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BURMESE VERSION



Junta Secretary 1 Visits China

By WAI MOE Tuesday, October 20, 2009
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One of the Burmese military government’s leading generals, Secretary 1 Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, flew to Nanning in southern China on Monday, the first official visit between the two countries since the Kokang conflict in August sent some 37,000 refugees flooding into Yunnan Province.

Burma’s state-run daily, The New Light of Myanmar, reported on Tuesday that Tin Aung Myint Oo, who is quartermaster general of the Burmese armed forces, and his delegation were seen off at Naypyidaw Airport by junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe, his No 2 Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye and No 3 Gen Shwe Mann.

Burma’s Secretary 1 Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo (left) meets Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang in Nanning, southern China, on Oct. 19, 2009. (PHOTO: Xinhua News Agency)

China’s state-run press reported that Beijing had vowed to work with Burma to ensure stability on the Sino-Burmese border. 

“China and Myanmar should make efforts together to strengthen exchanges and cooperation, as well as safeguard stability on the border areas for the sake of the fundamental interests of the two peoples,” China’s Vice-Premier Li Keqiang told Tin Aung Myint Oo, according to a report in the Xinhua news agency on Tuesday.

Tin Aung Myint Oo seems to be handling the regime’s relations mission with China. On September 28, he represented the junta by attending a ceremony in Rangoon marking the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.
 
Aung Kyaw Zaw, a former communist rebel who observes Sino-Burmese affairs from China’s Yunnan Province, said Tin Aung Myint Oo’s trip would appear to be a regular diplomatic trip rather than a military one, judging by the fact that civilian ministers rather than military officers traveled with him on the delegation.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, Aung Kyaw Zaw said that Beijing would have higher expectations over the Burmese army’s treatment of Kokang and Chinese civilians because of the high-level nature of Burma’s delegation.

According to Aung Kyaw Zaw, tensions remain high between the Burmese army and the ethnic cease-fire groups along with the border as Burmese light infantry battalions maintain their positions. 

Min Zin, a freelance Burmese journalist who focuses on Sino-Burmese relations at the Center for Southeast Asia Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said that the Burmese junta needs to offer a guarantee to China that the Kokang conflict was an exception and that it does not intend to wage all-out war against the ethnic groups along China’s border.

“Otherwise, they will be in big trouble with China,” he said. “Also, after [US Senator Jim] Webb's visit, China is losing its cool with the junta.”

Webb visited Burma in mid-August and met with Than Shwe and other key ministers in Naypyidaw. The US senator reportedly talked with Than Shwe about China’s influence in Burma. About a week after Webb’s visit, the junta captured the Kokang capital of Laogai, effectively ending a 20 year-long ceasefire with the ethnic Chinese militia.

Also on the delegation on Monday was hardliner Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, the minister of information, who went to Beijing to attend a radio and TV workshop for developing countries on October 14-17, according to The New Light of Myanmar.

It also reported that the chief of the junta’s Spoke Authoritative Team, Kyaw Hsan, met with China’s propaganda minister Liu Yunshan.



COMMENTS (13)
 
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pLan B Wrote:
29/10/2009
tocharian
Please, Kokang, WA and any ethnic with Chinese ancestry might use China's policy of exploitation, so does the SPDC in the UNSC.
Burma has a way of "Burmanizing" any newcomer. More so than sinifying by/or in China.
You and I are but some example.
The SPDC is using race to justify the future violence in this case.

Persecuting any groups under "holding on to power" is not justifiable.
Armed groups—that is an entirely different subject that requires a different approach.
Don't buy into the West's simplification of e
ethnic issues.
You are looking at the results evolving, from the legacy of colonial expediency.
If the SPDC is a bully how will you describe the West's approach of sanctioning.
Do you see the irony of who is the bigger bully against the citizenry?

LuuSoeLay Wrote:
29/10/2009
to pLan Brutal,

FYI: "SPDC" (Sneaky People Deliver Corruption)

You can duplicate it as much as you want.

good day!

tocharian Wrote:
28/10/2009
Plan B
So, if they are so many Chinese in the world, why should the Burmese junta treat the Kokang and the Wa Chinese druglords like ethnic minorities. Total hypocrisy. The Bushmen and perhaps even the Burmese are the minorities in this world not the Chinese. No way!

By the way what's wrong about not liking bullies, even if they are 25% percent of the world. I am not afraid of any Chinese!

tocharian Wrote:
28/10/2009
ThinkTank
I know very well that the superior Chinese race knows how to make money and exploit other "inferior" human beings. They have been doing that for millenia. No wonder people who are on the others side of this exchange (poor subhuman beings like me or Tibetans or Uighurs) hate them. That's my problem with this soulless materialistic and hypocritical race.

pLan B Wrote:
27/10/2009
tocharian—
At least 25 percent of the world population proudly proclaims Chinese ancestry.
You don't really want to alienate such a statistically significant possible supporters base.
China's policy does not reflect all Chinese sentiment.
Neither are the Chinese in Myanmar to be equated with representing China's policy.
Please let's not start this who is more to blame.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/asia/north_east_asia/177_chinas_myanmar_dilemma.pdf

ThinkTank Wrote:
25/10/2009
To tocharian,

As long as your Bama race doesn't know how to make money, corruption will still exist in Burma. Don't care about ways of making money. Just do whatever you can to make money. And at that time, corruption will disappear. Please note the Chinese came to Burma without a penny.

pLan B Wrote:
24/10/2009
LuuSoa Lay
Your satire might have been comedic if not for the tragedy behind recents events.
1) The phin chat Khan of a deal that the SPDC made to ensure China's support. Spelled out and well know even among the Yangonians.
2) Thus setting up an inevitable rift if the present course is reversed or even tampered with.
3) The Irrawaddy has repeatedly pointed out the relevance of China as a neighbor entails doing the "right thing". Which so far has not even begun.
The best one can hope for at this point is that China will afford a "laissez faire" approach and benefit from a resulting situation where nobody loses much. A daunting prospect if you know the Chin will lose the most.
China must do the right thing:
1)Stop taking advantage of short term gain that they know the SPDC will not allow forever. Historical proof abounds.
2)As she protected the SPDC now she must broker the West's approach to get the SPDC a relevant entity to the future of Burma.
After all is said and done, the SPDC trusts and relies on China more than the West or ASEAN!

tocharian Wrote:
22/10/2009
Over the last 1,000 years the Central Kingdom (Zhong Guo) of Han Chinese has perfected the technique of controlling, pacifying and "sinifying" the periphery by spreading their Y-chromosomes and their Yuan. Look at Tibet and Xinjiang. Mian Dian (Burma) is next. Even in the photos of "Myanma Ahlin" you can see a lot of "Chinese observers" watching over the construction of the dams, power stations, pipelines etc., not to mention all those illegal immigrants, drug dealers, timber smugglers, gem merchants, massage salon pimps, ...

Even the money that goes from Burma to Singapore is controlled by Chinese proxies there.

It's a no-brainer to see how the corrupt Burmese junta and many others in Burma, including ethnic groups, have been bribed by the Chinese to deliver what China needs. Burma is de facto a vassal state of China. I don't think ASSK (living in her isolated villa on Inya lake) is really aware of the damage that has already been done.
It is perhaps too late!

KKK Wrote:
21/10/2009
This general looks like a Chinese. He must be a half Chinese and half Burmese. It's time to kiss their Swe-Myo Pauk-Phaws' asses again.

Oo Maung Gyi Wrote:
21/10/2009
Gen. Tin Aung Myint Oo's visit to China is just diplomacy since the Junta has taken new steps to shake hands with the US.

tocharian Wrote:
21/10/2009
So at the end of the day, the burmese junta has to "suck up" to Big Brother China, as I always predicted. Senator Webb might just turn out to be a short unsuccessful episode (from both sides). Remember the Singaporean banks where these junta guys send their money, their kids (for education) and even their wives (for shopping) are, of course, run by Chinese and we all know how migrant Burmese workers are treated there. For me the Chinese are everywhere, from Vancouver to Singapore to Mandalay. No wonder the junta is scared of them! Soon they will be scraping the gold from Burma's pagodas. Mr. Peng (the Kokang guy) was a minor figure for Peking.

George Than Setkyar Heine Wrote:
21/10/2009
Everyone who knows 2+2=4 knows why Tin Aung Myint Oo hurried to Beijing soon after
Than Shwe dynamited the 'bridge' with the US by his speech on October 9.

The Burmese junta needs to cement relations with the Reds next door to avoid getting smacked at the UNSC.

Certainly his ploy to get sanctions lifted has gone awry with the US, so Than Shwe sent his lackey to Beijing to strengthen his fort.
Of course the UWSA, SSA(S) and others are also in the agenda.

The US can forget about further engagement with Than Shwe's mob unless the US throws freedom, human rights and rule of law to the wolves at Nay Pyi Daw. Lifting sanctions would be first move in that direction no doubt.

Of course Leopards do not change their spots and Than Shwe in no hurry to swap his horns for a more saintly halo on his head.

Hence the US has lost out to China and Burma's democracy will remain asunder under Than Shwe's boots.

The wolves will run amok like yesterday as nobody gives a hoot about Burma's democracy today.

LuuSoeLay Wrote:
21/10/2009
What a coincidence! This visit to China was scheduled just after the Indian's Chief's recent visit to Naypyidaw.

The photo seems to have been taken after the dinner reception. Obviously, Thin Aung Myint Oo wasn't happy.

There was an untold story at the dinner when TAMO asked "why don't I smell Masala", LK replied "well, we have chicken Tofu."

TAMO got frustrated when he was given a tea bag instead of "la pat yei po [tea money]" and LK explained "I was told to take away your La Pat Yei Po to cover the expenses of Konkang refugees.






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