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.