တရုတ္ ၊ အိန္ဒိယ ႏွင့္ ဂ်ပန္တုိ ့ကနအဖ ကိုဖိအားေပးရန္ အေမရိကန္ ကတိုက္တြန္း

US to push China, India and Japan to pressure Myanmar

WASHINGTON - A SENIOR US diplomat on Wednesday said the United States is
pushing China, India and Japan to use their influence to increase pressure
on Myanmar's military leaders after a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy
protesters last week.

Angry US lawmakers called for the United States and the world to do more;
they also heaped criticism on China, Myanmar's top trading partner, for not
taking a stronger stand.

Scot Marciel, a deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia, told a
Senate subcommittee that the junta's squashing of demonstrations with
gunfire, tear gas and baton charges has reinforced the Bush administration' s
commitment to see that democracy is restored in Myanmar.

'We're working to turn the international outrage into increased pressure on
the regime,' he said, by pushing Myanmar's Asian neighbours and others to do
more.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has vast oil and gas deposits that are coveted
by its neighbours and by large companies around the world. India and China,
reluctant to criticise the junta in the past, are seen as crucial to
pressuring the junta into accepting international demands.

Mr Marciel said that while China is worried about the situation inside
Myanmar, it has not yet shown a willingness to go beyond calls for
restraint. He said a key test would be China's reaction when the matter
comes before the United Nations Security Council.

After crushing large protests last week, the junta has now begun dragging
people from their homes at night and letting others know they are marked for
detention. The crisis began Aug 19 with rallies against a fuel price
increase; it escalated when Buddhist monks joined in, drawing world
attention.

The government says 10 people were killed in the crackdown, but dissident
groups put the toll at about 200. They say some 6,000 people have been
arrested, including thousands of monks.

The United States has responded by imposing new sanctions on the junta's
leaders.

Sanctions not working
Democratic Sen John Kerry, however, said sanctions by the US alone will not
work without action by Myanmar's neighbours and especially China, whose
economic relationship with Myanmar is allowing the junta to survive.

'The killing has to stop, and China needs to make it clear that it's
unacceptable, ' he said.

Republican Sen Mitch McConnell expressed frustration with China, India and
Thailand for, he said, ignoring the generals' abuse in order to do business
with Myanmar.

'None of the neighbours seem to have much interest in applying the real
pressure that would bring a change,' he said. 'Their attitude largely seems
to be that it would be bad for business to side with protesters.'

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta came to
power after snuffing out a 1988 pro-democracy movement against the previous
military dictatorship, killing at least 3,000 people in the process. -- AP