China joins UN censure of Burmese regime

Miracles happen...

China turned against the Burmese government last night and supported a UN security council statement rebuking the military regime for its suppression of peaceful protests, and demanding the release of all political prisoners.

The security council statement, which also called for "genuine dialogue" with the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, marked the first time that Beijing had agreed to UN criticism of the junta.

There was no talk of sanctions within the UN statement but the fact that China has joined with the other 15 members of the Security Council will not have been lost on the Burmese regime.

"That represents a very significant shift in global politics from just a few weeks ago," said the foreign secretary, David Miliband. "It is proof that the recent brutal crackdown and ongoing persecution of peaceful protesters has isolated the Burmese regime. They must now respond to these growing global calls for them to work with others in building a better future for the people of Burma."

Britain co-sponsored the statement with the US and France, which also signalled they would maintain the pressure on the junta to respond to UN demands for the release of prisoners, including Ms Suu Kyi.

The US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said that if the junta failed to respond accordingly, the security council would take the matter up again in as little as two weeks. "We will not relent. We will persist," he told journalists.

"What is important is that the government of Myanmar delivers," France's deputy UN ambassador, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said.

Burma's brutal crackdown on the monks has been disastrous for their image worldwide, where people have been marching in support of their calls for democratic change and for the Burmese government to come to the table to have discussions, without preconditions, with Suu Kyi about how democratic reform might be achieved.

The Chinese have only agreed to the statement as long as it was watered down, removing any insistence for the Burmese government to account for what had happened to detained demonstrators, and a call for a transition to democracy.

So, significant as it is to have the Chinese on board, the statement is still a long way short of what is necessary.

The Burmese government have, like Mugabe in Zimbabwe, blamed the protests on Western interference.

The regime has denied torturing its prisoners and has blamed the protests on western instigation. The state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper denounced the protesters, as "stooges of foreign countries putting on a play written by their foreign masters".

I'm not sure how far the Chinese can be made to go down this road, but at least a good start has been made; China has not given the obligatory veto of anything critical of Burma.

As Miliband has noted, a "very significant shift" has taken place.

The rest of the world should remember that this pressure on Burma can be kept up by threatening to boycott China's Olympics if she gets cold feet about applying too much pressure to the Burmese.

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Tags: Burma, China, United Nations, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese monks, protest