EU says policy toward Myanmar stays unchanged<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (AFP): The European Union's policy of keeping Myanmar
\nat arm's length will remain unchanged as long as human rights
\nviolations continue, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and
\nexternal relations commissioner Chris Patten said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\"EU sanctions will continue until Myanmar's rulers address
\ntheir human rights abuses,\" said Patten, considered an expert on
\nAsian affairs, in Bangkok to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum
\n(ARF) meeting.
\n\"There's no question of ganging up on Burma. This is just an
\neffort to convince Burma's (Myanmar) regime to change the error
\nof their ways.\"<\/p>\n
\"We have not changed our position from the position we had
\nbefore,\" the former NATO secretary general told reporters on
\nWednesday after delivering a speech in Singapore.<\/p>\n
\"I think that everything has been tried ... it has not
\nchanged,\" said Solana.<\/p>\n
Despite its ban on contacts with senior members of the
\nmilitary junta that rules Myanmar, the EU is taking part in the
\nARF, at which Myanmar will also be represented as an ASEAN
\nmember.<\/p>\n
The EU and Myanmar have been at loggerheads for nearly four
\nyears.<\/p>\n
In October 1996, the EU adopted economic sanctions as a
\nprotest against Myanmar's reported human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
The EU also generally bars its member nations from giving
\nvisas to high-level officials of the Yangon military regime.<\/p>\n
The EU has frequently criticized Myanmar for alleged human
\nrights abuses including the use of forced labor, repression of
\nethnic minorities and iron control over media outlets.<\/p>\n
Relations between the EU and ASEAN have been chilly since
\nMyanmar joined the Southeast Asian organization, but Patten vowed
\nthat Myanmar would not \"take EU-ASEAN relations hostage\" any
\nlonger.<\/p>\n
The EU and ASEAN will be holding a ministerial-level meeting
\nin Laos late in 2000 designed to restore warm relations between
\nthe two organizations.<\/p>\n
And the EU will continue to provide humanitarian aid to
\nMyanmar, even if Aung San Suu Kyi opposes the aid, Patten said.<\/p>\n
\"We don't allow our political disapproval of Burma's
\ngovernment and the way it behaves to affect humanitarian aid,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"Nobody, not even Aung San Suu Kyi, has a veto on humanitarian
\nassistance, though obviously we have to take into account an NGOs
\nability to deliver assistance.\"<\/p>\n
ASEAN groups all ten countries in the region: Brunei,
\nCambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
\nSingapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/eu-says-policy-toward-myanmar-stays-unchanged-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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