This article is unremarkable except that the author notes that there is piecemeal Chinese collaboration on HIV. I can't think of any Chinese collaboration with Myanmar / Burma on HIV. There were reports of Chinese volunteers a few months ago but they seem to have sunk without a trace. Does anyone have any information about them?
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In support of the Lady of Burma:
Suu Kyi marks her 62nd birthday today, still under house arrest
Achara Ashayagachat
Bangkok Post
19 July
Today, Thais join people in 16 other countries in commemorating the 62nd
birthday of the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung
San Suu Kyi, by demanding that China modify its unquestioning support for
the Burmese junta.
Beijing, as usual, will turn a deaf ear to such a request saying the
"lady" is an internal issue for neighbouring Burma and China has no room
to intervene.
Such a reaction will again leave activists fuming around the globe.
Burmese dissidents and democracy advocates firmly believe that only China,
one of the five veto-wielding members of the United Nations Security
Council, can secure the release of all Burmese political prisoners,
including Mrs Suu Kyi, head of the National League for Democracy (NLD), if
it really wants to.
Earlier this year, hopes for a constructive change in Burma were raised
when the UN Security Council held its first-ever vote on Burma _ a US
sponsored resolution which garnered enough votes to pass but was vetoed by
China, the Burmese military regime's primary benefactor, selling it
weaponry and importing massive quantities of natural resources, and
Russia.
Naturally, the gigantic country is unlikely to do anything to upset the
Burmese dictatorship just for the sake of the "Gandhi of Southeast Asia".
"Chinese diplomacy is very subtle. We are hearing, and will continue to
hear, more harsh words against Burma in response to international calls
for China to convince its next-door neighbour that what it was doing was
unacceptable. But, in return, we only see some piecemeal collaboration on
HIV/Aids and other human security issues, not on Suu Kyi or other touchy
political subjects," said Burma expert Pornpimon Trichot from
Chulalongkorn University's Institute of East Asian Studies.
"This is because Burma is now also an important strategic energy ally of
Beijing as it has abundant oil and gas reserves. An economic free-port is
also being created in Rangoon by Beijing, Pornpimon Trichot said.
Mrs Suu Kyi has devoted her life to a peaceful struggle against the
Burmese junta that ignored her landslide victory in the general election
of May 1990. She was first placed under house arrest in 1989 and confined
without charges for six years. Her second house arrest began in September
2000 and lasted for 18 months. She was then re-arrested in 2003.
Prior to the fourth yearly house-arrest extension last month, the world
had seen an unprecedented appeal for Suu Kyi's release by 59 former
presidents and prime ministers from around the world, including Chuan
Leekpai. The appeal was also supported by every single living US president
and those throughout Latin America, Africa, and Europe.
Yet, China and Burma remain unperturbed. Burma has said its "road map to
democracy" laid out in 2003 by former prime minister Khin Nyunt was still
on. The constitution-drafting session on July 18 will be the fifth one.
With its leaders in detention, the NLD has boycotted the convention since
its May 2004 resumption. The party instead insists on the convening of a
parliamentary session involving those who were elected in the 1990 general
election, in which the NLD won 392 out of the 485 seats but was barred
from assuming power.
Still, Sann Aung, a 1990-elected MP in exile, remains hopeful that change
is in the making.
"China has gradually opened lines of communications with Burmese
dissidents and is receptive to their voices. China cannot stay isolated
for decades where Burma is concerned.
"They also want to put things in order along the border to curb the
illicit trade of goods, logging and drugs, not to mention humans," said
Sann Aung.
Night prayers for a peaceful transition to democracy, gatherings to call
for Mrs Suu Kyi's release in Burma's major cities, and the release of
statements from the 88 Generation, middle-aged and older Burmese who
played a key role in democratic protests in 1988 have gradually become a
real challenge to the military regime in Burma.
