Thailand's continued support
for the development of the region, he said.

Thai Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram said Thailand had contributed
some $55 million to neighbours in the region between 1995 and 2006, plus
some $200 million for 16 infrastructure projects.

Nitya linked Thailand's brainchild project the AyeyawadyChao PhyaMekong
Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) with Japan's role in developing the
region. ACMECS consists of Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.
That was the reason Burma's minister was in Tokyo.

In ACMECS, Thailand is ready to play a role with Japan in undertaking
study of development of Laos's Savanakhet Airport, he said.

"Thailand looks forward to working with Japan and cooperation with Mekong
countries to identify other projects and areas where trilateral
cooperation can be applied," Nitya said.


____________________________________

January 18, The Hindu
Snap ties with Myanmar, India urged

A public meeting for restoration of democracy and human rights in Myanmar
here on Friday appealed to the Centre to snap all ties with the military
rulers of the country as economic cooperation with it would never benefit
the people unless democracy was restored.

"The Indian government should work with the UN to find amicable solution
to the Myanmar imbroglio," said the resolution passed at the meeting
organized jointly by Mizoram Committee for Democracy in Burma and Campaign
for Democratic Movement in Burma.

Mizoram is the worst sufferer of political instability and turmoil in the
neighbouring country, participants of the meeting said and asked the
people of Mizoram to take active role in supporting the pro-democratic
groups to ensure restoration of democracy and human rights in Myanmar.

The participants also urged the state government to take up the issue with
the Centre as ethnic Mizos in Myanmar were being persecuted in that
country and also that Mizo people faced serious problems due to refugees
flooding the state due to persecution by the military junta.

Dr Tint Swe, member of Parliament of Burma and leader of the National
League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who spoke at the
meeting on the need for new strategy in dealing with Myanmar by India said
that even the Look East Policy would only have a meaning after restoration
of democracy.

Other speakers included Rozathang and Hla Htun who stressed the need for
increasing pressure on the political mandarins in New Delhi to change the
country's policy towards the military regime in Myanmar.

____________________________________

January 18, Narinjara
Dhaka and Naypyidaw meeting to clarify maritime boundary for gas exploration

Dhaka: High level delegations from Burma and Bangladesh will meet at
Burma's new capital of Naypyidaw within a month to discuss a maritime
boundary dispute between the two neighboring countries, according to a
press report.
Bangladesh will send its delegation, led by Additional Foreign Secretary
MAK Mahmood, to Burma in a month in order to clarify the position of the
maritime boundary with Burma for gas exploration. The issue of the
maritime boundary has not been discussed by the two neighbors in 21 years.

The boundary dispute has intensified over the past five years as both
India and Burma rushed into exploration for gas in offshore areas
allegedly within Bangladesh territory.

Bangladesh is now preparing its case for gas exploration like Burma and
India in the Bay of Bengal, and eagerly wants to clarify the maritime
boundary with Burma. Bangladesh has not been able to invite tenders for
block bidding as the maritime boundaries have not been properly
demarcated, said the report.

Dhaka - Naypyidaw relations have been good over the past year and the two
countries have signed a number of agreements in key areas such as road
links, border management, and energy cooperation.

Bangladesh is hoping that the problem of maritime boundary demarcation
will be easily solved by negotiations between the two neighbors.

"We have, during the past year, developed an excellent bilateral
relationship with Burma. It is our view that this would be further
strengthened when we resolve the issue of maritime boundaries," Bangladesh
Foreign Affairs Adviser Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told reporters
yesterday.

The sensitivity of the issue has kept the maritime boundary dispute off
the bilateral agenda over the last few years, said one official, adding
that warmer relationship have made it possible to start talks to resolve
the matter.

India, Burma, and Bangladesh have not demarcated their territorial waters,
although India and Burma have agreed on an "equidistant" boundary that
allows 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
Bangladesh territory in the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh's previous government claimed in 2006 that Burma had encroached
18,000 square kilometers into Bangladesh waters and floated gas
exploration tenders.

India was alleged to have encroached 19,000 square kilometers into
Bangladesh waters.

The caretaker government is reported to have plans to explore deepwater
fossil fuel within 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 ten years to justify its claim since it
ratified the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea in 2001.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 17, UN News Centre
UN envoy’s return to Myanmar could spur further progress, says Security
Council

Disappointed with the slow pace of change in Myanmar, the Security Council
today said an early return to the country by United Nations special envoy
Ibrahim Gambari could help promote progress towards democratization and
national reconciliation.

Mr. Gambari, who has a standing invitation to return to Myanmar, had
requested to go there this month. However, the Government has said it
prefers he visit in mid-April.

In a statement read out to the press by Ambassador Giadalla Ettalhi of
Libya, which holds the rotating presidency for January, the 15-member body
“regretted the slow rate of progress so far” towards meeting the
objectives laid out in a presidential statement issued by the Council last
October.

They include steps by the Government for a “genuine dialogue” with
detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all concerned to achieve
an inclusive national reconciliation process, and the release of all
political prisoners and remaining detainees.

“Council members underscored the importance of further progress, noting
that an early visit to Myanmar by Mr. Gambari could help facilitate this,”
the statement added.

Speaking to reporters following the Council’s discussions, Mr. Gambari
said that while the date of his return is still under discussion, “in view
of [the] many issues left on the table, the earlier a visit occurs the
better.”

He said the Myanmar authorities need to move toward tangible progress on
the constitution, freedom for all political prisoners, and addressing the
root causes of discontent among the population.

Mr. Gambari, who has visited Myanmar twice since the Government used force
to crack down on peaceful protesters in the summer of 2007, intends to
visit India and China later this month.

He noted that while countries in the region have placed on record their
support for the good offices role of the Secretary-General on the issue of
Myanmar, “there is still more that everybody can do.”

All those who have a role to play, both inside the country and outside,
should be given the chance to do so in the interest of moving toward “a
peaceful, prosperous but democratic Myanmar with full respect for the
human rights of its people,” he stated.

____________________________________

January 18, Guardian Unlimited
Sanctions "not central" to Myanmar policy – EU - Mark John

The European Union signalled a shift of emphasis in policy towards
Myanmar's ruling junta on Friday, saying its main focus was on encouraging
steps towards democracy rather than exerting pressure with sanctions.

After the Myanmar leadership's bloody crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy
protests in September, the 27-member bloc approved toughened economic and
other sanctions in November and threatened more a month later if
repression did not ease.

But Piero Fassino, the EU's special envoy to the region, said it was clear
Asian states did not back the use of sanctions as mooted by EU and U.S.
officials.

"Sanctions are not central, they are not the objective in themselves. The
core of our strategy is ensuring that a dialogue opens in Myanmar,"
Fassino said after meetings in Brussels.

"Asian states are very sensitive to the issue of regional stability ...
They are not favourable (to sanctions). We have to take that into account
and respect that. They prefer a strategy of persuasion," he told a news
conference.

He said it was too early to assess the impact of EU sanctions introduced
in November, which target more than 1,200 firms in Myanmar and impose visa
bans and asset freezes on its military rulers. It is up to EU member
states to apply such measures nationally.

Asked whether the EU had scrapped any plans to tighten sanctions, he said
the priority of its policy now was to support an early visit to the
country by U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari and to see what emerged from
that.

"We shall see whether Mr Gambari can go and what his visit achieves. After
that we shall evaluate," he added, stressing that Gambari should go as
soon as possible.

The U.N. Security Council upbraided Myanmar on Thursday for slow progress
on reforms since the September protests, including dragging its heels on
the release of political prisoners and in pursuing a genuine dialogue with
opposition leaders.

Gambari said he had asked Myanmar's junta if he could visit the country
this month, but had been told such a timing was not convenient and that
mid-April was better.

Fassino repeated EU demands that Myanmar release detained opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, launch a proper dialogue with a wide range of
civil and religious groups, and implement U.N. recommendations on human
rights.

____________________________________

January 18, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
EU's Myanmar envoy to launch whirlwind diplomatic tour

The European Union's special envoy for Myanmar, Piero Fassino, said Friday
he is to launch a whirlwind diplomatic tour of Asia in a bid to accelerate
the process of reconciliation in the troubled state.

The visits to India, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and
Russia are intended to move the political process in Myanmar into a "more
substantial phase," Fassino told journalists in Brussels.

"The countries of Asia can play a very great role in the process... In
October and November, India and China played a positive role, (and) I
think that at this moment, their governments can realize a very strong
influence," he said.

"We want to keep the question of Myanmar as one of the priorities on the
international agenda," he said.

Fassino's jet-propelled diplomacy is set to focus on building
international support for a renewed visit by the UN's special envoy,
Ibrahim Gambari, to the Asian state, four months after mass protests
against Myanmar's military regime were put down by the authorities.

"We have to concentrate all our efforts for Mr Gambari to go there as fast
as possible, and to achieve some substantial steps," Fassino said.

Such steps should help create "a real dialogue between all actors in
Myanmar in an atmosphere of mutual trust," he said.

They could include the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
and other political figures and the creation of a structured dialogue with
a timetable for talks, Fassino said.

And the Myanmar authorities should involve opposition figures in the
creation of a new constitution - a process currently in the sole hands of
government allies, he said.

While Fassino said that targeted sanctions - imposed by the EU and US, but
rejected by Asian states - had an important part to play in the diplomatic
process, he stressed that the current round of visits would focus on other
issues.

"If you have a strategy A and start talking about a strategy B, then
strategy A is gone. The core of our strategy is to make sure that a
dialogue is opened in Myanmar," he said.

"If Mr Gambari goes to Myanmar, it's a good step. After that, we'll
discuss it with the EU and with Mr Gambari," he said.

Fassino is set to visit Thailand and Indonesia next week, India and Russia
in February, Vietnam and Cambodia in early March and Japan later in the
spring, he said.

____________________________________

January 18, Press Trust of India
Brown to raise Myanmar issue with PM

Insisting that Myanmar's movement towards democracy was not "significant";
Britain on Friday indicated that its Prime Minister Gordon Brown would
seek to exhort India to do more on the issue during his upcoming visit.

British High Commissioner Sir Richard Stagg said his country favours a
"carrot and stick" policy with regard to Myanmar as he suggested that
London and New Delhi differed on how to reach the "end point" though both
agree on the "route".

Brown will raise the issue of Myanmar during his talks with Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and express "our concern that the process launched (there)
does not seem to be moving forward significantly," Stagg said while
briefing reporters on the visit beginning on Sunday.

Refusing to predict what the specific content of discussions between Singh
and Brown on Myanmar would be, he said "we are open to dialogue with India
as we acknowledge difference of views" with New Delhi on the subject.

"We believe the present situation in Myanmar is unstable and will not
continue indefinitely in future," Stagg said, underlining "the greater
need for international pressure to move the regime in Burma to take
reforms seriously."

Acknowledging the "difference of views" with India on the methodology to
ensure democracy in Myanmar, he said New Delhi is for "rather slower
approach but headed down the same route to same destination".

India has been opposing use of coercion against Myanmar to bring about
democracy there and favours a dialogue to resolve the issue.

____________________________________

January 18, The Australian
Generosity a mark of the man – Geoff Elliot

IT says something about John McCain that despite being in the fight of his
life to try to win the White House, where every vote counts and the
domestic media is king, he's willing to take time out of a frenetic
campaign to entertain questions from your correspondent.

McCain now has a huge phalanx of national media following his every move,
whereas just three months ago, when I last spent days tailing him, he was
barely covered thanks to conventional wisdom his presidential campaign was
shot.

In the final hours before a critical vote in South Carolina, where
presidential ambitions are made or broken, McCain declares when
approached: "I'm always glad to talk to my Australian friends!"

McCain loves Australia.

His father was an admiral who spent time in Perth during World War II. He
was most recently in Australia in early 2005 to inspect damage to the
Great Barrier Reef.

McCain is one of the lions of the Senate on foreign policy and given his
time spent in Vietnam - 5 1/2 years as a guest of the Viet Cong in the
Hanoi Hilton - he speaks with an authority on military matters, and for
that matter the Asia Pacific, unmatched in Congress.

What would he do on Burma as president? "I would be telling ASEAN to throw
them out of ASEAN. They took them into ASEAN on the basis of them
improving human rights, making progress etcetera, etcetera. And it gives
ASEAN a bad name to have a country like that - they are killing and
torturing their people.

"I think there are significant sanctions that ought to be enacted. Burma
is an international pariah.

"The great role model for the world is Aung San Suu Kyi," he says of
Burma's pro-democracy opposition leader. "We need to continue to show our
support."

I ask McCain, 71, how he would match up against a youthful candidate such
as Barack Obama, 46, for the Democrats, whose candidacy in terms of
foreign policy is powerful in symbolism.

Obama's father was from Kenya and his mother was a white woman from
Kansas. And while he is Christian, his paternal lineage is Muslim.

Against that powerful imagery - a candidate who, if nominated, would be a
culmination of America's own struggles for rights - McCain says simply
that he would offer: "A secure world. A secure world.

"I have the experience and the knowledge and judgment to win the struggle
against radical Islamic extremism," he says.

Then, smiling, he adds: "And Istill want to save the Great Barrier Reef."

____________________________________

January 18, Sify – India
Why Stallone stayed away from Afghanistan, Iraq

Action star Sylvester Stallone did not want to use Afghanistan or Iraq as
a backdrop for the latest in the Rambo series, which he also directs,
because he did not want to offend troops stationed there right now.

Thesun.co.uk quoted him as saying: "I thought it would be an insult to the
men who are fighting, to think that a fictional character could come and
change everything. I thought Burma would be more real."

The movie is titled Rambo and it finds the protagonist leading a solitary
life in the mountains and jungles of northern Thailand. But he has to
return to action when a group of human rights activists find him and plead
with him to guide them to Burma to deliver medical supplies. Rambo has to
rescue them when the Burmese army captures them.

"You have one small area with peasants being overwhelmed by this brutal
military force. They are picked out because they are Christians and Rambo
is an atheist at this time and he had lost most of his humanity. I wanted
to do something more spiritual and visually interesting," he said.

____________________________________
STATEMENT

January 18, UN News Service
UN Security Council: Security Council Press Statement on Myanmar

"The following Security Council press statement was read out today by
Council President Giadalla Ettalhi ( Libya):

Council members discussed the situation in Myanmar on 17 January with the
Secretary-General’s Special Adviser, Ibrahim Gambari. They reiterated
their full support for his efforts.

Council members affirmed their support for the objectives set out in the
Council’s presidential statement of 11 October 2007. They regretted the
slow rate of progress so far towards meeting those objectives.

Council members underscored the importance of further progress, noting
that an early visit to Myanmar by Mr. Gambari could help facilitate this.
They looked forward to continuing contacts with the special envoy and will
remain seized of the issue."