BREAKING NEWS
The foreign minister of France called Tuesday for a "new spirit" in diplomacy towards Burma, warning the military junta could not just go back status quo after last month's ruthless crackdown on monk-led protests.
"We cannot accept that it will come back like before, to the status quo," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner of Burma's political stalemate. "This is no longer possible."
On September 26-27 the Burmese military put a brutal end to weeks of peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks, killing at least ten people and horrifying world opinion anew.
A much more bloody crackdown on demonstrators in 1988 left about 3,000 people dead, prompting sanctions and condemnations from the international community. Burma has been under military rule since 1962.
Kouchner, who was in Bangkok on the second leg of a tour of Asia to discuss the Burmese issue, has proposed setting up a trust fund to offer aid to Burma's "miserable" people as an incentive to the government to implement democratic reforms.
At a press conference, the French foreign minister acknowledged that the proposal was not a new one. The World Bank several years ago offered Burma millions of dollars in aid on the condition that it agree to a roadmap of political and economic reforms.
Burma's military leaders rejected the proposal.
"This (fund) is not new, sanctions are not new but let's start having a new spirit, a new movement, a new strength and we will succeed," urged Kouchner, after holding talks with Thai Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram.
Part of that "new spirit" appears to be an acknowledgement that the military will need to be part of the solution, and introducing democracy to Burma will be a long process.
"We don't want to change the regime immediately, overnight," Kouchner told a press conference. "This is impossible, ridiculous and counterproductive."
Kouchner, who will travel on the China on Wednesday, has called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to apply more pressure on Burma.
But Thailand, and Asean in general, remain reluctant to follow Western democracies in slapping economic sanctions on Burma.
"We in Thailand have the problem of proximity," said Nitya, pointing to Thailand's 2,400-kilometre border with Burma.
Thailand is also the main importer of Burma's natural gas reserves from the Gulf of Martaban, which are pumped ashore by an international petroleum consortium that includes France's Total and the US-based Chevron.
Kouchner rejected the idea of prohibiting Total from continuing to do business in the pariah state.
"Imagine that we turn off the tap of Total, who will suffer?" he asked rhetorically. "The people of Burma, the people of Thailand. And who will replace the French? Some other people."
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