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Violence amid Burma protests

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Russia,
China and Indonesia oppose UN sanctions against Myanmar

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28 SEPT. EVERYBODY IS INVITED TO WEAR A RED SHIRT OR A RED RIBBON TO
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Urgent
business. No sanctions. Last night's emergency meeting of the United
Nations Security Council, called by France which currently holds the
presidency of the UN security council, was not able to come to any
agreement. China, Russia and Indonesia opposed European and American
proposals to impose tough commercial sanctions on the Burmese
military dictatorship that on Wednesday 26 Sept. killed at least nine
peaceful demonstrators.

However,
the Burmense Alliance of Buddhist Monks claimed that the number of
victims was higher, saying that at least five monks had been killed
by soldiers. The UN special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari,is flying to
Rangoon but must wait for the military junta to change its mind about
issuing a visa, since the way things stand at the moment he will have
to wait in a nearby country for a visa to be issued.

Loyal
allies. It was however, very unlikely even before the security
council meeting that any sanction could be approved without the
approval of the regime's two major allies, China and Russia, who last
December used their power of veto to block a resolution condemning
the junta and forcing them to “talk with minority and opposition
forces”.

China
is Burma's biggest trade partner, with trade figures between the two
countries totalling 1 billion 460 million dollars in 2006, while
Russia is the junta' biggest military sponsor, particularly in the
supply of heavy arms. Burma is reach in petrol (although since it
doesn't have any adequate refineries it has to import petrol) and
natural gas, which is almost exclusively exported to Peking and new
Delhi, another important and commercial ally.

.

According
to Zhang Xizhen, an expert in political affairs at the University of
Peking, it is “unthinkable that China would help to approve a
motion condemning the Burmense junta, but at the same time it cannot
tolerate (after the gaffe it made in supporting its biggest oil
supplier, Sudan,over Darfur,ed) that its biggest ally in Asia
suppresses the opposition to the sound of kalashnikov. It is more
likely that diplomats will use informal channels to try and reason
with the military junta and open negotiations with them, In view of
the upcoming Olympics in 2008,China 's image must be cleaned up, but
there are also more practical reason for Peking to be worried since
Burma is one of the 4 biggest illegal producers of opium in the world
and the river of heroin that the Burmense military smuggle into
Yunnan, in southern China, across the northern border could overflow
.

From
Peace Report