China urges Myanmar to deal with crisis The Associated Press / September 27, 2007
China on Thursday issued an evenhanded plea for calm in Myanmar, calling on all sides to show restraint, and Japan expressed regret over the death of one of its citizens in the violent crackdown.
The United States, Australia and other countries reiterated their calls for the junta to open a dialogue with peaceful protesters after soldiers opened fired into a crowd to try to disperse tens of thousands of people who defied the government's ban on demonstrations.
China has come under increasing pressure to use its regional influence to urge Myanmar's ruling junta to show restraint in dealing with the protests.
Despite initial reluctance to meddle in what it considered Yangon's domestic affairs, Beijing voted Wednesday in favor of issuing a U.N. Security Council statement of concern over the crackdown that also urged the junta to allow a special U.N. envoy to help negotiate a resolution.
On Thursday, China's Foreign Ministry issued an evenhanded plea for calm.
"China hopes that all parties in Myanmar exercise restraint and properly handle the current issue so as to ensure the situation there does not escalate and get complicated," spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a media briefing.
The crackdown puts China in a bind. Its communist government has developed close diplomatic ties with junta leaders and is a major investor in Myanmar. But with the Beijing Olympics less than a year away, China is eager to fend off criticism that it shelters unpopular or abusive regimes.
Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Hitoshi Kimura summoned Myanmar's ambassador in Tokyo to express "regret" over the death of a Japanese citizen in the crackdown Thursday, urging him to take measures to resolve the crisis, another ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
Japanese Embassy officials in Yangon were earlier told by Myanmar's Foreign Ministry that one of the several people found dead following the protests was believed to be a Japanese man, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said on customary condition of anonymity.
Japanese officials said the man had a passport under the name of Kenji Nagai, a 50-year-old journalist, according to Japanese media APF News, which had contract with Nagai. Nagai had been covering the protests in Yangon since Tuesday, APF representative Toru Yamaji told The Associated Press, adding that his company was cooperating with the ministry over the death.
The Foreign Ministry raised a travel advisory to a warning Wednesday, urging Japanese nationals to avoid trips to Myanmar and advising those already in the area to use utmost caution.
In Beijing, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters that the use of force by the junta "will solve nothing."
"It seems that people are sending a very clear message to the regime there that they need to begin a process of genuine dialogue and above all refrain from any use of force," Hill said.
"We all need to agree on the fact that the Burmese government has got to stop thinking that this can be solved by police and military, and start thinking about the need for genuine reconciliation with the broad spectrum of political activists in the country," he added.
Hill was expected to discuss the violence in Myanmar with Chinese officials on the sidelines of North Korean nuclear disarmament talks this week in Beijing. He declined to say whether Washington would request specific measures from Beijing.
"I think it's something that all countries need to be concerned about especially to use the influence that countries have to prevent the Burmese authorities from cracking down on these peaceful protests," Hill said.
First lady Laura Bush pleaded Wednesday with Myanmar's ruling military regime to resist using force, but her personal appeal came the same day that security officers opened fire on demonstrators.
"I want to say to the armed guards and to the soldiers: Don't fire on your people. Don't fire on your neighbors," she said in a Voice of America interview held in New York. where President Bush was attending meetings at the United Nations.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his government would also press Beijing to urge the junta to end its violent repression.
"We will be encouraging ... China to exert a positive influence on the regime to encourage it to hold back on the repression and to adopt a more accommodating attitude toward the people," Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
The European Union has already joined the United States in condemning the attacks and urging the country's military rulers to stop the violence and open a dialogue with pro-democracy leaders.
On Thursday, EU diplomats agreed to consider adding to sanctions already in place against the country in response to its lack of political reforms and poor human rights record.
"The crucial point is how to take measures that can have an impact on those who are responsible for events in the country without harming the population," EU spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio said in Brussels, Belgium.
The envoys formed a working group to look into possible reinforced, targeted economic sanctions on Myanmar and supporting U.N. action against the country.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, briefed an emergency Security Council meeting Wednesday and was expected to leave for the region immediately.
