Engaging Myanmar

Engaging Myanmar

Within the space of only four days, Myanmar was admitted first
to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as an
observer and later as a full member of the ASEAN Regional Forum
(ARF). The first is a regional organization with a strong
international reputation, and the other is an emerging elite
forum, involving the United States, China, Russia and the
European Union, among others, for which membership is difficult
to come by.

Myanmar assumed its seats at these two organizations during
the series of the ASEAN ministerial meetings in Jakarta this week
in spite of the growing pressure from western countries and from
dissidents in Myanmar to isolate Yangon and impose economic
sanctions because of its continued suppression of democracy.

There were no real objections to Myanmar's entry into the ARF
from the United States, Canada, Australia and the European Union
-- whose governments have been at the forefront in demanding
isolation. The grumbling and tough talking heard before the ARF
meeting on Tuesday receded when the 21 participating ministers
sat down and began talking.

ASEAN's policy of "constructive engagement" with Myanmar has
prevailed, and the western countries have accepted it, at least
for the time being. The West realizes that isolation and
sanctions will not work without the support of Myanmar's
immediate neighbors. By sitting down together in one room with
Myanmar's representative, the ministers who were calling for
isolation were themselves involved in the process of engagement.
Pro-isolationists have to wait for their moment, and pro-
engagement advocates have been given more time to prove that
their approach is the correct one. Even the U.S. Senate this week
watered down a bill that originally called for tough sanctions
against Myanmar and companies doing business with the Yangon
regime.

The international concerns about the situation in Myanmar have
not been entirely swept under the carpet at the ASEAN meetings.
Although the issue was not mentioned in the ARF's closing
statement, it was raised at the forum at the insistence of U.S.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Myanmar Foreign Minister U
Ohn Gyaw used the occasion to brief the forum about his
government's policies. Obviously Secretary Christopher and the
other ministers present did not have to completely accept the
explanation, but at least they had the first-hand opportunity to
hear Yangon's intentions.

Representatives from the EU and Canada also used their
presence to meet separately with minister Gyaw and raise their
concerns directly with him.

This is exactly what engagement is all about. At the very
least they are talking with Myanmar, rather than keeping it at
bay. Whether or not change in Myanmar can be produced from these
talks remains to be seen. Certainly one or two ideas that are
more constructive than the call for isolation surfaced in Jakarta
this week, like the Canadian suggestion for the establishment of
a UN-sponsored multilateral contact group on Myanmar.

The ASEAN ministers also used the meeting to engage Myanmar in
what they call "quite diplomacy". By allowing Yangon to take an
observer seat, ASEAN knew that it was risking the wrath of the
international community.

But ASEAN cannot keep its constructive engagement policy
forever, without risking its reputation and integrity that it has
painfully built over the last 29 years.

The rest of the world is watching the ASEAN approach and will
demand results. ASEAN's job now is to convince the Yangon regime
that sooner or later it will have to make concessions to the pro-
democracy activists led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who
has the sympathy and support of the international community.

There are still a few years before Myanmar will be allowed to
become a full-fledged member of ASEAN. This period should be used
by ASEAN members to pursue their approach of quite diplomacy and
to come up with some positive results.