[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 97 (Friday, June 27, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S8850]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 BURMA

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on June 11, 1995 my colleagues joined 
Senator Feinstein and myself in passing the Burma Freedom and Democracy 
Act. This legislation prohibits the importation of all products from 
Burma, freezes the assets of Burma's ruling thugs and their political 
arm, bans travel to the United States for the junta's political and 
military leadership, and provides assistance for democracy activists 
inside the country. At this time, our House colleagues are working to 
pass their version of this legislation and I urge them to do so 
quickly.
  Today we have news reports from Tokyo that the Japanese Foreign 
Ministry will be suspending new development assistance pending the 
release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. This is a positive first step, but 
this is not enough.
  I urge our Japanese allies to reflect upon the junta's continual 
efforts to smother democracy in Burma and review their overall 
engagement policy towards the junta. The junta put the final nail into 
the coffin of constructive engagement when it signaled its hostility to 
political dialogue and national reconciliation on May 30 by arresting 
Suu Kyi and murdering Burmese democrats. It is painfully clear now that 
the junta's support for engagement was nothing more than a farce used 
to bankroll its corrupt and vicious rule.
  Constructive engagement for Japan and Association of Southeast Asian 
Nations, ASEAN, has done nothing to improve the political, economic, or 
social situation in Burma. The ASEAN policy of noninterference will not 
stand. Burma's military government is a festering sore infecting the 
region with narcotics, HIV/AIDS, and instability. In fact, without 
question, Burma is worse off now than at any point in its history. The 
path now is clear: isolate the vile thugs who rule this country. We 
must encourage Burma's neighbors to use their considerable influence to 
make clear to the military regime that they, too, find the political 
situation intolerable; it must change.
  When the Prime Minister of Thailand visits the United States and his 
meetings with American officials are dominated by the issue of Burmese 
atrocities, it displaces Thai national security and economic issues 
from the discussion. When the Association of South East Asian Nations 
convened in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, this month and the discussions 
centered not on fighting HIV/AIDS or improving regional economic 
development but on the arrest of Suu Kyi and the murder of National 
League for Democracy political activists, it distracts ASEAN from other 
important issues.
  The regime in Burma is pulling down the region, and it is time that 
its neighbors owned up to their responsibility in fixing this problem 
once and for all. This is not a problem that can be pushed under the 
rug; ASEAN and Burma's neighbors must confront this problem. Until the 
region confronts the junta and demonstrates backbone in the face of 
corrupt despotism, they will find the United States a less willing 
negotiating partner.
  Clearly, the transfer of power 1990 elected government will provide 
peace, stability, and the opportunity for enhanced regional economic 
growth. It is this goal, not merely the release and continued 
harassment of Suu Kyi, that should drive the foreign policies of 
Burma's regional neighbors.
  I welcome the statements coming from Japan demanding Aung San Suu 
Kyi's release from the notorious Insein Prison--a jail Burmese 
political prisoners call ``The Hell of Asia.'' However, her release 
from prison alone will solve none of Burma's problems. There is much 
more that needs to be done here in Congress, and at the White House, by 
Japan, ASEAN, the European Union, and by Secretary General Kofi Annan 
and the United Nations Security Council to ensure that the thugs now 
ruling Burma are one day soon consigned to the ash heap of history.

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