China's Li Peng winds up visit to Myanmar
China's Li Peng winds up visit to Myanmar
YANGON (AFP): Chinese Premier Li Peng ended his first visit
here yesterday with praise for Myanmar's efforts at "national
reconciliation" and a rejection of claims that Beijing wants to
expand its influence in the region.
Li, only the fourth head of state to visit Yangon since the
1988 military takeover, also said the issue of detained Nobel
Peace laureate and leading dissident Aung San Suu Kyi was
"entirely Myanmar's (Burma's) internal affair."
Li, also the most senior Chinese official to visit Yangon,
answered reporters' questions before returning to Beijing at the
end of his three-day official visit.
Analysts here called the hour-long news conference
"unprecedented," noting it was the first by a visiting Chinese
leader since the two countries established diplomatic ties in
1950.
Li used the opportunity to dismiss western and regional fears
his bridge-building visit to China's southern neighbor was
intended to expand Beijing's influence in the region and towards
the Indian Ocean.
"As a developing country, China is devoted and committed to
its modernization," he said. "We pursue an independent foreign
policy of peace. We do not seek any sphere of influence abroad."
Li also pointed out that there were no military personnel in
his 100-member delegation, which included businessmen and
journalists.
"We are opposed to hegemonism," the premier said. "We will
never engage in any hegemonistic activities. And ... as a matter
of fact, we have not stationed a single soldier abroad."
China's traditional rival in the region, India, is worried
about what it sees as the Chinese navy's push toward the Indian
Ocean, diplomats say, adding that the Myanmarese army and air
force have been revamped since 1990 with Chinese equipment.
Asked about Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest
in Yangon since 1989, Li said he did not raise the subject during
his talks Tuesday with senior Myanmarese leaders.
"As Aung San Suu Kyi's problem is an internal affair of
Myanmar, we do not intend to interfere," he said.
Reconciliation
Instead, Myanmar's leaders had told him during their talks
that they were giving priority to national reconciliation, and
"we sincerely pray for their success," Li said without
elaborating.
The Myanmarese junta has negotiated separate cease-fires in
recent months with most of the nation's armed ethnic minorities,
which have been fighting various Yangon governments for greater
autonomy since independence from Britain in 1947.
Myanmarese troops are however currently battling with Karen
insurgents -- the oldest and most powerful ethnic rebellion --
and their allied Myanmarese students in eastern jungles.
The junta has also convened a national convention that for two
years has been hammering out a new constitution for Myanmar. Most
of the ethnic groups have sent delegates or observers to the
ongoing process.
Li said his talks with Myanmarese leaders centered on
bilateral relations and exchanges of views on regional and
international issues of common interest. He did not elaborate.
Cross-border trade is booming between Myanmar and Yunnan, the
bordering Chinese province, whose governor was among the
premier's delegation.
Asked about human rights in China, Li said these are very
extensive and include political rights and rights to subsistence
and development.
While China's concept of human rights differs from that of
most western nations, "China shares the same views and position
on human rights together with many other Asian countries, and
naturally with many other developing countries, including
Myanmar," Li said.
"We have said that if there are differences on human rights,
we can have discussions over it," he said. "But it is not
permissible for anyone to try to use the issue to interfere in
others' internal affairs."