Chinese More Flexible toward Burmes

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Chinese More Flexible toward Burmese exiles -- Result of  Sanctions?

Far Eastern Economic Review, May 8, 1997

Intelligence

New Flexibility

Chinese intelligence officials have begun to take a closer interest in the
activities of anti-Rangoon Burmese exiles in Yunnan.  Until a few months
ago, the Chinese tolerated the dissidents' presence in several southern
border towns, but maintained links only with pro-government Burmese in the
province.  Now, local officers in Yunnan frequently meet the dissident
exiles to ask them their opinions.  While no one is suggesting an official
shift in Beijing's Burma policy, some circles in China now evidently prefer
to keep their options open.  One reason could be increasing uncertainty
about the future of the ruling junta in Rangoon, which has been slapped with
sanctions by Washington.  It is also possible that with the death of
patriarch Deng Xiaoping, Chinese officials are considering different
opinions in a number of fields.  Either way, Beijing's approach to Burma's
internal problems has definitely become more flexible, sources in Yunnan assert.


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