Washington’s decision to ease sanctions and allow US companies
unfettered access into Burma’s lucrative military-linked oil and gas sectors
has drawn fierce criticism from human rights advocates.
“The US government should have
insisted that good governance and human rights reform be essential operating
principles for new investments in Burma,” said Arvind Ganesan, business and
human rights director at Human Rights Watch. “By allowing deals with Burma’s
state-owned oil company [Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise], the US looks like it
caved to industry pressure and undercut Aung San Suu Kyi and others in Burma
who are promoting government accountability.”
Indeed, the US must be careful
not to sacrifice its committed principles of democracy and human rights and
thus jeopardize longstanding relationships with democratic and civil society
forces in Burma, also known as Myanmar. Doing so would lead critics to accuse
Washington of hypocrisy and much of its political leverage would crumble away.
The White House has always been a
strong ally of the democratic resistance in repressive Burma but a series of
political reforms beginning last year has led to plaudits from the
international community and Western countries in particular.
Burma has since become a darling
of the West. Hillary Clinton, who became the first US secretary of state to
visit Burma in four decades, met Burmese President Thein Sein on the sidelines
of a business conference in Cambodia on Friday to discuss enhancing bilateral
trade.
Yet activists have continued to
warn the US administration not to go too far with its aim of “principled
engagement” with the once-pariah state. Clinton defended the US move by saying
it “does not mean we are satisfied that reform is complete or irreversible.”
“Political prisoners remain in
detention. Ongoing ethnic and sectarian violence continues to undermine
progress toward national reconciliation, stability and lasting peace. And
fundamental reforms are required to strengthen the rule of law and increase
transparency.”
Human Rights Watch and others
have expressed concern that it was premature for the United States to open up
across-the-board investment in Burma and has been seeking much stronger
preconditions.
“There are still serious human
rights-related risks when investing in Burma,” the New York based-group said in
a press release. The statement referenced weak rule of law, abusive practices
by the military, widespread corruption by the government and more.
As sectarian violence continues
in Burma — including mass arrests, incommunicado detention and the killings of
Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhines in Arakan State — the group says the US
announcement was ill-timed.
However, the United States’
strategic refocus on the Asia-Pacific region is one of the driving forces
behind embracing military-dominated Burma in order to advance its foreign
policy goals.
Located between rising China and
India, which boast nearly half the world’s population between them,
resource-rich Burma is more attractive than ever. There are several reasons why
the White House, which last week sent its first ambassador to Burma for 20
years, wants to move itself closer.
One principle incentive is to
seize onto Burma’s recent political opening and encourage further
democratization. Secondly, Washington has long been seen as a strong supporter
of Burma’s opposition movement.
Finally, Burma has long been seen
as satellite state of China. While in the past, India was always the main
counterbalance to Beijing’s growing clout in Burma, now Naypyidaw wants to
instead restore normal relations with Washington — receiving aid, military
training and assistance — to perhaps forge closer strategic ties. The key is
Burma’s direct access to the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean.
This also perhaps matches US
foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific. It will not be surprising to see Washington
wanting to revive its military assistance to Burma. Burmese soldiers, including
intelligence officers, received training in the United States until the late
1980s.
There is no doubt that the United
States is coming back to Asia. Clinton’s Southeast Asian tour last week
signaled the United States’ growing interest in the region — indeed, it will
form America’s pivot toward Asia as a whole.
Clinton last week became the
first US Secretary of State to visit Laos in 57 years. During her visit to
Mongolia, she told reporters, “My trip reflects a strategic priority of
American foreign policy today.”
“After 10 years in which we
focused a great deal of attention on the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the
United States is making substantially increased investments — diplomatic,
economic, strategic and otherwise — in this part of the world. It’s what we
call our pivot toward Asia.”
A few years back, Clinton wrote
in Foreign Policy, “What does that regional strategy look like? For starters,
it calls for a sustained commitment to what I have called ‘forward-deployed’
diplomacy.”
“That means continuing to
dispatch the full range of our diplomatic assets — including our
highest-ranking officials, our development experts, our interagency teams and
our permanent assets — to every country and corner of the Asia-Pacific region.”
Apart from trade, security and
forging alliances to counter China, one of the key components of US policy is
to work with civil society groups — rather than thugs and butchers — and
advance democracy and human rights.
In April, Kurt Campbell, the
assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs who has been
the chief architect of the Obama administration’s current approach to Burma,
made a number of key points in his comments to the House Committee.
These included stating that the
nascent reforms instigated by were “real and significant,” highlighting
continued human rights violations in Arakan and Kachin states as well as
acknowledging the need for further political, social and legal development.
This prompted Washington to adopt
a “step-by-step process” toward the easing of economic sanctions which appeared
more measured than most other governments were adopting.
Now it is time to see how the
United States will balance its policy toward Burma during the ongoing fragile
political transition, as this remains an ethnically divided country where
repressive measures are still applied and ordinary people do not yet feel they
are truly free.
Aung Zaw
Aung Zaw is founder and editor of
the Irrawaddy magazine.
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