[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
NEWS -Japan Urges Myanmar Dialogue
- Subject: NEWS -Japan Urges Myanmar Dialogue
- From: Rangoonp@xxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 04:10:00
Subject: NEWS -Japan Urges Myanmar Dialogue with Suu Kyi
Japan Urges Myanmar Dialogue with Suu Kyi
Reuters
21-JAN-99
TOKYO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Japan, one of the few world
powers which still gives substantial aid to Myanmar, on
Thursday urged the nation's military rulers to start a
dialogue
with pro-democracy groups led by Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a Japanese Foreign Ministry
official said.
The official told reporters the request was made in a
"frank"
exchange of views between Japanese State Foreign
secretary Nobutaka Machimura and Brigadier General Kyaw
Win, deputy president of the Office of Strategic Studies
under the Myanmar Defence Ministry.
Win is believed to be the top aide to Lieutenant General
Khin
Nyunt, the powerful Secretary One of Myanmar's ruling State
Peace and Development Council.
Waiting for Win when he arrived at Japan's Foreign Ministry
were about 25 pro-democracy supporters who shouted
slogans denouncing the military, which refused to recognise
a 1990 election victory by Suu Kyi's National League for
democracy and has ruled the Southeast Asian nation with an
iron fist ever since.
The group has vowed to stage protests throughout Win's
11-day visit, which started on Wednesday. It has sent a
letter
to Japanese Justice Minister Shozaburo Nakamura urging
Tokyo to ban Myanmar military officials from visiting Japan.
Japan has taken a softer stance towards Myanmar's military
than the United States, opting for engagement rather than
sanctions.
Japanese officials have avoided the hardline approach
favoured by the United States and most other Western
powers, arguing that the military rulers are more likely to
move towards democracy if links with the world are kept
open through trade and aid.
In 1995, Tokyo lifted its 1988 freeze on economic aid after
Suu Kyi was released from house arrest, announcing it
would resume aid for humanitarian purposes.
The latest round of major aid programmes includes a 2.5
billion yen ($22.1 million) loan in March 1998 to be used
for
safety projects at Yangon Airport, and 800 million yen for a
project to increase food production.
No new yen loans have yet been offered to Yangon and
analysts said one of Win's missions was to sound out Tokyo
about the possibility of resuming yen loans.
The most recent visit to Japan by a senior Myanmar
government official was that by Deputy Prime Minister
Rear-Admiral Maung Maung Khin in June 1998.
"The Japanese government is trying to improve its
relationship with us although there is pressure from the
United States and European nations not to," a Myanmar
official, who declined to be named, told Reuters on
Wednesday.
($1-113 yen)