Burma Need’s Full Engagement, Not half-hearted One

By: Rajshekhar alias Vijay ‘Bidrohi’

The new US policy to engage Burma is a welcome step and a step forward to help directly Burma’s innocent citizen’s devastated in Cyclone Nargis. Moreover, the policy of engaging Burma is coherent with the Gandhian philosophy of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, which doesn’t believe in ‘permanent boycott and hate’ of opposite forces. However, the present policy of sanction as well as of engagement is against the basic ethos of Gandhian philosophy of ‘non-violence’, so Burma needs full engagement from western civilization and not a half-hearted one. The United States apprehension that, engaging Burma would give a wrong signal to the world is a prejudiced notion. It also creates a definite distance between Burma’s ruling military regime and western world, weakening the objective of release of Daw Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.

In a recent visit by US Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs - Mr. Scot Marciel and Assistant Secretary of State - Mr. Kurt Campbell to Burma and Junta’s positive approach of allowing media to cover the event was positive development in the democratization process of Burma.

The struggle & demand for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners could be pursued while engaging Burma as per UN & ASEAN resolutions. Burma needs a massive international help to create job intensive industries to help unemployed poor people. Moreover, India needs to engage Burma beyond traditional trade items in the areas of critical technology like - Space Research, Joint Ocean research programme, Robotics and peaceful use of nuclear energy etc.

Few days back, I come across a poem, which made India’s father of nation – Mahatma Gandhi a firm believer in ‘non-violence’. The poem is an anonymous Gujarati one and poet had been unknown to Gandhi. He mentions the poet as 'Diwana'. The poem was published in his journal – “Indian Opinion” on 13th November 1909. It is my pleasure to share Gandhi’s favorite poem with the readers of Burma Review, which is applicable to all rulers & citizens resorting to violence to suppress ‘individual freedom of opinion’. “Burma Review” will change to “Myanmar Review”, the day Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is released.

"The lamp not burning
On what will the moth throw itself and be burnt?
Seeking to burn us,
You burn yourself first.

The union of soul and body,
The same in you as in me;
Unless you wound yourself,
Us you cannot hurt.

So soon as I owned myself your lover,
You stood declared my beloved;
A name I’ve bestowed on you,
And will cease only when I perish.

Such airs you give yourself today,
Your eyes stern and proud;
These your arrows
Will turn back upon you, myself unharmed.

You live, if I live; if I die,
Tell yourself you die too;
Can a tree exist without seed?
The fruit, whereon will it grow?

Where is the king if there are no subjects?
Would he rule over wood and stone?
Your being is wrapped up in mine,
Aiming a blow at me,
You shall only hurt yourself."

(By: A Diwana - a mad one)

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Document - Press Release: U.S. Policy Toward Burma

Kurt M . Campbell

Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Washington, DC
September 28, 2009
PRN : 2009/970 (Released at 1.40 AM, September 29, 2009)
(Courtesy: US State Dept.)

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MR. CROWLEY: I don’t see any UNGA survivors here yet. They’re still up there. Good afternoon, and welcome to the Department of State. To kick us off this afternoon, we’ve invited down the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Pacific region Kurt Campbell, who is going to kind of follow up on some comments that the Secretary made last night – or last week, I’m sorry – regarding Burma, but will obviously entertain broader questions on the region.
Kurt, you can just kick us off.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Thank you, P.J., and it’s great to see so many friends here. This is my first time in front of the podium, so I’m going to take a variety of questions, if that’s possible.

Let me first underscore that last week was a big week for us in the Asia Pacific region. I think all of you know the President and the Secretary had a series of meetings with our friends and allies in the Asia Pacific region. President Obama met both in Pittsburgh and in New York with President Hu, had a broad range of discussions on North Korea, on Iran, on climate change, on a variety of economic and trade-related issues. The President also met with new Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama to discuss our vital, important partnership and the direction ahead. We also had strong meetings between the President – between the Secretary and her counterparts in several key countries in Asia.

The Secretary also, on Wednesday, had a meeting of the Friends of Burma, and at that meeting she rolled out some of our initial views concerning the Burma review, which is going to be fully discussed this week on Capitol Hill and also with other key players. There will be testimony before the Senate subcommittee on Wednesday; I will appear before that, before Senator Webb and the committee.

I’d like now, if possible, to read a relatively long statement. I apologize for the detail, but it will give you some context in terms of our overall review and what we’ve concluded over the course of these last seven months.

In terms of the background, the Administration launched a review of Burma policy seven months ago, recognizing that the conditions in Burma were deplorable and that neither isolation nor engagement, when implemented alone, had succeeded in improving those conditions. Throughout this review, the Administration consulted closely with Congress, the international community, and a wide range of stakeholders inside Burma, including the National League of Democracy.

For the first time in memory, the Burmese leadership has shown an interest in engaging with the United States, and we intend to explore that interest. In addition, concerns have emerged in recent days about Burma and North Korea’s relationship that require greater focus and dialogue.

What are the strategic goals and interests of this approach? We have reaffirmed our fundamental goals in Burma. We support a unified, peaceful, prosperous, and democratic Burma that respects the human rights of its citizens. To that end, we will continue to push for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners, an end to conflicts with ethnic minorities and gross human rights violations, and initiation of a credible internal political dialogue with the democratic opposition and ethnic minority leaders on elements of reconciliation and reform.

We will also press Burma to comply with its international obligations, including on nonproliferation, ending any prohibited military or proliferation-related cooperation with North Korea, and full compliance with United Nations 1874 and 1718.

If Burma makes meaningful progress towards these goals, it will be possible to improve the relationship with the United States in a step-by-step process. We recognize that this will likely be a long and difficult process, and we are prepared to sustain our efforts on this front.

Burma’s continued estrangement from the international community harms the country and has direct negative consequences beyond Burma’s borders. Burma’s engagement with the outside world has the potential to encourage new thinking, reform, and participation in the work of the international community.

In terms of engagement, we intend to begin a direct dialogue with Burmese authorities to lay out a path towards better relations. The dialogue will include specific discussion of democracy and human rights inside Burma, cooperation on international security issues such as nonproliferation and compliance with 1874 and 1718, and areas that could be of mutual benefit such as counternarcotics and recovery of World War II era remains.

In terms of sanctions, we will maintain existing sanctions until we see concrete progress towards reform. Lifting sanctions now would send the wrong signal. We will tell the Burmese that we will discuss easing sanctions only if they take actions on our core concerns. We will reserve the option to apply additional targeted sanctions, if warranted, by events inside Burma.

In terms of humanitarian assistance, we will continue our commitment to the Burmese people by expanding humanitarian assistance to the extent we are confident the assistance is reaching the people in need. Our experience in providing close to $75 million to Cyclone Nargis relief efforts has proven that we can effectively provide assistance directly to the Burmese people.

In terms of the approach to the upcoming 2010 elections in Burma, we will take a measured approach to the 2010 elections until we can assess the electoral conditions and know whether opposition and ethnic groups will be able to participate. We are skeptical that the elections will be either free or fair, but we will stress to the Burmese the conditions that we consider necessary for a credible electoral process.

In terms of cooperation with others in the international community, we understand that we cannot meet all of these goals alone. We will increase efforts to engage our partners in intergovernmental forum and the region to promote change inside Burma. We value very much the strong relationships we have had with the EU, with Australia, Canada, Japan, and the UN and others in working towards the common goal of a democratic transition in Burma. We seek to continue these partnerships and relationships, and indeed have consulted very closely with all of these countries and groups over the course of the last several months.

We will also intensify our engagement with ASEAN, China, and India to press the Burmese leadership to reform and to participate responsibly in the international community.

In terms of long-term efforts, we will initiate these efforts immediately, but we will also be realistic. We know the process may be long and difficult. We should be prepared to sustain our efforts beyond the planned 2010 elections. We will be working with our partners to encourage Burma to be more open and to promote new thinking and new ideas. It is important that the Burmese people gain greater exposure to broader ideas. It’s also important that Burmese leaders, including Burma’s next generation of leaders, realize that there is a more positive way ahead. These efforts may take time, but the United States is ready to commit to that long-term effort.

With that sort of broad overview, I’d be happy to take any specific questions. Thank you.

Yes. And if you wouldn’t mind, identify yourself just so I know.

QUESTION: Kim Ghattas from the BBC.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Hi, Kim.

QUESTION: Hi. Thank you for this. I have two questions. One, you said that for the first time in history, the Burmese regime has shown interest in engaging the U.S. I was wondering why you thought that was. Why are they interested at this point in engaging with the U.S.?

And the second question is – it’s still a little bit unclear to me what has changed in the policy beyond the fact that you will engage in direct dialogue with them. And so therefore, what is the interest of the Burmese authorities of responding to your requests for improved human rights, et cetera, if the only thing they’re getting out of it is a direct dialogue with you?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Well, let me first say that one of our first questions to our Burmese interlocutors is why indeed have you sought a dialogue with the United States at this time? I think as you know over the course of the last several years, there have occasionally been episodic contacts between the United States and Burmese authorities. And I think what we would like to do is start a process, a sustained process of interaction, where hopefully we can answer some of these questions going forward.

Ultimately, as we conducted this review, we recognized that ultimately, we need to change our methods but not our goals. And I think at this early stage, we think it’s important to suggest that we are prepared to sit down, but also recognize that nothing has changed yet on the ground or in terms of some of the activities that Burma has been involved with. And so I think this initial step is the right approach, and greater clarity can be gained, hopefully, through a process of dialogue over the course of the coming weeks.

Yes.

QUESTION: How do you – Jill Dougherty from CNN.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Hi, Jill.

QUESTION: How do you square this apparent approach that they have with the alleged cooperation with North Korea?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Well, first of all, I think that Burma has done a variety of things. We think they did play a positive role behind the scenes recently in terms of some steps associated with the implementation of 1874, UN Resolution 1874, and we have noted that in public. And so that willingness to play a more responsible role in the realm of international sanctions support vis-à-vis North Korea has been factored into our overall approach. The truth is that we’ve had so little dialogue with Burma over the course of the last several years that we’re still looking for a clear indication of the direction of its leadership in terms of what it seeks in terms of international engagement.
We’ve seen much more engagement of Burma, particularly at the level of economic engagement and other kind of interactions, both with China, with India, and other countries in Southeast Asia. It’s possible that they seek to diversify those contacts to include the United States, and we intend to explore that over the course of the next several weeks again.

Yes.

QUESTION: Andy Quinn from Reuters.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Hi, Andy?

QUESTION: It’s sort of a follow-up question. You talked about asking the Burmese to stop whatever prohibited contacts they may have had with the North Koreans. Are you willing to let us know what your assessment is of the current state of their contacts, where they’re making deals and what these sorts of deals might be?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: I don’t think I can go very much beyond what Secretary Clinton said at the ASEAN Regional Forum a few months ago in July, late July. She underscored at that time that there clearly were some areas of interaction on the military side, and perhaps even beyond that, between North Korea and Burma that raised concerns not just for the United States, but also for countries in the immediate region. And one of our goals over the course of this period of strategic review have been discussions with Thailand, with Indonesia, with the Philippines, with China. And I think there is a greater desire on the part of these regional partners for the United States to have a direct dialogue with Burma about aspects of their relationship with North Korea that we’re seeking to gain greater clarity into.

Yes. Hi.

QUESTION: A question on China.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Yeah.

QUESTION: What is your assessment of China’s willingness to go along with tougher sanctions against Iran on the nuclear question?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: It’s a good question. I think there was an important process last week. At the same time that the G-20 was meeting at the finance minister level, there was also some very important discussion taking place behind the scenes between U.S. and Chinese representatives. For the first time really, the Chinese supported elements of our tough approach on the P-5+1. I think they are asking the United States for deeper engagement on these issues, discussions around Iran. We’ve provided background and details. I think the Secretary said that we’ll take this after the first meeting on Thursday.

All I can say is that we view China’s engagement in the diplomacy surrounding Iran as increasingly central to a positive resolution.

QUESTION: When you say that they’re interested in deeper engagement, do you mean with the U.S. about what the U.S. wants, or with the Iranians?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Deeper engagement with the U.S., both on what we think we understand in terms of some of Iranian behaviors, also in terms of what American and other P-5+1 expectations are, and what positive role China can play in the peaceful resolution of this problem.
Yeah.

QUESTION: Ai Awaji from JiJi Press, Japan.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Yes, hi.

QUESTION: I have a question about North Korea.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: After the consultations in New York, it seems that you have a strong support from your partners in the Six-Party Talks about having direct talks with North Koreans. So are you ready to go ahead with the plan and send Ambassador Bosworth to Pyongyang? Could you tell us about the next step you’re taking?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Not yet. I think one of the lessons that the United States has learned in this process is a certain degree of patience pays off. We have had, I think as you underscore, very strong support from our partners in the Six-Party framework. China, Japan, South Korea, and Russia have all very clearly and strongly underscored the American approach as the right approach. And that is that we expect North Korea to abide by its commitments made as part of the Six-Party framework in both 2005 and 2007, and that if there were to be any bilateral interactions between the United States and North Korea, that they be designed towards moving back rapidly and very clearly to a Six-Party framework for formal interactions with our North Korean interlocutors.

And I think we’re in the process now of planning our next steps in terms of diplomacy in Northeast Asia. Deputy Secretary Steinberg is in Asia currently for further discussions with both China, South Korea, and Japan. And I think it’s also the case that some very senior Chinese interlocutors will be visiting North Korea in the coming days.
Our goal is to remain lockstep with our partners to ensure that we are working together so that there can be no picking off of one or other members of the Six-Party framework or that there will be any tension among us as we engage together with Pyongyang.

Yes. Others?

QUESTION: Just one more?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Yeah.

QUESTION: So are you waiting for specific actions or statement from North Koreans?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Not at this juncture. We are involved – there are several elements of diplomacy. Only some of it involve the United States. As I indicated, both Chinese interlocutors, South Korean interlocutors have been engaging North Korea, making very clear what our expectations are in terms of next steps.
Yes, in the back.

QUESTION: Gail from Singapore Straits Times.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Hi, how are you?

QUESTION: Very well, thank you. Do you expect – President Obama happened to announce that he is interested in holding a U.S.-ASEAN summit in Singapore, and Singapore confirmed overnight that it might be held on November 15th. I’d like to know what was the state of the mind in, you know, proposing the summit? What caused – has there been a rethinking on the issue? And finally, if Myanmar is expected to participate in the summit?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Yeah. Look, let me just say that, first of all, I can’t say anything further beyond what you’ve already indicated. But I will say that we have heard, over the course of the last several months, that it was a shame that the U.S.-ASEAN summit had to be cancelled in 2008.

And it was important to many of our ASEAN friends and leaders that that be rescheduled as a symbolic summit to signify the importance of the progress that ASEAN has made over the last several years, and also of the relationship with the United States. And we’ve tried to listen to those concerns carefully, and I think I’ll just – I’ll leave it at that. And in terms of Burma’s participation in those meetings, I think we’ll have more to say about that subsequently. Thanks.

QUESTION: Rob Reynolds from Al Jazeera English.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Hi.

QUESTION: Given China’s expanding economic ties with Iran, isn’t it considered quite unlikely that China would go along with the kind of stringent sanctions that the U.S. might want to impose if the talks are not successful?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: First of all, China has broad and diverse interests, like any great power. And it faces now a situation in which it has several powers on its border that face the potential of specific challenges – North Korea obviously, Pakistan, and now a series of challenges near its territory from Iran.

It’s very important for China that this issue be resolved peacefully, but also that it be resolved. I think Chinese leaders and interlocutors at the foreign ministry have been very clear that it is the strong view of China that Iran not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapons capability. And so obviously, they’ll have to face some difficult choices going forward, but in terms of their basic policy approach, I think we’re very comfortable with it.

Yes.
QUESTION: Oh, yes. My name is (inaudible) Shimbun.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Yes, hi.

QUESTION: My question is about direct talk with Myanmar. So could you give us a bit more detail about how do you proceed direct talks with Myanmar? So last week, briefers mentioned that Myanmar side will appoint interlocutor and the U.S. Government may appoint a counterpart. And could you give us your image about how do you proceed direct talks?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: I can give you some general background.

QUESTION: Where and when?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Yes, some general background. We are now working on the details of our first substantive interaction with Burmese authorities, and we expect that to take place around the edges of the UN General Assembly. I will be involved in those discussions. In addition, the legislation requires – and the Administration intends to abide by that, obviously – the appointment of a Burma coordinator. And we are in the process of working with the White House, both identifying the appropriate person and consultations with Congress about this important assignment.

QUESTION: I – so sorry, Kurt – Indira.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Hi, Indira.

QUESTION: Hi. So – sorry – if you would be the person, that means within the context of UNGA this week in New York? Is that going to be – I mean, Wednesday, we know you’re going to be testifying here on the Hill. So which day would that be?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Well, let me just say we’re working on the details of this. Obviously, we’re – it is the case that we’ve had so little of discussion – so little dialogue with Burma in the past that, actually, the process of actually setting up a meeting like this has – poses its own logistics challenges. And I think it would be fair to say that your parameters are roughly right – over the course of the next week.

Yes.

QUESTION: Paul Richard with OHI.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Hi, Paul.

QUESTION: Can you tell anything more about how this outreach from the Burmese came? And does the timing suggest that they may have been reacting in part to the enforcement of 1874? I mean, did that process make them a little nervous? Is that possibly a factor into this?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: I think it is often the case that in important decisions, that more than one factor comes to play. And I think there are probably a number of factors that are based on global dynamics, some regional dynamics, and probably some internal issues as well. And we, during the process of our consultations in the region, asked some of our interlocutors to have dialogue with senior leaders in Burma, and we received a very clear message, both indirectly and then subsequently directly, that there was a desire for a dialogue at this time.
I think it’s also the case that – let’s be clear that the President’s very clear statement about approaching countries with an open hand and beginning a dialogue with them, it’s a powerful tool in – at least in the initial phase of opening up contacts. What happens subsequently will be based on concrete steps that the Government of Burma is prepared to take.

Overall, we are as interested as you are in terms of what Burma expects and what their plans are in terms of domestic steps and regional behavior. So we’re keenly interested, we’re – we have an open door, and we’re prepared to sit down and have a responsible dialogue about the way forward.

QUESTION: Well, it sounds like the U.S., though, took – it was the U.S. that initially took the initiative here, talking to our interlocutors, who contacted them?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Actually, not. The first real step came from Burmese interlocutors, but there is often in Southeast Asia, because of the lack of our dialogue, a noise-to-signal problem, trying to figure out are these authoritative voices, are they really speaking for the central elements of the government. And through a process – a very rigorous process of trying to determine exactly who this message was coming from, and sort of numerous messages, I think we arrived at a conclusion that – very clearly that they were prepared to sit down with the United States. And now we subsequently believe that’s very much to be the case.
But I must underscore we’re at the earliest possible stages here, and we’ve stated very clearly through the process of this review that there are certain elements, foundations for our approach, that we think still apply given the conditions on the ground inside Burma.

MR. CROWLEY: Last question.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Indira.

QUESTION: Thanks, Kurt. Other than the discussions that happened at UNGA and G-20 that we’re aware of on the economic front, in particular with China, can you tell us – and P-5+1 – can you tell us what else came out of the very high-level – you know, the leaders contact between Obama and Hu, specific things that came up?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Yeah, thank you. First of all, the team that the president brought from China was one of the highest-level teams I’ve ever seen assembled. Key players from all the major ministries, the key players on climate change, on the economy, on various aspects of regional diplomacy.

We talked in great detail about the way ahead on North Korea. China underscored its commitment to the Six-Party framework and its very strong insistence that North Korea abide by its statements on denuclearization. We spoke extensively about climate change and the process leading to Copenhagen. I think there was a pretty frank back-and-forth exchange between the two sides. I think the President – our President, President Obama – asked for a little bit of greater clarity to some of the positions that the Chinese interlocutors had put forward at the UN last week.

As indicated earlier, I think the President made very clear to our Chinese friends of our desire for greater assistance when it came – when it comes to Iran and our concerns about some of the steps that we’ve seen in recent weeks, and I think overall a discussion about ensuring that U.S.-China relations remain on a very stable footing. Chinese friends were very much looking forward to the visit of President Obama early next month; we talked about some of the details associated with that.

It – what in my view was impressive, it was a warm meeting, but it was very workmanlike in the sense that we went through a range of issues in great detail. And, Indira, I think what’s interesting – it’s not just the meeting itself, but the amount of preparation that went into this was as deep and intense as any international meeting that I’ve been involved with, and I think it reflects the importance of Sino-American relations in the current period.

Thank you all very much, look forward to doing this again soon.

PRN: 2009/970


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America in the Eyes of Contemporary China

By: Vijay ‘Bidrohi’

Important Note: The purpose of the article is to indicate Chinese sadistic communist attitude, taking pleasure in American tragedy has even not changed in present phase and Obama administration should take suggestions of Republican Party seriously on the concerned broad question’s regularly published on GOPUSA as JFK was democrat and not republican. Present ‘world economic crisis’ is not mere recession but ‘economic cold war’. The open society nations need to check the existing gaps in their stock markets– Vijay ‘Bidrohi’.


In my earlier post entitled – “John F. Kennedy, J. L. Nehru, Bogyoke Aung San and Daw Suu Kyi: Four Personalities - One Soul (Part-I)” published on 15th February 2009, I mentioned the Chinese official vision of taking sadistic pleasure at the time of tragic death of one of the great leader’s of America- John F. Kennedy by writing ‘Kennedy Biting the Dust’ showing the dead President Kennedy lying in a pool of blood and his necktie marked with dollar sign’ in their official leading newspaper – ‘Daily Worker’. However, open society of the West gave positive tribute to their great leader Mao at his death. One may assume that, it was natural Chinese reaction as the world was clouded in the cold war rivalry. However, the fact is that, official Chinese sadistic perception towards America has even not changed in contemporary phase. On the tragic eventful day of September 11, 2009 (the painful American tragedy of September 11 is known to the world), Chinese official media ‘People’s Daily’ published an article entitled – “Bobby and Jackie: a modern American Greek Tragedy”. The article was published taking note from the book of C. David Heymann entitled – “Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story” written on the love affairs of Robert Kennedy (popularly known as Bobby) and Jacqueline Kennedy. The article attempted to highlight that, John F. Kennedy was intellectually inferior then Robert Kennedy and I quote – “Jackie and Bobby had a much closer intellectual liaison than Jackie and John”, unquote.


The article also attempted to prove that “these sorts of illicit love affairs often happen in American free society and “American power elite often play by different rules”, indicating Chinese communist society as an ‘ideal one’. The attempt to denigrate American values by Chinese communist is a regular phenomenon in Chinese official media or the media strictly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party without accepting the fact that ‘love’ can take place at any part of the world, if both the opposite sex agrees and even among rich or poor, Or even old and young and it doesn’t know any foolish communist political control?


Even, if the news of love affairs between Bobby and Jackie are correct then what is wrong in it after the death of JFK, having consent of both? At least, Bobby or Robert Kennedy was not keeping number of concubines like Chinese communist party officials? For example, the Chinese Communist Party’s “Central Discipline and Inspection Commission” themselves accepted on 4th of September 2009 reported by Li Hong for “People’s Daily”, that, “Ninety-five percent of the corrupt officials investigated and sent to law by the commission, at least one mistresses or concubines was embroiled in each case.” It further discloses and I quote, “In China, former Shanghai top leader Chen Lianyu was sent to prison for abusing the city’s pension fund and leading a “decadent lifestyle”, implying that he took multiple mistresses. A woman surnamed Li, who had relationships with the former Qingdao City Party secretary, former SinoPec Chairman and the country’s former finance minister, led to revelation of a colossal graft case…And, sometimes unpleasant wrangling with concubines may force an official to the edge. Duan Yihe, former Chairman of Jinan City’s people Congress, or local legislature, in Shandong Province, had his concubine and her car bombed into pieces, because he got the information that woman, stranded then, was going to tell his corruption at the local prosecutor’s office, unquote. (1)


In addition, a corrupt senior official in Shaanxi province had been brought down by his eleven mistresses, as per the state media ‘People’s Daily’ reports published on 7th September 2007. Moreover, keeping concubines by Chinese Communist Party officials caught in corruption are in increase with compared to year 2009 to 2007. (2)


Although interestingly, article-2 of the marriage law of the People’s Republic of China advocates for – “A marriage system based on the free choice of partners, on MONOGOMY and on equality between man and woman shall be applied. And, article-3 states that, “marriage upon arbitrary decision by any third party, mercenary marriage and any other acts of interference in the freedom of marriage shall be prohibited. The exaction of money or gifts in connection with marriage shall be prohibited. Bigamy shall be prohibited. Cohabitation of a married person with any third party shall be prohibited… etc. unquote. (3)

The culture of taking second wife popularly known as ‘bao ernai’ has remained uninterrupted in new communist China. Nine years ago, in the year 2000, China’s Deputy Director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress (NPC) standing committee – Mr. Hu Kangsheng accepted the fact that, “the practice of taking a mistress is soaring, posing a serious threat to China’s statutory rule of monogamy.” (4)

The purpose to highlight relationship between Bobby & Jacqueline Kennedy into illicit relations has objective of denigrating the personality of JFK, justifying their own regimented philosophy, despite prevalence of concubine culture by party officials in China. China’s official media didn’t miss any opportunity in putting salt & pepper in American wounds. Another instance is of recent article published on 5th of August 2009 in “People’s Daily” online entitled - “News Analysis: Race still matters in US” despite American people’s broadness to elect Mr. Obama as first African-American President.

Endnotes:

1. Li Hong, Women and Corrupted Officials, People’s Daily Online, Beijing, China, 4 September 2009.

2. Jonathan Watts reporting from Beijing, Concubine Culture brings trouble for China’s Bosses, The Guardian, UK, 8th of September 2007.

3. Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China, From the website of Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York, Accessed on 20 September 2009.

4. Unfaithful men…Infidelity Threatens Chinese Family Values, The Straits Times, 1 August 2000.

(Note: For the security of the website, web links has been not given as per reference rules, Burma Review)

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US & EU Should Engage with Burma

China is right in her regular viewpoint expressed in UN Security Council Meeting held on 11th of October 2007, 2nd May 2008, 22nd May 2009 and on 13th August 2009, that, “it is wrong to isolate and sanction Burma / Myanmar and its position in that regard remained unchanged.” It is for the people of Burma to understand that how Chinese Communist Party has betrayed them in crucial hours for peaceful democratic change? It also shows the true colour of double face of ‘Chinese communist philosophy’. Moreover, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s Gandhian philosophy of non-violence believes in ‘winning of hearts’ with love and compassion, and not with the politics of ‘permanent hate and boycott’. So the time has come to engage massively with Burma by EU and United States in all fields to end sufferings of devastated innocent citizens of Burma in cyclone Nargis. Although, it does not mean that, the struggle for the release of Daw Suu Kyi and other prisoners should be left out. The struggle for the release of Daw Suu Kyi and other political prisoners in Burma for national reconciliation as per the ASEAN & UN resolutions will remain unchanged. It is a welcome step by a divisional court in Burma to accept the freedom appeal of Daw Suu Kyi.

The reason for continuous vetoing of Burma resolution by China and Russia has different aim, which goes beyond strategic, economic and energy needs. Although, the naïve ruling General’s in Burma is considering them as saviour and friend and missing the opportunity to engage their own great leader like - Daw Suu Kyi to solve the problem of Burma’s democratization.

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A Story of an Angel, White Pigeons, Timmy Cat and Red Rat

By: Mr. Vijay ‘Bidrohi’

This is a story of ‘Red Rats’ of a walled kingdom of eastern civilization, an ‘Angel’, and ‘Timmy Cat’ of a far away land of liberty monument of western civilization. All of them live in a crisis ridden planet earth. However, in the ‘walled kingdom’, not only red rats live, but there are many ‘white pigeons’ who have become ‘red rats’ out of fear from ‘revolver wielding red rats’. Red rats were perturbed recently, when more than five thousand white pigeons assembled at ‘Honku Island’ on 31^st May remembering twentieth anniversary of ‘Tin-Min’ point sacrifice of students. White pigeons were chanting –‘freedom’…freedom…freedom! They declared to organize larger protest on the falling eventful day of 4^th of June! So red rats quickly flooded ‘Tin-Min’ Point on 4^th of June with arms wielding red rats to prevent repetition of event and blocked all white pigeons from reporting any news about the event. However, red rats officially believe in freedom of all animal kingdoms ‘putting cause of common rats first’, ‘making rats master of their fate’ and ‘transparency in news reporting’?

Red Rats advocate that, it is essential for the safety of fellow ‘poor rats’ getting harmed from their arch enemy naughty ‘Cats’ to keep ‘revolver’. They consider all the ‘Cats’ very naughty always engaged in stealing their grains and creating hindrance in making ‘an ideal planet earth’, where ‘tiger’, lion, monkeys, goats, squirrel, crow, dogs, hen, chimpanzee etc. could become red and should only eat ‘grains’. In the ‘ideal planet earth’ of ‘red rats’; monkey could marry a tiger, lion could marry a squirrel, and goat can marry a crow etc., wearing one pattern of cloth and could live in the same type of houses. However, leaders of Red Rats don’t live in ‘common houses’ as per the objective of their philosophy. But in ‘palaces’ of pigeon monarchs replaced in red revolution. Red rats strongly believes in red reading, red drinking, red eating, red sleeping and even at night they chant – give me red…give me red…give me red! They say it is scientific.

In ‘liberty land’, majority population comprises of white pigeons and minority black pigeons and not of ‘cats’. Their philosophy gives space from changing pigeon to become cats. So some cats also live in liberty land. They don’t consider cats as a threat because at any danger they can fly away from cat attacks. Cats can’t fly if any thing goes wrong. To run their liberty land, they have formed two groups – ‘Dommy Pigeon Group’ and ‘Roopy Pigeon Group’. In recent election, pigeons voted for ‘Dommy Pigeons’ to run ‘liberty land’ and they selected ‘a graceful black pigeon’ as their leader. After getting elected, the black pigeon leader started world tour of ‘green pigeon land’ and offers to debate about the issues rather than fighting. Roopy Pigeon group now in minority got alert by new ‘Dommy pigeons’ leader approach to the problem which might endanger the security of ‘liberty land’ and many among them started shouting – ‘he is not a black pigeon but a ‘red rat’ in a costume of black pigeon bent upon destroying our ‘liberty land’, beware of him…beware of him! Now-a-days, both groups are engaged in attacking each other giving little attention to their own history of unity and strength required in any crisis.

Most of pigeons of ‘Liberty land’ have fallen to a habit of eating ‘ice-creams’. It is presently in short supply in liberty land. Red Rats, the old enemy of ‘Liberty Land’ know the weakness and fondness of ice-cream of white pigeons, so they soon shifted in task of making huge tasty ‘ice-cream’ as earlier strategies have not quite worked out in changing the planet earth into red.

Recently, after a long hard work red rats have developed an ‘ice-cream’ worth 200 billion dollars. Red Rats are very happy as all Cats of the world are now running towards their walled kingdom to get the tasty bite of ‘ice-cream’ and offering them to open ‘ice-cream parlor’ in their kingdoms. Although for red rats as they say, they don’t like bitter taste of ‘ice-cream’ and prefers to live by eating ‘grains’ like poor brethren rats. As they strongly believe in ‘poor rats of the world unite’. However, at night, leaders of red rats used to taste ice-cream, which is not for all red rats.

Since ‘liberty land’ is facing crisis of ice-creams, so they have selected ‘Timmy Cat’ to manage the procurement of tasty ice-cream. Timmy Cat has long experience of ice-cream making and also has good links with walled kingdom. So he made a trip to walled kingdom to convince red rats to give their ice-cream for safe keeping in ‘liberty land’. Timmy cat assured leaders of red rats that their ice-cream is in safe hands and will not melt away. But red rats know the naughty behaviour of their arch enemy cats. So they organized a meeting of expert red rats to seek opinion on the issue and majority of them suggested it is not safe in the hands of cats. Although, Red Rats finally opined that, ‘Timmy Cat’ is there so we can be sure of the safety of our precious ice-cream. The pigeons of liberty land has forgotten that strength of their nation doesn’t lie in fatal ‘ice-creams’ eating. But realizing the inherent potentiality of their land as well as setting example from leadership to change the eating behaviour of white pigeons.

Moreover, the new leader of ‘Ganges land’ in turban seeing cozy behaviour of ‘liberty land’ with ‘walled kingdom’ also started saying – we also want multi-faceted cooperation with walled kingdom. Red Rats also announced walled kingdom has to learn many things from Ganges land, which they lovingly refer as ‘elephant kingdom’. Now both are diplomatic. This is also scientific. The ‘art of diplomacy’ is scientific experiments, which only leaders and ambassadors of modern world know.

Near to walled kingdom, in pagoda land; an Angel after a long stay at Liberty land, Ganges land returned to home to see her ailing mother and got involved accidently in making white pigeons free. White pigeons of pagoda land say that their place has suffered much due to the atrocities of ‘group of oxen’s ruling the country in the name of creating peace and development. Oxen’s say, they are also white pigeons, wrongly coined ‘Oxen’s’ by trouble making ‘red rats’. They saved the kingdom from the attacks of ‘red rats’ and red rats in uniform of white pigeon are using the ‘Angel’ to replace them. They also say that, this foolish naïve angel doesn’t know reality surrounded by red rats posing as a white pigeons and its danger to the pagoda land. Angel says, she knows too much about the history of pagoda land and knows everything and can manage confused red rats to return as non-violent white pigeons. But ‘oxen’s are not buying her theory and recently started trial of her on the pretext of unauthorized intrusion of white pigeon of liberty land.

The poor white pigeons of pagoda land are confused what to do in this awkward situation? Some time they make an appeal to liberty land for the freedom of Angel, sometime to Red Rats, sometime to the new leader of white pigeon in turban of Ganges land, some time to a powerful white bison that was earlier red. Internally, everyone including the majority of so called oxen’s wants to free the angel except Red Rats of walled kingdom and her powerful ally new white bison. The confused white pigeons of pagoda land have developed a fatal habit of fighting opposite forces with the tactics of ‘red rats’. So sometime they also clamour that this foolish ‘non-violent’ way would not result into any thing. They still don’t have the proper understanding of ‘non-violence’ philosophy except the Angel. In which, opposite forces - the so called oxen’s are not enemy but an institution to engage rather than permanent hate & boycotting. Oxen’s are also making mistake by not giving chance to the Angel by freeing her to make misguided white pigeons return into legal fold. The whole animal kingdom of planet earth is curiously watching the trial of Angel. Me too, a very weak and small squirrel suffered heavily from the attacks of some ugly bad ‘Cats’ from 'Ganges Land' also expecting her release!

(The End)

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