Burma Related News - Dec 31, 2009.
TIN KYI
BURMA RELATED NEWS - DECEMBER 31, 2009
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AFP - US renews hand to Myanmar
AFP - Myanmar to double cost of local telephone calls
The Daily Star - Editorial: Rohingya repatriation impasse
Sify News - Bangladesh reaches out to neighbours
Bernama - Myanmar Businessmen Speak Highly Of China-ASEAN FTA
Establishment
DONG-A ILBO - China to Expand Influence in SE Asia via FTA
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US renews hand to Myanmar
Wed Dec 30, 4:00 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Wednesday renewed its offer of
better ties with Myanmar if it makes progress on democracy as the
military-ruled nation prepares to mark independence from Britain next
week.
In a statement ahead of the 62nd anniversary on Monday, the US State
Department offered its "warmest wishes" to the people of Myanmar and
its "unwavering support" for the nation's independence.
"The United States stands ready to take steps to improve bilateral
relations based on reciprocal and meaningful efforts by the Burmese
government to fulfill the Burmese peoples' democratic aspirations," it
said, using Myanmar's former name of Burma.
"We support the peaceful efforts of people everywhere to exercise
freely their universal human rights, and we look forward to the day
when Burma's citizens will be able to do so. We hope that day will
come soon," it said.
Myanmar has detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi for most of the
past two decades and has long been a US pariah. The junta routinely
uses Independence Day to denounce "neo-colonialists" interfering in
its affairs.
But the United States has opened high-level dialogue with the junta,
part of President Barack Obama's policy of reaching out to US
adversaries.
The junta plans to hold elections next year which the opposition fears
will be a sham. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy swept
the last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
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Myanmar to double cost of local telephone calls
AFP - Thursday, December 31
YANGON — Military-ruled Myanmar is to more than double the cost of
local telephone calls in 2010, official sources said Thursday.
The price hike by the communications, posts and telegraphs ministry
will take effect from January 1, the sources said.
"The price will be increased to 50 kyats (five cents) per minute for
all local calls," a telecommunications department official told AFP.
Current charges for local calls are 15 kyats per minute from landlines
and 25 kyats per minute from mobile telephones.
Charges for overseas calls will not change, the officials said.
The increased charges have not yet been announced by Myanmar's
official media.
"If it's true, I will try not to use my mobile very often," said Soe
Soe, a 25-year-old housewife.
Myanmar authorities have said they are trying to improve
telecommunications across the impoverished country by extending
network areas.
The government allowed mobile phones to function in the remote jungle
capital Naypyidaw for the first time in early October, after
previously banning them for security reasons.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.
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Friday, January 1, 2010
The Daily Star - Editorial: Rohingya repatriation impasse
A sign of melting that needs to be vigorously pursued for results
THIS is a positive development on the long pending Rohingya
repatriation issue emerging from the fourth foreign secretary-level
talks between Bangladesh and Myanmar in Dhaka. We welcome this. With
Myanmar deputy foreign minister Maung Myint indicating his country's
willingness to take back 9,000 of the 28,000 registered Myanmar
refugees encamped in Cox's Bazar, at least some forward movement on
the repatriation issue is in sight.
To successive Bangladesh governments' chagrin, the question remained
consigned on to the Myanmar military rulers' back burner for the last
nearly two decades, thanks to their insensitivity and intransigence.
That way it is a breakthrough, a diplomatic success, but certainly one
that must be acclaimed with cautious optimism. For, a similar green
light was given by the Myanmar side for the same number of refugees to
be taken back in 2005, but that ended up being a disappointment: only
90 went back to Myanmar.
Moreover, return of refugees repatriated earlier on is an added
dimension to the problem, basically underlining the incongeniality of
atmosphere at that end. In a large part though, this was also due to
the relative ease with which they could put up in Bangladesh amidst
shared humanitarian concern of Bangladesh government and the UNHCR. It
is alleged that several of them may have melted away in adjoining
places in Bangladesh.
The upshot of all these has been the straining of local resources and
employment opportunities which a resource-strapped country like
Bangladesh with a huge unemployment problem can ill-afford. Besides,
the presence of undocumented refugees tends to breed social tension,
let alone risking anti-social and criminal activities of variegated
nature.
We believe that in the news of the Myanmar government sounding
somewhat positive on the issue lies a wider prospect of taking the
repatriation process forward through concerted efforts of government
of Bangladesh, that of Myanmar and the UNHCR which must be fully
realised now. It will bring Myanmar closer to Bangladesh, would be
good for productive bilateral relations between the two countries
while the humanitarian concerns are met.
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Sify News - Bangladesh reaches out to neighbours
2009-12-31 12:30:00
Ahead of summit level talks with India next month, Bangladesh has
sought to reach out to its neighbours by stressing on the importance
of a timetable to resolve its maritime issues with India and Myanmar
and on its relations with China.
Dhaka also indicated a visit by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to
Beijing next year, New Age newspaper reported Thursday.
Hasina told a Chinese minister, who said Beijing was 'eagerly
awaiting' her trip by the middle of 2010, that she would be visiting
'at a convenient date'.
Dhaka also wants to fast-forward a three-nation road that would
connect Dhaka to Kunmin in China via Myanmar to further trilateral
trade and communication, New Age newspaper said.
Receiving Myanmarese deputy minister for foreign affairs Maung Myint,
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni added: 'It is important for
Bangladesh to have access to the natural resource in the Bay of Bengal
for which delimitation of maritime boundary between the neighbouring
countries is essential.'
Dhaka and New Delhi have submitted their respective cases before a UN
body to determine the maritime boundaries and end occasional stand-
offs on the high seas where the three littoral nations explore for
hydrocarbons.
Moni asked Myanmar to take back at the earliest all its nationals -
the Rohingya refugees - who entered Bangladesh illegally.
The Daily Star said Yangon had agreed to take back 9,000 such people
who are supposed to have fled to the Arakan hills after being driven
out by the Myanmarese military.
Hasina and Moni separately received Chinese assistant minister for
foreign affairs Hu Zhengyue.
Hasina said Bangladesh attached importance to its relations with China
and emphasised increasing people-to-people and party-to-party contacts
between the two countries, apart from bilateral ties at government
level.
Hu Zhengyue was visiting Dhaka as China has taken a diplomatic move to
make other countries, including Bangladesh, understand its stance at
the recent Copenhagen climate summit.
He said strengthening relations and maintaining regular cooperation
among the defence forces in addition to holding regular exercises
would be helpful to increase skills of the security forces of the two
countries.
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December 31, 2009 11:30 AM
Myanmar Businessmen Speak Highly Of China-ASEAN FTA Establishment
YANGON, Dec 31 (Bernama) -- Myanmar business circle has spoken highly
of the establishment of China-ASEAN free trade area (FTA) as
scheduled, saying that the establishment helps push the development of
economic and trade cooperative ties between Myanmar and China, China's
Xinhua news agency reported Thursday.
Members from the business circle made the comments in an interview
with Xinhua ahead of the launching of the FTA on Jan 1, 2010.
Starting 2010, both the building of ASEAN Community and China- ASEAN
FTA will enter into a new stage. Therefore, Myanmar, like other new
members of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
will face a new and greater challenge and new development opportunity,
experts said.
U Khin Maung Lwin, a Myanmar expert studying FTA, said despite the
establishment of the China-ASEAN FTA in 2010, Myanmar enjoys a five-
year grace period like other ASEAN new members and is allowed to meet
the FTA demand until 2015, leaving a period of time and space for the
country to deal with.
Experts here said under the framework of the FTA, Myanmar possesses an
advantage of having rich natural resources such as land, water and
mineral resources, while its disadvantage is the lack of capital and
technical know-how and then a long period of exporting primary
products with less process and low added-value. The country has now
attached importance to such processed and value-added export, while
welcoming foreign investment in the aspect.
Chairman of Myanmar Chinese Chamber of Commerce Lai Songshen pointed
out that the establishment of China-ASEAN FTA has positive
significance over Myanmar's economic and trade development, saying
that Myanmar's integration into the regional development process could
enable faster and better development of its economy and trade.
"It naturally helps develop Myanmar and it also provides more
development opportunities for local businessmen," he believed.
MIDEA-brand products distributor Liang Xiao Chun, who has been doing
trading business in Myanmar for over four years, said their products
-- MIDEA are widely welcome in the country. Previously, Myanmar
consumers misunderstood that the quality of Chinese products are not
as good as that of other countries.
Over the past few years, consumers have come to know that there are
good products of China with reasonable prices, he said, believing that
following the establishment of China-ASEAN FTA, China will introduce
more and better products into Myanmar market and Myanmar people could
get cheaper and better products of Chinese brand. On the other hand,
more Myanmar products will go into China's market.
Liang went on to say that "as far as our businessmen are concerned,
the setting up of China-ASEAN FTA is a biggest blessing news for us.
We have been long waiting for the day to come. If successful in the
establishment, the tariff of our products will be sharply reduced even
down to zero. By then, our products and the flow of our commodities
will be expedited. We hope that the tariff will be reduced or exempted
or zero. Besides we also hope the custom clearance process will be
prompted."
Liang also briefed that many popular-brand Chinese products have
entered into Myanmar market, for instances, electronic-goods- related
MIDEA, TCL and Changhong, and communication-related Huawei, ZTE,
Hisense.
Another local Chinese businessmen Gao Jinchuan said "My family has
long been engaged in China-Myanmar border trade. If the China- ASEAN
FTA is launched, it would play a greater part in the Sino- Myanmar
border trade. The lowering of tariff would undoubtedly pushes the
trade development. As China and Myanmar are linked by mountains and
rivers, Myanmar could play its part as bridge link and speaking from
this point of significance, we see prospects of Sino-Myanmar economic
and trade ties."
Other experts also viewed that the successful holding of the 9th China-
Myanmar border trade fair in China's Jiegao, Ruili from Dec 2 to 6,
2009, clarified again that traders increasingly attach importance to
the platform of the border trade fair.
The border trade fair was participated by entrepreneurs and investors
from Myanmar, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and more
than 10 provinces, municipalities and cities of China such as
Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Fujian, Shenzheng, Shandong and
Chongqing, as well as Hong Kong Special Administrative Regions.
Vice governor of Yunnan Province Gu Caoxi said at the opening ceremony
of the border trade fair that the event won attention of entrepreneurs
and commerce circle at home and abroad and their active participation,
underlining that it contributes to emergence of the economic and
social benefit.
Gu also said when meeting with Myanmar Deputy Commerce Minister
Brigadier-General Aung Tun that the overall establishment of 2010
China-ASEAN FTA would provide new opportunities to the economic and
trade cooperation between Yunnan and Myanmar as well as between China
and Myanmar, holding that the two sides should take advantage of the
FTA to expand the economic and trade cooperation between China and
Myanmar.
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DONG-A ILBO - China to Expand Influence in SE Asia via FTA
DECEMBER 31, 2009 09:08
A free trade agreement between China and the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations or ASEAN to take effect tomorrow is expected to expand
Chinese influence in Southeast Asia.
Beijing will hold a massive event to celebrate the accord Jan. 7 in
Nanning, the capital of China’s Guangxi province. Scheduled to attend
are government delegations from China and 10 ASEAN member countries as
well as CEOs from the world’s top 500 companies.
The agreement will boost economic cooperation between the two regions
and lay the groundwork for China to expand its influence in Southeast
Asia.
Of the 10 ASEAN member countries, the agreement will take effect first
in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and
Singapore. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam will implement the deal
from 2015.
The agreement will eliminate tariffs on 7,000 products that account
for 90 percent of products traded between China and ASEAN. Chinese
media reports said bilateral trade has grown 24.2 percent on average
every year from 78.2 billion dollars in 2003 to 231.1 billion dollars
last year. The agreement is expected to further raise trade between
the two regions. The Chinese Commerce Ministry said, “The
implementation of the free trade agreement signals real and
comprehensive cooperation between the two regions.”
China and ASEAN have a combined population of 1.9 billion and generate
six trillion dollars in GDP. Bilateral trade volume is 4.5 trillion
dollars a year.
Beijing has sought a foothold in the ASEAN market over the past six
years by providing member countries with a venue to promote their
products through the China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning.
In December last year, Guangxi and Yunnan provinces agreed with ASEAN
to make payments in yuan. Early this year, China also set up a
currency swap agreement with Malaysia worth 80 billion yuan and
another with Indonesia worth 100 billion yuan to weather the global
financial crisis.
Separately, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visited Myanmar Dec. 21
to seal a deal on building an oil pipeline 771 kilometers long running
from Yunnan through Myanmar to the Indian Ocean. This deal is
important from a strategic perspective as well as an economic
perspective, according to experts. Establishing a route to transport
Mideast oil without crossing the Strait of Malacca, an area which is
influenced by the U.S. Navy, is China’s long-cherished wish.
Experts say China’s growing influence in ASEAN, which has long been
Japan’s turf even before World War II, will weaken Japan’s clout in
the region and lead to fierce competition between Asia’s top two
economies.
An example of China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia is
Cambodia’s recent repatriation of 20 people from the northwestern
Chinese city of Urumqi. They had sought asylum in the Southeast Asian
country in the wake of unrest that occurred in the city July 5.
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