When China joined Russia last January to veto a fairly mild United Nations
Security Council resolution calling on Burma to free political prisoners and
improve its abominable human rights record, Beijing’s Ambassador at the UN
helpfully explained that “no country is perfect” and that “similar problems
exist in other countries”. Including, as he of course did not say, China.
The parallels may not seem all that obvious this week. Leaving aside the
contrast between China’s boom economy and the misery inflicted on all
Burmese by the military regime’s cruelty and incompetence, political
repression in China these days stops short of organised mass rape and
(outside China’s vast lao gai “reform by labour” camps)
systemic forced labour. Yet the “problem” on the Chinese leadership’s mind,
then and more acutely now that the desperate courage of Burma’s defenceless
citizens has been on international display, is the containment of popular
discontent in the age of the internet and, beyond that, the question of
political legitimacy.
Burma’s monks are its people’s truest representatives, symbols of all they
hold in reverence. By corralling them in their monasteries and brutally
clearing their supporters off the streets, General Than Shwe’s junta has
handed China a terrible foreign policy dilemma, even harder to handle than
the nuclear roguery of North Korea.
Neighbouring Burma puts to the test, far more sharply than China’s cosseting
of more distant Zimbabwe, Uzbekistan, Sudan and Iran, the pledge, implicit
in Hu Jintao’s “peaceful rise”, that China will use its power responsibly.
In Burma, China has influence that it is under intense international
pressure to use. Yet Burma’s popular uprising is a strong reminder of its
own “crowd control” problems; for Beijing is annually confronted by tens of
thousands of local protests, some violent.
China’s discomfort and irritation with the Burmese regime concern methods, not
objectives. The Burmese junta’s settled conviction that only the military
can run the country has its mirror image in the Chinese Communist Party’s
obsession with preserving its monopoly on power. To grasp how Beijing would
react to long columns of cinnamon-robed monks on its own streets, calling
for change to the political order, think only of its iron repression of the
equally peaceable, quasi-religious Falun Gong movement.
China may genuinely wish, as it finally said yesterday, for “domestic
reconciliation” and “development” in Burma; it is acutely worried that the
regime’s stubborn refusal of all dialogue will lead to its downfall. But for
all their lip-service to “democracy” as a desirable Burmese development,
China’s leaders have not the remotest interest in an outcome that might
encourage China’s own democracy activists, above all in the run-up to the
Olympics. If democracy is good for Burma, after all, why not for China?
Hence China’s continued insistence that it does not intervene in Burma’s
“internal affairs”. This is hogwash. Burma is not just China’s neighbour; it
is a heavily dependent client state that is close to becoming a virtual
Chinese province, so heavily are large swaths of the country and the economy
becoming sinicised. Burma’s problems are, increasingly, a Chinese “internal
affair”.
China’s hegemonic thrust into Burma is not merely, or even primarily, driven
by its worldwide quest for minerals, oil and other resources. The two
regimes have been partners in crime since the late 1980s, when both were in
the international doghouse for massacring thousands of people demanding
democracy, Burma in 1988 and China in 1989. At friendship prices, China has
sold Burma rocket launchers, guns and other military hardware; Burma has
reciprocated by providing China with listening posts and, soon, a naval base
on the Indian Ocean.
This does not mean that Beijing is not interested in Burma’s natural wealth,
far from it. It is actively exploiting Burma’s timber, bamboo and furniture,
rubber, tea, mining and fisheries and China’s actual or planned investments
include 40 hydroelectric projects, 17 oil and gas concessions, major
upgrading of its roads and a £1 billion, 1,000-mile oil and gas pipeline
from the Bay of Bengal to China’s Yunnan province. An estimated million
Chinese farmers, construction workers and businessmen work and live in Burma
and, particularly in the north, many towns and cities are more Chinese than
Burmese in character, using Chinese currency and dominated by billboards in
Chinese characters. China reportedly agreed recently to rebuild the old
British road connecting southern China with northeast India, bringing in
40,000 Chinese construction workers.
What all this amounts to is a merging of the two economies, a takeover that
serves two Chinese goals. The first is to develop its own southwestern
regions by making Burma to all intents and purposes an extension of China.
The second is to thread Burma securely into China’s “string of pearls”, the
network of alliances, westward into Central Asia and south into the Indian
Ocean, through which it aims to extend its strategic reach.
China has bones to pick with Than Shwe, over heroin trafficking, his dalliance
with North Korea, and above all his deal with Russia to build a light-water
nuclear reactor; but he is a willing salesman of Burma’s birthright. If the
junta fell, or even if Than Shwe were ousted by younger officers, Burmese
nationalism could reassert itself and the southern strand of China’s string
of pearls might snap.
With an eye on the Olympics, China is reluctantly talking the talk about
reform in Burma. It is sufficiently alive to the disgust the regime inspires
that it has hedged its bets, meeting repeatedly with members of exile
opposition groups and even half-heartedly supporting the release of Burma’s
great figurehead of freedom, Aung San Suu Kyi. But so long as India and
Burma’s South-East Asian neighbours play softball with the junta – in large
part, ironically, because of their worries about China’s slow-motion
takeover of Burma – Beijing has no need to walk the reform walk.
These countries must stop covering China’s back. If the unbelievable bravery
of the Burmese gets them nowhere yet again, China will take the blame. It
will underscore China’s denial of freedoms to its own people. But the shame
will be “civilised” Asia’s to share.
Dear Mr Townsend
I read the Times every day, and i watch CNN, ABC, BBC everyday. I have spent 11 years in the US, and a year in the UK. I also read the Chinese media. At least, I have studied the media, history and followed the events before I send in a comment.
I have lived in 4 countries in my life and watch local news media and papers diligently.
How often do you read the Chinese media, Sir?
K W Cheng, Hong Kong, China
@Milan in Tianjin
People in the West are not calling for an invasion of Burma, we are asking for China to step back. Do you get that?
It's China that's interfering and China that neds to stop meddling.
The Chinese people need to take a long look at the Buddhist monks beaten up, shot and left lying face down in the river waters of Burma. Shocking.
Liz Stephens, Guildford, UK
Instead of blaming China, why don't the west and India send their troop to Burma?
Vincent, London, UK
I read about Rosemary Righter's background. She seems to be a lady who has a lot of experience in Asia. But strangely but not surprisingly, like many self-claimed foreigners who think they know what's best for China, does not see eye to eye with Chinese people, the way of thinking is so different. For us Chinese, when we see what's happening in Burma, we feel sorry for Burmese people, but we feel very blessed ourselves that our own country doesn't go down that route. Luckily we have a very stable country, we do not have to suffer like what Burmese people are suffering. Yes, China has only one party, but we do not feel that deprived in terms of that. It's true Communist party has done a lot bad things in the past, but to be honest, in the past thirty odd years, it has done so much good to our country, we do not feel any other party will be able to achieve what they have achieved. In this sense we are truly blessed. Yes, it's not perfect, but what's perfect in this world?!
CK, London,
China and Russia should be kicked out of the UN, pure and simple. These two nations are morally and spiritually bankrupt. Their obstruction at the UN has caused the deaths of untold thousands. All so that they defend their commercial interests. Otherwise, lets replace the UN with something that works.
Andrew Milner, we were right to invade Iraq. Liberating the Iraqis and bringing them freedom is not a war crime, although I don't see what that has to do with the Burma situation.
Peter, Melbourne,, Australia
Democracy is important, but not the URGENCY to Burmese. Especially in such a poor country.
hwang, shanghai, China
As this Rosemary Righter says, when the Arabs tabled a fairly mild resolution at the UN, the USA aided by its poodle vetoed it as they have done many multiple of times more than China ever did.
So the USA's pit bull massacres Palestinians with fighter jets, tanks, missiles, bulldozers and everthing else the USA produces against Palestinian children's stones.
Rosemary dear, can you zip it?
Frank, Halifax, UK
The criticism of China is becoming increasingly shrill and hysterical. And obviously many people enjoy such "hogwash", because this kind of articles is exactly their appetite.
Why don't you open your arm to accommodate millions of refugee in Middle East? Oh, I know you are far away from those regions, but why you cause such mess over there in name of marketing so-called democracy? Isn't this serious lesson enough for you, USA or UK? The world would be much peaceful without these hypocritical rogues!
Time would prove everything!
sven, Germany,
The honesty and integrity of the free democratic world is at stake as the people of Burma, Tibet, Zimbabwe, Darfur/Sudan, North Korea, Iran and others wallow in misery, starvation and slavery under brutal repression. The disUnited Nations is just a talking shop for the oppressive regimes to enjoy the luxury of civilised hospitality at the expense of their subjugated people. Has the Western world become so obsessed by its selfish materialism to ignore the cries for help from those suffering under such cruel conditions. Surely we cannot expect the United States to shoulder the burden for addressing all the ills of this world. In the case of Burma, mass withdrawal from the Olympic games should be threatened unless the Chinese bring its influence to bear on the wicked Burmese Junta.
joel joseph, Oxford, England.
Boycott the Olympics and Chinese products, and also put pressure on India in a similar manner.
China should never have been let into the WTO.
Frank, Home Counties, England
only becouse of great Oil and Gas finds,the West is focusing its media towards Myanmar,perhaps stearing it all up.China shoul play tougher with the west this time!
mao tao, shanghai, china
«As for the rest of the Empire - the great dependencies of India, Egypt, Iraq, and the protected states - technique of control is changing from the methods of Cromer and Milner to a subtler form of indirect influence, less offensive to nationalism. If it can appease the ambitions of the native populations to rule themselves without losing all the economic ground gained during the period of domination, the method should work as satisfactorily as any such government of these nations could be expected to. Lion must turn to Unicorn´s methods even in the dependencies.»
(“The new British Empireâ€,"Pax Britannica and peace of world"; William Yandell Elliott; 1932)
Christoph Mahler, Freiburg, Germany
lets see how iraq turned to a real hell after usa's invasion................so will be the same happening in burma,understand that??
here is some tipps for you WEST-MULTI-SYMPATHY-MASSENGERS and so called DEMOCRACY GLOBAL DEFENDERS :do me a favor please, save your hypocritical sympathy and "justice", every country has its own trend of history,too much interference must lead to chaos rather than peace,morever, the fire of war will seep across the border into other regions ,even ,lets say ,into your own countries,
you know what really caused those 9.11s and london bombings? if you don't know ,there must be supposed to be more in the future,i dare say.
so think twice before you take your GLOBAL POLICE action,
milan, tianjin, zhongguo
Maybe you are not even aware of it, but Israel is an important arms supplier to Burma.
And I have to ask what have the Burmese generals done that America's paid killers, Blackwater, have not done in Iraq?
Or, for that matter, Israel in Lebanon.
JOHN CHUCKMAN, TORONTO, Canada
Why we in the west are more interested in democracy in other countries and not looking at our own affairs. We denounce Burma but Mayor of London goes all the way to meet dictators in Cuba and Venezuela.
Its time we take care of our own house leave other people in the east to their own fate.
nb, London,
Burma – BAD Dictator
Pakistan/ Saudi Arabia – GOOD Dictator
The difference between the two?
One supports the BAD Chinese, the others support the GOOD west!
Bob, Devon,
I cant boycott the Olympics I cant afford to go there yet but I will boycott the products advertised on the TV during the Olympics!
Changing my life - to boycott all petroleum for the same reason. No oil is worth these peoples lives - including the middle east.
The first post here talks of Americans not caring - Not changing because of such accusations - I always have cared And I am an American trying hard to do what is right and asking other Americans to do the same.
Many of us my be ignorant - but that dose not mean we all are nor that we can not change - not by force - but by our hearts.
I want to visit Burma as a tourist - but cant until this changes.
Tree, Homer, USA / Alaska
What a nice bit of chest-beating about boycotting the Olympics in Beijing.
I suppose all you hard-line human rights activists also boycott all items made in China, any companies based in China or that do business with the Chinese.
Now you have decided that the Olympics should be moved, all that's left is to give them to a country with a clean human rights record - good luck finding one.
I can't speak for the Chinese people but I'm guessing that many of them would happily take their current government over the European imperialism or Japanese occupation that they suffered in the past.
Every country and government has an agenda that often conflicts with the 'freedom' of its people but China always gets berated because they are an easy target and their success is feared by the West.
No country is perfect, at least China is getting better.
BC Peat, Hangzhou, China
To all of those who have advocated the boycott of the China Olympics I say quite right !!!
How can an athlete from a Western Nation go to Peking and go home wearing whatever medals they have won with pride ?. It will be a slab of metal handed out by a country riddled with the violation/supression of its own peoples human rights.
Burmah is nothing more to China than an resource to be exploited for the benefit of China. That Burmah is controlled by a mad human rights denial Junta is all to the better so far as China is concerned.
By all means let the Olympics go ahead. But what a fantastic thing it would be to watch the spectacle of the Dictators/Juntas/ Totalaritan leaderships of this World have their very own hollow games!!!.
It will serve upon them, full notice in what regard we hold them,and the % of the worlds population that is against them.
Can the West have the spine and the guts as a joint population [not Government] to force this to happen ?
Or are we just as cowed??
Denis Tighe, glenrothes, UK
To K W Cheng in Hong Kong
To say that Wesern attention is on Darfur because of oil shows a mind warped by propaganda and unable to think for itself.
Let's get the facts right. Chinese attention is on Sudan for oil and oil wealth alone - China has impeded the implementation of UN efforts to help the victims of Darfur and only because it wants to keep the oil flowing. China is Sudan's principle oil client. England and the US have tried to push for UN action, but China has deliberately obstructed progress.
You need to spend some time in the West to get your head around the way Westerners think. Just think - Hong Kong only has another 40 years and then it''s back to one country one system or in other words, no more freedom of speech, no freedom of assembly, no free press, the rounding up of political activists, the end of a fair legal system and the death of democracy - but if it's all about oil as you say, why should we care what happens to Hong Kong?
Jim Townsend, Hampshire, UK
The above article by Rosemary is very biased, which is beyond any doubt. But the stir it caused is healthy. The days when there is only one voice (the western voice ) in the world is finished. China has changed so much in the past three decades, become so open,and its people have changed as well. So when there is media coverage which we believe are unfair to us, we would stand up and let the rest of world hear. None force us to do this, and we are not brainwashed as some western people believed as well. We could understand the western point of view and where does it come from, but sometimes why it's so difficult to get our point cross? Why the west would not learn a bit more about our culture and way of thinking? Chinese philosophy and the way of governance is very deep rooted in our 5000 years of history, it's not just lion-dancing and martial arts films. It's so so frustrating.
Cindy, London,
Chinese people are very business minded, believe or not, it's apparently true. If you find some Chinese products in some far far away corner of the world, like Burma, it does not mean we want to colonize that country, it's some business-minded people, majority of the time, small business men who brought those products there trying to make a living, please take politics out of it. What ordinary people want is food on the table, a roof over head. And I believe this is the reason why those poor monks in Burma went to the street at the first place, they are hungry. Those requests of democracy only kicked in later, with the help of some outside forces.
Cindy, London,
And for people who are chanting to boycott 2008 Olympics games, you are welcomed to do so, you are free to do so, that's the beauty of democracy, I suppose. To be honest, you won't humiliate anybody but yourself. You are the one who would lose out eventually, with all those wonderful moments. I always thought sports is one of the few things left in this world which are beyond politics, races, differences... If certain people are so small-minded to even contemplate the thinking to ask to boycott the games or using it as a lever to achieve their own aims, they are beyond saving. Let God help you!
Cindy, London,
Send some UN troops to guard the monasteries and get all true information. And boycott 2008 to punish China.
mike, singapore, Singapore
Anyone reading nationalistic comments from Chinese people on this and any other article pubished by The Times on the demonstrations and their putting down by the Beijing-backed junta will probably be surprised at their anti-Western bias. Just to explain here so everyone is in the picture: the media in China has hardly reported on the Burna situation, even though it is right next door. When subjects like Burma are discussed, they are never ever done in a self-critical way for China can do no wrong, even when - in any objective study - China is clearly to blame. Foreign countries are regulalry lambasted by the Chinese media, but Chinese foreign policy is NEVER questioned. So what we get is an entire nation of people who have been programmed to believe that the West is always wrong and China is always right. To everyone outside China, the junta is at the beck and call of Beijing. To the Chinese, the West is destablising Burma by supporting democracy. It's really that simple, and that sad.
Donald Smith, London, UK
Just want to point out something fundamental about chinese thinking in general. They believe that every "family" (country) has its own issues, and that it is upto the family itself to get its own house in order. It certainly is not the business of other countries to get involved. This is opposed to the western (American) thinking, of getting involved in other countries problems where it sees fit (somewhat selective I must add!)
Andy, London
Andy, London,
All this talk of China, but what about criticising the big oil companies, where are the corporate fines? Where are the petrol boycotts? This is nothing short of a blame game, with hypocrisy at its root.
Farrukh, Woking, UK
I won't be going to the Olympics now and I will try my utmost not to buy anything made in China and when will someone be doing something about Borneo and Indonesia. These two countries have no interest in human rights or the environment
Frederick, London, UK
How childish some of your respondents are fast becoming. If Westerners boycott the Beijing Olympics in 2008, China may retaliate and campaign for a boycott of the London Olympics in 2012 because of the UK's colonial past outrages (massacres in India, Africa, Malaya, et al, importing opium by force on to a then weak China). It takes two to tango so do you really want to make the Olympics a political football to be kicked about? No, I would rather suggest we let it be a great festival for great sportsmen and women who can come together every four years to show how much progress mankind has made in the sporting arenas and that we can all live in peace and harmony despite our differences political or otherwise on this amazing blue planet which may be unique in the entire vast universe.
Yang, Shanghai, China
China and possibly India are the only countries capable of helping the Burmese people and threats of boycott and expressions of Western moral outrage are counter-productive. Remember that China was repeatedley humiliated by Western powers in the nineteenth century while India was occupied by Britain for 300 hundred years or so. Why should they now listen to Western pleas for support? Why should they now sacrifice their own self-interest to help the West re-establish itself in Burma? If we really want to help the Burmese people (as opposed to controlling their resource rich country) then we have to let China and India lead. And we have to accept that the results of their diplomacy may not accord with Western interests. Indeed, Western interference can only make matters worse for the long suffering Burmese, who were ruthlessly exploited by the British before military rule destroyed their young democracy.)
Jeffrey Jameson, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Millions of people fled to Syria and Jordan, because of the Iraq war. Alan Greenspan said it very clearly that the Iraq War is all about Oil. But no politician in the English speaking world would admit to this fact, and have been silent about it for the last 5 years.
Hypocrites! The Blair government followed the yankees into Iraq, for righteousness? Nay, for Oil.
When good old Gordon Brown met George W Bush, he said after the meeting that the most urgent thing is to find a solution for Darfur, as millions fled, and there is continuous war. The reason Brown and Bush wants to distract the world attention to Darfur is because of Oil. The Brit and US Oil companies are not in Darfur, therefore they want to kick out the Chinese oil companies in Darfur. Hypocrites. Again, it is oil.
Good old Gordon did not tell the French oil company to get out of Myanmar. Well, may be he will because the French don't speak English. Again, finger pointing to China, even China did not do a thing in Burma.
K W Cheng, Hong Kong, China
As usual, the racist worms crawl out of the woodwork!! If these white European people are so freedom loving, can they now free the Innus, the Innuis, the Crees, the Mohawks, the Cherokees, the Cheyennes, the Apaches, the Hawaiians (anexxed by USA), the aborigines, the Maoris, the Siberians, the Palestinians, the Mayans, the Aztecs, never mind the millions exterminated in the past 3 centuries. Lectures that is all you ever get from these racists.
Frank, Halifax, UK
Wil the Burmese Junta really give in to China or anybody? ie China can do its worst with the Junta, but I think the Junta will NOT yield. Take the World's Sole Superpower the USA having 160000 troops in Iraq, (& soending 1900s of billions $$$$ THERE)YET totally impotent to achieve her objectives----can't even influence her "puppet regime", in things that matter
David Yu, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
So i see more idiots in west than wisemen.
milan, tianjin, zhongguo
There is a basic (illogical) arguement that commenters posting here are making. Manily, that China's proping up of the Burmese Junta, is equal to the US invading Iraq. In one instance (i.e., the US invading Iraq) a country's people is being freed by intervention, in the other (China and Burma) a country's suppression of it's people is being supported by intervention. You're way off the mark if Iraq = Burma (US intervention = Chinese intervention).
Mr. King, Manchester,
Oh China..where Tien An Mien Square is...where Bill Clinton said human rights should be uncoupled from trade so we could help China accumulate $1.3 trillion foreign currency reserves.
Amy Chua's book World On Fire talks of Burma and Chinese dominance in the economy run by SLORC and we should get used to a multipolar world with its non-Western values. Isn't that what people were so keen on ? China does not believe in our Western values
TomTom, Leeds, England
An Ego Country should not hold the collectives Olympics.
I also second to the idea of boycotting Beijing Olympics.
Ppl, plz understand the feelings of the oppressed burmese citizens. Help liberate them.
Moe, San Francisco, United States
We need a globalisation of democracy, not just of trade.
Burma and China must be told they cannot expect to trade with the world while denying basic freedoms to their own people, nor should the rest of the world have to compete economically with people who are denied the right to organise trade unions and demand a fair share of the wealth of their countries.
We here a great deal of rhetoric from Western leaders about Burma, but so far there has been little else.
Sam Buchanan, Wellington, NZ
you w-ill be happy if Burma is occupied by biritsh and americans. That is the shame of Asia and the world!
racial war is come again.
uglo_sarxon, Beijing, Zhong Guo
bURMA isunder despotic Military rule.. But so also Saudi Arabia, Pakistan,Thailand,NorthKorea, etc etcIn some places woman cannot walk alone without male escort or drive vehicles. This regime has killed about 10 people while Musharaff has killed more people in caves of Balochistan and even in Lal masjid in Islamabad(300 girl and male students). As west puts pressure on Burma it is CHINA which gains in form of SITTWE GAS, PIPELINES,TIMBER,PRECIOUS RAW STONES. etc.Aung Chi studied in India and revered but what one can do as long as Military has Veto support from China.People forget Bangladesh which has surreptiously helping the regime with manpower.
George Soros may be driving American agenda but the regime doesnot care as long as China is there to protect.
captainjohann, Bangalore, India
Mike Dalhousie has got it right. If and its a hell of a big IF, the world's democracies will show some fortitude and back off the Olympics, China would have egg all over its face and rapidly pressure the Junta in Burma to back off, way off. But will the other democracies & that includes the Asians, Europeans & the U.S. do it....I doubt they'll have the guts.
Pete.Goswell, Westminster, U.S./Colorado
Is not this a regular pattern -
distasteful government + oil = Western 'outrage'
- but this time the Chinese got in first and without using soldiers.
john cramer, strathfield, australia
I say boycott 2012
uglo_sarxon, Beijing, Zhong Guo
Send in the UN Troops and boycott the Olympics.
chloe nicholson, paris, france
What kind of government would deliberately kill some three thousand of its own citizens?
On a scale of one-to-10, US government moral authority hardly ranks a zero.
Can just hear the Chinese saying:
"Well, you invaded a sovereign country that presented no threat, on trumped-up justification. Further, it was not authorised by the UN"
Which however much you fudge, is true. Iraq is an on-going war crime, and war crimes are committed by war criminals.
But then Saddam was selling Iraqi oil in Euros.
Andrew Milner, Yokohama, Japan
I say we Boycott the Olympics!
Intensemystery, DeRidder, Louisiana
The only thing the west can do is boycott the 2008 Peking Olympic games. The Chinese will understand that.
mike L, Dalhousie, Canada