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| International | |
| Japan Calls For | |
| 2003-07-04 | |
| Japan said on Friday it was deeply disappointed with Myanmar's response to the concerns it had raised over detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi otherwise known as Daw, (see Happy 4th of July comments) and that it had no choice but to maintain its freeze on fresh aid. Japan, a key aid donor, said last week it has frozen fresh assistance to impoverished Myanmar to protest against the military government's detention of Suu Kyi and was considering further punitive measures unless she was freed. Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi was quoted by a Foreign Ministry official as telling Khin Maung Win, a top aide to Myanmar junta leader Than Shwe, that Myanmar's explanation of Suu Kyi's situation was ``completely unacceptable.''... Kawaguchi repeated Japan's demand that Suu Kyi and other members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) be swiftly freed, along with allowing the opposition group — which won a landslide election victory in 1990 but has never been allowed to govern — to freely engage in political activities.... Khin Maung Win brought with him to Tokyo a letter from Than Shwe in reply to one from Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi last month, but the Foreign Ministry official said it appeared to shed no new light on Suu Kyi's situation. The trip is part of a diplomatic drive by Yangon to counter international criticism of its detention of Suu Kyi, 58, who has been held in an undisclosed location since May 30... Michel Ducreaux, the International Committee of the Red Cross representative in Myanmar, said on Thursday he had heard a rumor she had been moved to a ``more appropriate'' location from notorious Insein prison in Yangon, where Britain has said she was being held. He also said the Red Cross was optimistic that Myanmar's rulers would allow it to meet Suu Kyi. International outrage and concern about Suu Kyi's condition have risen as her detention continued, with the United States and the European Union threatening harsher sanctions. People across the globe are becoming less tolerant of repressive dictatorships. Appeasement going out of style? Tokyo has long taken a policy of engagement toward Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Analysts say this stems from feelings among older Japanese that Japan helped the country win independence from Britain after World War II. Japan stopped large-scale loans and economic assistance to Myanmar after the military government took power in 1988, but is still one of its biggest donors through small-scale humanitarian and other assistance. It has also provided debt relief worth 11.3 billion yen ($95.6 million) in the past five years. An Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was waiting for an answer from Myanmar to ``various options'' but that things had not yet reached the point of dispatching any ASEAN delegation to Yangon. Some fashions spread more slowly in some areas.
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| Posted by:Tokyo Taro |