News & Articles on Burma-Wednesday, 27 April, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Wednesday, 27 April, 2011
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7 villages in Shan East burnt down by Burma Army soldiers
Suu Kyi Listens to Needs of Farmers
Peace Must Precede Development: Ethnic Party Reps
Burma’s Health Minister’s dream seems to be unproductive
Thein Sein Appoints Presidential Advisors
Confusion Over Role of New Govt Ministries
Burma Policy 'No or Limited Success': US Official
Trade Council to be Shut Down
Shale gas in Karen State?
Myanmar, India to speed up renovation of Arnanda Pagoda
Beijing’s Burma Embrace
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7 villages in Shan East burnt down by Burma Army soldiers
Wednesday, 27 April 2011 16:39 Hseng Khio Fah

Despite a popularly ‘elected’ government, human rights violations in ethnic states carried out by Burma Army soldiers are still coming out. 7 villages in Shan State East’s Mongpiang township, having an estimated 70 households were razed down to the ground by locally based Burma Army soldiers, alleging people there as agents of Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’, according to local sources.

Apart from the burning, some male villagers were also arrested and beaten. The actions were taken by Burma Army’s Infantry Battalion (IB) 43, said a local villager from Mongpu, south of the township seat, who just fled to the border.

The said 7 villages, 4 Lahu and 3 Palaung, were located in Mongpu Long village tract of Mongpiang, some parts of which are operated by the SSA ‘South’ and some controlled by the Burma Army. The township is located west of Kengtung, capital of Shan East.

“We got no time to collect our things. They set fire to the houses as soon as they arrived in the village. All houses in the village went down in fire. Men were arrested and beaten up. One of the men, Ai Kha, 41, was taken by the soldiers. There are no reports about him to help us guess whether he is still alive or not,” said a source in a shaking voice.

“The soldiers said we fed and gave supplies to the Shan army and not informing them of its whereabouts. Ai Kha was accused as the person who served as a guide for the Shan army,” she said.

One of them, Ai Jawa, Lahu man, was released later after investigation. But he was seriously wounded on his head, she added.

The incident took place on 19 April. According to sources, villagers are fleeing everyday to other places since then. Violations and abuses were reported to have worsened after the elections. Human rights situation in Shan State are reported monthly by the Shan Human Rights Foundation based in Chiangmai.

From 27-July-1 August 2009, more than 500 houses and 200 granaries in villages in Shan State South’s Mongkeung, Laikha and Kehsi townships, had been razed to the ground and over 10,000 people became homeless after being relocated by the Burma Army’s 5-day scorched earth campaign, also known as Four Cuts - cutting off food, funds, intelligence and recruits by local villagers to the resistance due to similar allegations by the Burma Army. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3643:7-villages-in-shan-east-burnt-down-by-burma-army-soldiers&catid=87:human-rights&Itemid=285
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Suu Kyi Listens to Needs of Farmers
By WAI MOE Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Her meeting with farmers was part of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s agriculture workshop at their Rangoon headquarters from April 27-29.

The NLD invited 38 farmers from Irrawaddy Division, Pegu Division, Rangoon Division and Arakan State as part of the workshop, according to party spokesman Ohn Kyaing.

“The workshop was designed to discuss the daily dilemmas of farmers and technical topics including environmental issues,” Ohn Kyaing told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.

Farmers told Suu Kyi that the main challenges they face include land confiscations, increasing commodity prices and the lack of state support for farms. The NLD is planning more agriculture workshops in May for farmers from other states/divisions, Ohn Kyaing added.

“I was very glad to meet [Suu Kyi] and tell her about our difficulties. And from the workshop, I learned related knowledge which I can share with other people from my village when I go back home,” said Aye San Maung, a farmer from Irrawaddy Division.

He added that farmers from Irrawaddy Division—the biggest rice producer in Burma—are not getting enough subsidized support from the state and so often require loans from moneylenders or businessmen.

Mann Nyunt Thein, another farmer from Irrawaddy Division, explained that due to unusual weather, rice and other agriculture products have been decreased in the division.

The NLD’s agriculture workshop was organized after President Thein Sein brought up development in the sector during a Special Projects Implementation Committee meeting on April 22.

“To secure people's nourishmentt, measures must be taken to improve the agricultural sector first and then to establish a modern industrialized nation and develop other economic sectors,” Thein Sein said at the meeting.

Despite an outcry from the international community for a genuine dialogue between the ruling regime and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, there is no prospect of a potential meeting with the new government.

“We have not got any sign from the regime that they want to engage in dialogue. But we do not see any sign of more suppression of us either at the moment,” Ohn Kyiang said.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21194
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Peace Must Precede Development: Ethnic Party Reps
By SAI ZOM HSENG Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Following a meeting between five ethnic political parties, the participants called for peaceful discussions between Burma's new government and the country's ethnic armed groups, according to a representative from the Rakhine Nationals Development Party (RNDP).

Hla Soe, the secretary and spokesperson of the RNDP, said that peaceful discussions with the ethnic armed groups is a very important and necessary step for the new government.

“If the government really wants development in the ethnic areas where the civil war is still happening, they must seek peace in those areas first,” Hla Soe told The Irrawaddy.

The president, ex-Gen Thein Sein, said during his first speech that the new government will engage in development in every ethnic area and will start building the transportation links necessary to reach those areas.

Aye Maung, an MP and the chairman of the RNDP, said, “We appreciate that the new government will pursue development in the ethnic areas, but they must hold peaceful discussions with the different ethnic armed groups if they intend to do so.”

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, Aye Maung said that “The government should discuss issues with the ethnic armed groups without caring about the weakness or advantages of the groups. The government will also have to guarantee the security of the leaders of the ethnic armed groups if there is to be a real discussion between the government and the armed groups.”

“There will be a peaceful discussion if the armed group leaders are not arrested by the government,” Aye Maung added. “There will be no development in the ethnic areas without peaceful discussions.”

A representative from the Shan Nationalities and Democratic Party (SNDP), also known as the White Tiger Party, said that participants in the meeting also reviewed their experiences in the recently held parliamentary session.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, a source close to the ethnic party meeting said, “The MPs submitted very important issues to parliament, such as a recommendation to start teaching ethnic literature and languages in schools, but they were rejected. Actually, this is a big issue for the ethnic people. In this meeting, we discussed how we can we submit and gain acceptance for our proposals in parliament.”

The meeting participants also discussed amnesty for political prisoners.

“We will keep urging the government to grant a general amnesty for the political prisoners. By doing this continuously, the international community will express its desire for the prisoners to be released. If the political prisoners are released, they can restart their political movement again in their own way,” said Aye Maung.

However, some Rangoon-based political observers said that the new government is not going to release the political prisoners.

“The major figures such as Minn Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, who can influence the political and democracy movements of Burma, are not likely to be released because the new government still wants to maintain power. We can clearly see that even for basic governance in townships, the government is still using the old people,” said a political observer in Rangoon..

In addition, the parties present at the meeting expressed their confidence that the international community will support efforts to bring increased humanitarian aid to the ethnic regions.

Representatives from the RNDP, the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP), the Chin National Party (CNP), the Phalon Sawaw Party (PSP) and the Shan Nationalities and Democratic Party (SNDP), met for two days at the Rangoon headquarters of the White Tiger Party since yesterday.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21196
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Burma’s Health Minister’s dream seems to be unproductive
By Zin Linn Apr 27, 2011 9:30PM UTC

Burma’s Union Minister for Health Dr Pe Thet Khin called on medical superintendents of central level hospitals to give special attention to the public health care services at the meeting hall of New Yangon General Hospital on 24 April, as said by today The New Light of Myanmar. Health Minister also said that weak public healthcare may put people’s lives at risk. He advised superintendents to take effective measures in order to prevent stealing of funds and reduce wastage and to cooperate with anyone or any organizations devoting themselves to health care services.

He continued that it is still needed to give effective treatment to patients and use effective medicines. He also stressed the importance for hospitals to try to become the ones that win public trust and reliance. In the afternoon, the Union Minister visited Specialist Hospital (Thakayta) in Yangon Region.

While he was there, well-wisher U Myo Win and family donated sets of TV, DVD player and speakers for the hospital and Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association, K 200,000 for sinking of a tube well.

Although the minister highlighted the important of giving special attention to the public health care services, healthcare quota of the national budget possibly will not fulfill his desire. Why?

The Government Gazette released by the previous military junta says that 1.8 trillion kyat (about $2 billion at free market rates of exchange), or 23.6 per cent of the budget this year will go to the defense. The health sector, meanwhile, will get 99.5 billion kyat ($110 million), or 1.3 per cent.

The gazette says the budget was enacted on Jan. 27, just a few days before the country’s parliament met for the first time in more than two decades. The timing apparently means the budget will not need parliamentary approval before coming into effect on April 1. The budget totals 7.6 trillion kyat ($8.45 billion).

The document was enacted before the legislature sat on Jan. 31, according to the Government Gazette. The budget was not been publicized in the mass media, a pattern that has held for at least a decade.

That was one of the significant signals that the transfer of power from the ruling junta — many of the former junta’s generals resigned in order to run as “civilians” — may happen in outward show only.

Burma (Myanmar) is one of Asia’s poorest countries, reflected in its health indicators. It had the 44th highest infant mortality rate of the 193 countries listed by the UNICEF in its 2011 State of the World’s Children report.

According to the UN estimation, one child in three under the age of five is already suffering from malnutrition. Burma’s authoritarian military regime is getting in the way of health community’s efforts to control infectious disease threats in Burma, according to an investigation published in Public Library of Science Medicine.

Dr Chris Beyrer (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and colleagues carried out field investigations in Burma in 2005 and 2006, and also searched the medical and policy literature on HIV, TB, malaria, and avian flu in Burma. The researchers found that the SPDC’s investment in healthcare is one of the lowest worldwide and that the health sector has been weakened by widespread corruption.

The recent Government’s financial statement allowed the health sector 99.5 billion kyat ($110 million), or 1.3 percent of this budget year 2011-12. That means President Thein Sein’s Union Government will spend less than $2 per head on public healthcare.

So, political opposition and independent observers denounce the Burmese junta for the amounts waste on the defense budget, while key areas such as education and health are ignored.

So, Union Minister for Health Dr Pe Thet Khin’s plan to give special attention to the public healthcare services seems to be with little hope while corruption is common throughout the country.
http://asiancorrespondent.com/53327/burma%e2%80%99s-health-minister%e2%80%99s-dream-seems-to-be-unproductive/
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Thein Sein Appoints Presidential Advisors
By BA KAUNG Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Burmese President Thein Sein has appointed a presidential advisory board, which includes a chief economic advisor who is a close friend of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

According to some of the appointed advisors, the advisory board consists of three committees—political, economic and legal—which will, in turn, be made up of three members each. The economic advisory board will be led by U Myint, a well-known Burmese economist with a close personal relationship with Suu Kyi.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, U Myint said his appointment came after he was called in by Thein Sein for a personal meeting. He described the appointment as a positive step by the new civilian government.

“I think the president is confident that I wish to do good for our own country,” he said. “I think that we are on the same page. That's why I accepted this responsibility.”

He said his first advice to the president would be related to the country's agricultural sector and tackling poverty, adding that he believes the president shares his desire to carry out economic reforms.

U Myint, 73, was previously a professor of economics at Rangoon University. He also served as the director of the economics department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later, he headed the Research Department at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. He is currently the director of the Tun Foundation Bank in Rangoon.

In a seminar last year, U Myint said that as long as the Burmese government and its cronies were controlling the country's economy, the country would face the same dismal economic situation even in the year 3010.

Asked about his position as an advisor to Thein Sein and as a friend of Suu Kyi, U Myint said, “I very much wish to see reconciliation in Burma. I will try to help bring about that. I will meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with whom I am very friendly. She is a woman who can do a lot for the country, as she continues to do now.”

“Although it is still not clear how much I can do, and how much they [the government] will do at this point, I think this is an unusual but a positive step,” he said. “We have to sit down and discuss what to do. It will take time to change things under the current circumstances.”

During last week's cabinet meetings, President Thein Sein stressed the importance of building the country's infrastructure and boosting agricultural development—echoing policies frequently espoused by the former military junta in which he served as the prime minister.

In the president's new political advisory board, Ko Ko Hlaing, a retired military officer who used to work in the Research Department at the War Office of the Ministry of Defense, was appointed chief advisor. He is currently working on an international news program for the state-run MRTV-4 television channel.

The other two members in the political advisory board are Ye Tint and Dr. Nay Zin Latt, both former military officers—with Ye Tint, the managing director of a government-backed printing and publishing enterprise, and Nay Zin Latt, an executive member of the Burma Hoteliers’ Association.

Ko Ko Hlaing said his role is to advise the president about international political events, but not domestic issues. Commenting on the US' twin policy of economic sanctions and engagement with Burma, he said mutual understanding would be crucial to establishing good relations between the two countries.

“It's difficult to expect solid changes,” he said. “Things have to proceed gradually.”

He said that Burma will continue to build peaceful relations with all countries, including North Korea.

The legal advisory board will be led by Police Col. Sit Aye, the former director of the Home Ministry’s International Relations Department.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21193
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Confusion Over Role of New Govt Ministries
By NA YEE LIN LATT Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Burma's new Union Government has encountered difficulties in sharing administrative and financial powers with state and regional governments, according to ministry sources.

An official from the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development (MNPED) told The Irrawaddy that these issues mean it will take a long time for the new government to run itself efficiently.

“For example, there was only one minister at the Ministry of Education before. He alone decided and took care of education matters for the whole country. Now there are education ministers at regional and state levels, too, so there is a need to share authority with them,” said the MNPED official.

He added that the MNPED is still in the process of working out the roles and responsibilities of the various ministries at different levels of government under the new administrative framework.

Under the new government, there are 34 ministries with 30 ministers at union level and 14 ministries with nine ministers at each of the state and region levels. Each state/region government will be headed by a prime minister.

“We are still working out the details of how authority and financial power will be shared between the governments. Then there will be a period to approve the proposed arrangements, so it is very likely to take a long time to run the new administrative system smoothly,” explained the MNPED official.

“In fact, administrative matters should have been discussed and approved even before the new government was sworn in. Since this was not the case, ministers at the state and region levels still don't have any authority, just titles,” added the MNPED official.

Kyaw Soe, the minister for Rangoon Region's Ministry of Electric Power, Energy, Industry and Construction, told The Irrawaddy that he cannot reveal any details of his role or the particular workings of his ministry.

“We continue doing what we have to do. All [we do] is beneficial to our people,” said Kyaw Soe.

The situation is similar in other parts of the country, where ministers at the state and regional level appear to have no clearly defined roles. In Arakan State, for example, an official from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party said his party has taken over three state ministries, but the ministers have yet to be given offices from which they can work.

Meanwhile, according to the National Democratic Force (NDF), the breakaway faction of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, parliamentary committees will likely begin their work from the start of next month.

“Various parliamentary committees have just been formed, but I think the actual functions of those committees will commence at the beginning of May,” said NDF Chairman Dr Than Nyein.

The NDF currently has representatives in different committees at the Amyotha Hluttaw (the Upper House of the National Assembly) and the Rangoon Region Parliament.

On Oct. 21, 2010, junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe signed and issued the Union Government Law and the Region or State Government Law. Although Chapter 4 of the latter refers to the “duty, authority and administrative power of region or state government,” no specific administrative power has reportedly yet been shared.

“We now have ministers at state and region levels but they still don't have any authority. They can just go around and inspect ongoing projects in their areas but can't give any directives,” said an official from the Ministry of Sports.

“If we want to build a football field in our region, the problem now is we don't know who we should get permission from. We don't know if we should submit our request to the region level or the union level,” continued the official.

In his speech on April 6—a week after the inauguration of the new government—President Thein Sein told prime ministers from different states and regions that there would be difficulties to distinguish tasks between the union level and region/state level.http://204.93.223.218/article.php?art_id=21191
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Burma Policy 'No or Limited Success': US Official
By LALIT K JHA Wednesday, April 27, 2011

WASHINGTON — While acknowledging that the its 18-month-long Burma policy of simultaneous engagement and sanctions has had “no or limited success,” a US government official now says it is open to the idea of Burma chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2014 if progress is made by Naypyidaw toward the restoration of democracy and protection of human rights in the country.

“We have had either no or very limited success,” said Joseph Y. Yun, the deputy assistant secretary of state at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. “We do face the dilemma of when do we engage and when do we not engage, and how far we go in engaging the government, what is the limit, what is the trade off.

"But we do believe ultimately that the system there in Burma is not sustainable and that we will try to improve it, we will try to change it, and we will try to bring democracy there, justice, and respect for human rights,” he said.

Yun’s comment came at a panel discussion on Burma in Washington. Yun told the audience that the Obama administration is trying its best to engage with the Burmese junta, but without any success. However, he said that the United States is grateful for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leader of the opposition National League of Democracy.

The US official explained that the "carrots" in the administration’s Burma policy include the prospect of international recognition, a lifting of sanctions, and increased foreign investment for Burma. The new policy of “carrot and sticks,” he said, is a difficult process in putting that engagement track in place. “I would really urge the Burmese government that there will be something in it. In the end, they will have to join the international community,” Yun said.

However, he didn't detail what "sticks" were being threatened. The US, he said, is very mindful of the fact that it cannot do this alone, rather it is the task of the international community. It is in this regard that the United States is soliciting help from both Asian and European nations, he said.

“I think we are making progress,” he said.

Responding to questions that Burma wants to take on the chairmanship of Asean in 2014, Yun said that two years is a long time and no one knows what the ground realities in the region will be at that time.

“Maybe I am an optimist,” he said. “Certainly, if there is tremendous improvement in the situation, I do not see why they (Burma) could not take the chairmanship of Asean.

“But this is an issue that we have not really thought about,” he said, adding that if there is a marked improvement in Burma with regard to democracy and human rights, the Asean chairmanship would not be an issue.

Yun, however, ruled out any change in the Burma policy of the Obama administration with regards to its nomination of a special US representative, a process that currently waits to be confirmed by the US Senate. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21192
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Trade Council to be Shut Down
By YAN PAI Wednesday, April 27, 2011
A Burmese exhibitor waits for visitors during the 2010 India International Trade Fair in New Delhi last year. (Photo: Getty Images)

Burmese Minister of Commerce Win Myint reportedly said at a ministerial meeting held on April 19 that the Trade Policy Council (TPC), the body that has long been responsible for issuing import and export licenses, has been abolished.

According to a Rangoon-based business source, Win Myint said at the meeting that the TPC has ceased to act as the body overseeing external trade. The Commerce Ministry will take over this role, the source said, adding that further details are expected to be made public soon.

It was not clear who would assume the TPC's role of overseeing the foreign investment sector, although according to the 2008 Constitution, the country's president is directly responsible for dealing with foreign direct investment.

A recent report by the Weekly Eleven Journal said, however, that foreign investors would still be required to obtain permission from the ministries under which their businesses operate, as in the past.

In a 2008 report on Burma's investment climate, the US State Department noted that in 1999, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, the Burmese regime's second-most powerful figure, took direct responsibility for the TPC amid widespread allegations of corruption among ministers.

Since 2007, this position has been held by former Lt-Gen Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, who retired from the military last year so he could sit in Burma's new quasi-civilian Parliament, where he is now vice-president.

During his tenure as head of the TPC, Tin Aung Myint Oo was notorious for favoring companies run by businessmen with whom he had strong personal ties, including Stephen Law (aka Tun Myint Naing) of Asia World Company and Zaw Zaw of Max Myanmar Company.

The TPC was a major source of revenue for its chairperson. According to sources close to the TPC, Tin Aung Myint Oo had the right to claim a five percent commission from any foreign investment he approved.

Therefore, according to unconfirmed reports, there has been some friction between Tin Aung Myint Oo and President Thein Sein over who will be in charge of regulating foreign investment under Burma's new government. http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21190
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Shale gas in Karen State?
By Joseph Allchin
Published: 27 April 2011

A slew of new energy contracts will be signed with foreign energy companies it was announced after a “special projects implementation meeting” attended by President Thein Sein on Friday, most strikingly however it was announced that shale would be sought by two Singaporean companies in co-operation with the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) in Karen state.

The exact location given by the New Light of Myanmar is Mapale, which is a few kilometres north of the main border crossing next to Thailand’s Mae Sot, Myawaddy. Mapale is also on the Moei river that separates the two countries at the ‘friendship bridge’-Thailand’s most westerly point.

The two companies were listed as SNOG pte ltd. and UPR Pte., Ltd both of Singapore. The New Light does not report whether shale oil (oil sands) or shale gas, will be explored for, but Mapale is within 20 miles of the Thai border, and near the Mae Sot shale oil basin, which Apiradee Suwannathong from Thailand’s Shinawatra University notes is the “largest oil shale resource in Thailand”.

Both processes however are seen by opponents as extremely damaging to the environment. The process for shale oil or oil sands differs from the extraction of crude liquid oil because the shale rock is mined as a solid rock, often in open cast pits and then is exposed to extremely high heat, without the presence of oxygen, to extract an exploitable oil from it. Both essential processes are, needless to say energy hungry and considered environmentally damaging, because of emissions, run offs and the topographic effect of open cast mining.

The Mapale area is thought to be under the control of the Democratic Karen Budhhist Army’s 999 brigade and its commander, Chit Htoo. A signatory of the government’s Border Guard Force (BGF) agreement, his soldiers would most likely provide at least some level of security for the process.

The area is, despite the presence of Chit Htoo, extremely volatile after portions of the DKBA rejected the government’s BGF plan and resumed active conflict against the government. Indeed the nearest transport hub, Myawaddy was taken briefly by the forces of rebel commander Saw La Bwe just after last year’s controversial election.

A project of any significant scale would therefore not only require a heightening of security but also considerable transport infrastructure, which could prove a logistical hurdle given the on going conflict. Whilst similar projects in the region, such as the Yetagun pipeline to Thailand were noted for forced relocations, forced labour and other human rights abuses often associated with heightened militarisation in Burma.

The shale rock could potentially however be exported to a site nearer to reliable energy sources and refining facilities, away from the border areas.

Shale gas is also viewed as environmentally damaging, with a report on the BBC alleging a 20% greater carbon footprint from the process, known as ‘fracking’, than coal.

The global rise in energy prices, following turmoil in the middle east, has heightened investment in the industry, with Asian companies alone investing some $20 billion in their North American operations in both shale gas and oil sands in the last two years.

A recent report by the US government’s Energy Information Agency (EIA) however suggests that global deposits of natural gas were increased by 40% if shale gas was taken into account. The majority of these reserves are considered to be in China and the US, but India’s north east that borders Burma is also considered a possibility or an “assessed basin without resource estimate”. Thailand and Burma were not looked into by this recent study, but a 2007 report by Apiradee Suwannathong suggests that the Mae Sot Basin has 952.38 million tons of recoverable shale rock which could produce 182.86 million barrels of oil.

The environmental impact can be assessed from this figure; approximately five tons of rock in the Mae Sot basin is needed to produce a single barrel of oil. A report on the impacts on the industry in Estonia, by Leevi Molder, notes large quantities of “spent shale piles continue to leach toxic substances” into the water. Mitigating the worst of these effects, it is noted is expensive and with little enforcement in Burma, it is unlikely to occur.
http://www.dvb.no/news/shale-gas-in-karen-state/15411
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Myanmar, India to speed up renovation of Arnanda Pagoda

Yangon, Apr. 27 : Myanmar and India have both agreed to speed up the renovation of the Arnanda Pagoda in Myanmar''s ancient city of Bagan.

A memorandum of understanding on cultural cooperation was signed between the two countries, Xinhua News quoted a Burmese daily, as saying on Wednesday.

The pagoda restoration project was discussed between Myanmar Union Deputy Minister of Culture Daw Sandar Khin and Indian ambassador Dr. Villur Sundararajan Seshadri at the office of the Ministry of Culture in Nay Pyi Taw Tuesday, said the New Light of Myanmar.

The MoU was among the five documents signed during a goodwill visit to India by former Myanmar top leader Senior- General Than Shwe in July 2010.

--ANI http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-197630.html
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Beijing’s Burma Embrace
By James Burke
Epoch Times Staff Created: Apr 25, 2011 Last Updated: Apr 26, 2011

BANGKOK—Off the coast of western Burma, local fishermen are being excluded from their traditional fishing grounds by a large fleet of Chinese trawlers that are supported by the Burmese military authorities.

Arakanese fishermen from the coastal town of Thandwe told exiled-Burmese media Narinjara that thousands of Chinese boats first arrived in October and that Burmese authorities have since restricted local fishing rights. Priority and open access to the sea, they said, has been given to the Chinese fleet and a local firm linked to the Burmese military.

“Now it is like our sea has become part of China, everywhere we look we can see Chinese trawlers fishing freely in the sea while we are being restricted to fishing in our own territory," an unnamed fisherman told Narinjara.

Burmese in exile media sites are peppered with similar stories reporting China’s expanding economic footprint and political influence upon the country.

Anti-Chinese attitudes are high in Burma (renamed Myanmar by the military junta), especially in the country’s north, which in recent years has seen a large influx of cashed-up entrepreneurs crossing its northern border with China’s southern Yunnan Province.

“These are people moving into traditionally Burmese or ethnic areas and towns,” said Maung Zarni, a Burmese academic with the London School of Economics. “They are people with money; they are people who can buy local officials.”

The activities of unaccountable Chinese state-run resource companies—including damaging the environmental and forcing the displacement of communities—have advanced anti-Chinese sentiment in the local population.

“This has created not just resentment, it has created a massive and deepening popular hatred within Burmese society,” Maung says.

Large-scale energy projects involving Chinese state-run companies have also drawn international condemnation from human rights groups.

David Scott Mathieson, a senior researcher on Burma with Human Rights Watch, said that China's energy policies in Burma undoubtedly contribute to human rights abuses, whether they are related to hydropower projects on the Irrawaddy River or the massive gas and crude oil pipelines being built through Burma to southern China.

“Infrastructure projects like this often entail widespread abuses, often because the Burmese military is tasked with securing them, and that translates to forced relocations, which we're already seeing in Kachin State of Burma near the dam sites, and forced labor and other abuses by the army,” says Mathieson.

Beijing’s Support


Earlier this month, senior Chinese Communist Party figure, Jia Qinglin, visited the Burmese capital of Naypyidaw, to formalize a raft of deals with the military-dominated regime, including a soft loan and Chinese involvement in three copper mines.

Talks also reportedly covered security issues along the 2,200 km (about 1,370 miles) Sino-Burmese border.

Jia’s visit also highlighted Beijing’s support for Burma’s new so-called civilian government, which critics have described as a front for the junta following farcical elections held in November last year.

According to the Democratic Voice of Burma, Jia is the highest-ranking Party official to visit Burma following a stopover by Premier Wen Jiabao last June.

For Beijing, a freehand in neighboring Burma is especially important for geo-strategic reasons, said John Lee, a foreign policy expert with the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney and the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C.

“A trading passage through Burma allows future exports to bypass the Malacca Straits, which is a point of potential vulnerability for China,” said Lee.

Along with the gas and oil pipeline, a Burma-China rail link is in the cards and Chinese companies have won contracts to dredge important rivers through the country to allow better vessel navigation.
Burma is one of two genuine allies that China has, Lee said, adding that the other is North Korea.

“China is much more comfortable dealing with authoritarian regimes than democracies since democracies have to at least pay lip service to political freedom, human rights, rule of law, and transparency,” says Lee.

“It is much easier to use economic largesse to win over autocratic governments since it is simply a matter of using dollar diplomacy to seduce political and military elites in those countries,” he added.

Like other pariah states such as Sudan, North Korea, and Zimbabwe, Chinese Communist Party leaders in Beijing have long supported Burma’s ruling generals internationally, especially at the United Nations.

During the junta’s violent crackdown on Buddhist monks and pro-democracy protesters in September 2007, both China and Russia used their veto power to diminish U.N. efforts to curb the junta’s excesses. Earlier the same year, both countries vetoed a U.S. resolution that urged Burma’s generals to stop persecuting ethnic minorities and opposition groups.

Thai-based Soe Aung, from the Forum for Democracy in Burma, said Beijing’s international support gives Chinese interests the upper hand in doing business with Burma’s generals.

“There’s evidence that Burma’s military regime favors China over India for some important economic concessions,” Soe said while adding that following Beijing’s support in the U.N. during 2007, Burma granted China a huge gas deal over India, despite India being willing to offer more money.

Mathieson said that Beijing's diplomatic cover has been crucial for the military in Burma to maintain power, not just for the support in multilateral forums, but also through extensive trade-investment and arms sales since 1988.

“I don't think Burma can avoid the criticism of its human rights record­the situation is too bad for that. But what China does is block, time and again, any stronger measures such as U.N. Security Council resolutions, and so far, the formation of a U.N.-led Commission of Inquiry,” said Mathieson.

Mathieson says China, along with Russia, North Korea and others, are why Western sanctions against Burma have been rendered ineffectual. While U.S., the EU, and Australia impose arms embargoes on the regime, those countries ignore them.

“In effect, Burma benefits from an unprincipled benefactor who wants only to preserve its own interests in Burma, not actually see positive change occur,” says Mathieson.




Massive Cash Flows
Maung from the London School of Economics said the massive cash flows coming from China, as well as other Asian nations such as India and Thailand, emboldens the military regime to carry on with a ‘business as usual’ attitude in Burma.

“They [Burmese military] will not see the need to do economic reform, they will see themselves as bringing in money to the country­but that is not development,” Maung said.

“China is not supporting Burma as a country. The Chinese leadership in Beijing is supporting the Burmese military junta and that needs to be clear. Without the Chinese support this junta would not be able to stay intransigent.”

According to the Financial Times, during the 2010–2011 financial year China invested US$10 billion into Burma, a sum which accounts for two-thirds of all foreign investment in the isolated country.

As well as being an important source of natural resources for China, Burma is an important market for its cheap Chinese products. With virtually no domestic manufacturing industry to speak of, consumer goods inside Burma are predominantly Chinese.

Burma last year was ranked the second most corrupt nation in the world by Berlin-based Transparency International. This year’s national budget again shows that the military remains the regime’s priority.

According to Burmese exile media Mizzima, the military received the largest cut of 2011 budget at around 30 percent, compared to education that got around 4 percent, and health care 1 percent.

The U.S. State Department says that China is the Burmese military’s major supplier of arms and munitions. http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/beijings-burma-embrace-55344.html