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Nearly two weeks ago, Burma’s military government unleashed thugs to attack and detain democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters, as she traveled in the country’s north. The government also shut universities and closed offices of her National League for Democracy party, which won national elections overwhelmingly in 1990 but has been shut out of power ever since. Western diplomats who visited the scene reported evidence of a planned attack, including blood stains and weapons. An unknown number of people died. Even the regime acknowledges that Ms. Suu Kyi’s bodyguards were killed.
The consequences for Burma’s people are grave. The attack was perpetrated by members of the Union Solidarity Development Association, chaired by the regime’s top official, General Than Shwe. It ended a period during which Ms. Suu Kyi was freed from years of house arrest and given room to move about and talk to her supporters.
The ramifications of the attack on Ms. Suu Kyi and her supporters, however, extend far beyond Burma. The junta’s crackdown has brought into relief two related problems: the failure of Burma’s neighbors to marshal a response and China’s expansive diplomacy.
Burma’s neighbors, including democratic Thailand and India, have responded weakly to the crackdown in Burma, as did Japan. Next week, Secretary of State Powell is scheduled to visit Cambodia for a meeting of the region’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Senator McCain has called on Mr. Powell not to attend “unless the region’s leaders commit to dealing with the crisis in Burma first.” To its credit, America has launched a diplomatic spine-stiffening campaign throughout the region that has had some results.
It will not pay off in China, though. China’s ambassador to Rangoon calls the regime’s latest abuses “an internal political affair.” But Beijing is happy to be involved in Burma’s internal affairs in other ways. China supplies Rangoon with weapons and military equipment. President Jiang Zemin visited Burma in 2001, and General Than Shwe visited Beijing early this year, at which time he received more commitments in loans and debt relief. China has provided assistance in a variety of infrastructure projects, including communications, bridges, roads, and ports that will give Beijing access to the Indian Ocean via Burma’s Irawaddy River. Reportedly, China’s importance as a way station for heroin bound for America has grown recently.
China is also reinvigorating ties with Phnom Penh. Cambodia receives development aid, including roads, wells, power plants, and textbooks that extol the virtues of Mao. By way of thanks, Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, has drawn out and weakened U.N. efforts to establish a tribunal to try the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge, which China backed in the 1970s. He hopes to consolidate the hold on power he has carefully built through intimidation and violence since 1993, when he forced his way into a coalition government after failing to win the requisite majority in U.N.-supervised elections. In 1997, he staged a bloody coup against his coalition partner, called new elections, and presided over a campaign marked by murder, manipulation of the national election authority, and intimidation of the press. This year’s campaign is no different.
China’s expansive diplomacy, along with a massive military build-up, make support for democracy in Cambodia, Burma, and elsewhere in the region urgent. America recently imposed a visa ban on top Burmese officials and maintains various sanctions on both Cambodia and Burma. Regrettably, however, America does not have a comprehensive strategy to counter China’s by uniting the region’s democratic allies.
Such an initiative is long overdue. After all, China doesn’t cultivate only wretched friends. South Korea is a target of Beijing’s efforts, explaining, at least in part, why it has little influence in Pyongyang. Thailand is also a target of Beijing. Without an unmistakable commitment on the part of America to the survival and expansion of democracy in Asia, China will continue to win influence and friends.
A new strategy and a more coherent message are essential. At a recent meeting during the G-8 summit in Evian, France, President Bush did not press China’s president, Hu Jintao, on human rights and democracy. Most likely, Mr. Bush refrained from commenting on China’s lack of human rights and democracy in a bid to gain the Mr. Hu’s cooperation on North Korea. A less than vigorous commitment to defending Taiwan during the same meeting must also have been intended to please Beijing.
By watering down America’s commitment to human rights and democracy, the president is trading something for nothing. China’s influence in Pyongyang is overstated. Meanwhile, its influence in other countries is growing. America needs to provide an alternative soon.
Ms. Bork is a deputy director of the Project for the New American Century.
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