Punishing Myanmar

Of the many arguments against economic sanctions, the one that we have found the most persuasive is the simplest: They don't work. Once they are invoked, everyone loses.

Myanmar is its own best argument against isolationism. It has managed to reduce itself to a Third World basket case through a self-imposed policy of closed-door self-sufficiency that ultimately spawned the current State Law and Order Restoration Council.

The sanctions announced last month by the U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, carry even less credibility than usual. For one thing, they are so clearly half-hearted, applying only to new investment. Even worse, the effect of imposing sanctions on a small fish like Myanmar while letting the much bigger Chinese fish off the hook is not to advance the cause of human rights in the former, but to discredit U.S. policy toward the latter.

Not that we think the uncritical embrace of Myanmar by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is the necessary conclusion. While there are excellent arguments for a policy of "constructive engagement," ASEAN's eagerness to take this tar- baby straight to the altar raises its own questions. Last year's admission of Vietnam to the ASEAN family, for example, has already created new pressures in the group's relations with neighboring China. The pressures to incorporate Myanmar so soon afterward are more emotional than strategic.

By all means, trade with Myanmar. But don't marry it.

-- Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong Kong