Rice chides ASEAN countries for being soft on Myanmar

Rice chides ASEAN countries for being soft on Myanmar

Agence France-Presse, Busan, South Korea

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday chided
Southeast Asian nations for failing to speak out strongly enough
against human rights abuses in Myanmar, which she called one of
the world's worst regimes.

"I don't think that we get the kind of international
condemnation of what's going on in Burma (Myanmar) that we really
need," Rice told reporters at the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum.

"I understand that a lot of countries that are neighbors of
Burma feel the need to engage them, but I would hope that that
engagement also takes the form of being serious about the really
quite, quite appalling human rights situation in Burma."

Washington has repeatedly called for the release of Myanmar's
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for
Democracy party leader U Tin Oo as well as other political
prisoners.

But Rice, calling the military junta in Yangon "really one of
the worst regimes in the world," said abuses went far beyond the
mistreatment of Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

"We're talking about really systematic efforts to silence any
critics of the regime, to put human rights organizations
completely out of business," Rice said. "Burma is a very bad case
and so we are talking to people here."

Rice upset some members of the 10-nation Association of
Southeast Asian Nations when she pulled out of an ASEAN meeting
in July in Laos. She cited scheduling problems, but it was widely
seen as an attempt to pressure the group over Myanmar.

U.S. President George W. Bush has imposed trade and investment
sanctions on Myanmar's military regime in his campaign to press
for democratic reforms.

Speaking in Japan on Wednesday, Bush said that "the abuses by
the Burmese military are widespread, and include rape, torture,
execution and forced relocation."

He is due to meet the leaders of seven ASEAN members --
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore
and Vietnam -- at the APEC forum on Friday. Myanmar is not a
member of APEC.

Earlier this month Washington condemned Myanmar's leaders for
holding secret trials and sentencing eight Shan political leaders
to lengthy prison terms.

Human rights groups accuse Myanmar's military of atrocities
against ethnic minorities, including displacing more than 300,000
Shan and abusing thousands -- including children -- as forced
laborers.

Rice also singled out Myanmar for criticism in her speech to
the APEC ministerial meeting.

"When tyrannical governments like Burma abuse their citizens
and deny their rights, it is the responsibility of all free
nations to condemn these actions," she told the gathering.

Rice later told reporters she felt it was important to mention
Myanmar "because too often it kind of falls off the radar screen
of people who don't concern themselves every day with human
rights and democracy issues."

The government in Myanmar has frequently been a source of
embarrassment to ASEAN in recent years. But the group insists
that engaging the junta will more likely bring change than
confrontation.