ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Bush administration and lawmakers from both parties are pushing for the U.N. Security Council to condemn Burma’s recent crackdown on activists, but U.S. options to force change appear limited, with China and Russia likely to block a U.N. resolution against a country with which they both have strong economic ties, and India clamoring for access to Burma’s vast energy resources.
Priscilla Clapp, who was chief U.S. diplomat in Burma — officially called Myanmar — from 1999 to 2002, said U.S. and European pressure is important. But, she said, “when you hear the president and others talking about that, it’s because they’ve got nothing else they can do; it’s just such a conundrum what you do about Burma.”
The ruling military junta in Burma has detained scores of activists and used gangs of hired thugs to snuff out protests that began Aug. 19 over higher prices for fuel and consumer goods.
In response, President Bush urged the government to “heed the international calls to release these activists immediately and stop its intimidation of those Burmese citizens who are promoting democracy and human rights.”
The State Department has said U.S. officials will work to raise the subject at the U.N. General Assembly meeting later this month.
The White House and State Department are watching events in Burma closely, but the country also is of special interest to first lady Laura Bush. She telephoned U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday to urge him to condemn the junta’s treatment of dissidents and to press for the Security Council to prevent more violence in Burma.
Michael Green, Mr. Bush’s former senior adviser on Asia, said U.S. rhetoric condemning the regime shows Burma’s “democracy movement that major powers like the United States stand with them. That has meaning. But in terms of affecting the behavior of the regime, I don’t think that will happen until the big parties around them start working together.”
China and Russia, which both have veto power on the U.N. Security Council, are the major barriers to a resolution on Burma. They argue that the council should deal with matters of international security, not the internal security of a country.
Even a successful U.N. resolution, however, “doesn’t solve the problem in Burma; it just gives it a high level of international attention,” Mrs. Clapp said.
The most important pressure on Burma probably would come from China, which would welcome stronger economic policies in Burma as better protection for its investments. Mrs. Clapp said China covets Burma’s huge energy resources and in coming years will start making large hydroelectric and gas investments.
India, a powerful democracy that is nurturing closer ties with the United States, is ignoring Burma’s turmoil, Mr. Green said, in an effort to compete with China for strategic and economic influence in Burma.
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