(New York) - The Chinese government should use this week's visit by Burmese leader Than Shwe to press Burma to conduct open elections and provide accountability for serious crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. Senior General Than Shwe will conduct a four-day visit to Beijing and Shanghai starting Tuesday, September 7, 2010. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Burma in June this year.
"Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao should not embolden Burma's generals by ignoring the flawed November elections and the need for accountability," said Sophie Richardson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The Chinese government should reject ‘business as usual' and join other governments in pressing Burma for robust and durable change."
Burma will conduct its first election in 20 years on November 7, amid concerns from a growing number of governments that the process will not meet international standards. The military government excluded most of the opposition through arbitrary arrests and unfair electoral laws, and current arrangements will guarantee continuing military dominance over the future parliament. Than Shwe's visit, coming two weeks after he visited India, is intended to shore up international support for the ruling State Peace and Development Council's (SPDC) election process, and to expand economic and security ties between the two countries.
The visit comes as more governments express support for a high-level United Nations investigation into allegations of widespread and systematic violations of international humanitarian law in Burma over the course of the country's long civil conflict. The United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, and Slovakia have expressed public support for a proposal put forward in March by the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar (Burma), Tomas Ojea Quintana. Human Rights Watch has called on the European Union and governments to support an international investigation.
There have been growing ties between China and the Burmese military government for more than two decades, in which China has used its considerable clout at the United Nations on Burma's behalf, while being granted access to Burma's abundant natural resources and a strategic outlet to the Indian Ocean. China has furnished Burma with extensive military hardware, including naval vessels, fighter planes, artillery, and trucks, and continues to be one of Burma's key international sources of weapons. Tensions have recently increased along China's border with Burma between the Burmese government and two non-state armed groups with shaky ceasefire agreements: the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). In August 2009 fighting between the Burmese security forces and the Kokang ethnic militia drove 37,000 refugees into China's Yunnan province.
"China both wants to profit from Burma and distance itself from Burma's unstable military rule," Richardson said. "If the Chinese government doesn't fundamentally alter its approach to Burma, it risks burnishing its reputation as a patron of abusive regimes."
China has major economic ties to Burma, from a growing bilateral border trade and investments in major hydroelectric and petroleum projects. Bilateral trade between Burma and China is nearly US$3 billion per year, and border trade is growing rapidly. The overall volume of trade is anticipated to increase dramatically as a result of a major energy deal between the two countries.
PetroChina, the publicly listed arm of the majority state-owned company China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), signed a December 2008 contract to purchase the natural gas from the Shwe fields off the coast of Burma's Arakan state. More recently, CNPC has reportedly begun constructing what will ultimately be two major energy pipelines across Burma to China, in one case to transport the Shwe gas. The twin pipelines represent some of the biggest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Burma.
China's massive petroleum project in Burma, as well as large hydro-electric power projects that Chinese companies also are involved with, raise serious concerns about the impact of such projects on the Burmese population, including the risk of forced displacement, Human Rights Watch said.
"The Chinese government's policy towards Burma is inconsistent with its claims to be a responsible power," Richardson said. "China can better secure its interests in Burma by switching its support from the abusive generals to supporting the Burmese people."
