It is no real suprise that China and Russia choose to veto the US backed resolution on Burma in the Security Council. The US did get nine supporting votes from the 15 member UNSC.
South Africa also voted "no" while Qatar, Indonesia and Congo Republic abstained
In my opinion more effort should be made by the US to deal directly with China on the matter. The junta would not be able to exist without China's support. China's interest lay in Burma's resources. The US should put together a "envoy" dedicated to convincing China that they have more to gain from a prosperous democratic Burma. Unlike Iraq, a democratic party is already alive and strong in Burma, the NLD. Under the NLD Burma would quickly blossom to a econmocaly stable and even wealthy nation. There is no reason a democratic Burma wouldn't still trade with China, and even more productively. The US should make greater efforts to promote this idea to China directly instead of these futile attempts at the UN which meet there death at the hands of Russia and China. And in reality the resolution would likely not have been enforced anyway.
Comments (2)
I believe China wants to surround its borders with fellow socialist/militaristic governments (China shares its southern borders with Burma, Laos, and Vietnam), and losing Burma would be a great loss for its interests in Southeast Asia. China's major competitor in Burma is currently India, which also has vested interests in the country's petroleum, but unlike China, India is democratic.
Posted by Aung Kyaw
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January 19, 2007 8:55 PM
Posted on January 19, 2007 20:55
What China wants is a vast topic, you could fill a five volumes of text trying to figure out what China really wants. A few years back I attmepted to put together a book on China's economic interest and their future.
I would have to disagree with you that they want to suround themselves to similar minded regimes. Yes, the benefit of maintaining the junta in Burma is cheap resources, but in the future this may not be in their best interest. China has already stopped stripping the forest of Burma of timber ( to the extent that they were anyways ) and Thailand, for the moment has halted the pipeline project.
The question of what China wants from Burma is the question of what China wants overall, and that is: Will China give in to the idea of FAIR trade, or will they continue the system they have now, I don't think they have made up their minds, I believe it depends on what the future will bring. If they can keep getting away with their system and prosper, they will do it, but if international economic growth excludes China's corrupt policies, they will have to change.
And as far as wanting to surround themselves with likeminded governments, I believe their main desire is to be the big dog in the region, which they are. They simply want to be the superpower of the East, a democratic Burma would not threaten that. And I don't think it is out of the realm of possibilities for them to accept that.
Posted by Richard
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January 20, 2007 10:11 AM
Posted on January 20, 2007 10:11