Thailand to emerge as Myanmar donor
Thailand to emerge as Myanmar donor
Nopporn Wong-Anan, Reuters, Bangkok
Thailand will emerge as a donor at a four-nation regional summit in Myanmar next week despite the West isolating the country and demanding the release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, officials said on Tuesday.
They said Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra would pledge to help Myanmar, Cambodia and Loas to develop their economies through grants and technical assistance at the summit in the tourist town of Pagan next Tuesday and Wednesday.
"We see the need to narrow the widening gap of development among us by helping our neighbors develop their economies," Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow told Reuters.
"Therefore, there will be a commitment in the declaration for a better-off country to offer assistance to others."
Thaksin, due to arrive in Yangon on Monday, will meet Myanmar military leader Than Shwe and Prime Minister Khin Nyunt and sign an Economic Cooperation Strategy pact in Pagan.
The pact, agreed among four commerce ministers last month in Bangkok, would touch on plans to reduce import duties on raw materials to zero, the officials said.
They said Thailand would be the obvious major buyer and benefit from cheap labor in its three poor neighbors, while the increased demand would create more jobs there.
Thailand's promises followed the latest U.S. trade embargo on Myanmar goods, the European Union's suspension of trade privileges over Yangon's alleged use of forced labor and Japan's suspension of fresh aid after Suu Kyi was detained on May 30.
Suu Kyi, 58, has spent several lengthy spells in detention since returning to Yangon in 1988, shortly before a pro-democracy uprising swept the country.
The military, in power since 1962, ignored a 1990 election victory by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
Last month, Washington urged Thailand and its neighbors, which are following a policy of "constructive engagement" with Myanmar, to use every possible means to promote democratic change in Myanmar and the unconditional release of Suu Kyi.
Thaksin, without mentioning Suu Kyi, told reporters on Monday he would raise the issue of national reconciliation with Mynamar's generals and offer to mediate between the junta and ethnic armies fighting it.
"Thailand would like to see this region become more stable politically and economically, especially for democracy and national reconciliation to be established here," Thaksin said. "We have our own approach to pursue."
But some Thai analysts say Bangkok's priority in Myanmar, also called Burma, is more economic than political.
"They just want to work with any government that is in power to maximize Thailand's strategy to be the epicenter of mainland Southeast Asia," said political scientist Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
"Thailand won't be boycotting, but granting loans and other aid schemes to Burma (Myanmar) -- which might not be good news for pro-democracy activists and ethnic groups."
Another analyst said Bangkok would welcome any government that could bring stability and development to Myanmar, the source of drugs and illegal workers pouring into Thailand.
"I am not sure if Thailand really wants to see a democratic Myanmar, but it doesn't want to see illegal immigrant workers or refugees fleeing to Thailand," said Pornpimon Trichot of the Bangkok-based Asian Studies Institute.