Article

2003-10-08 Southeast Asia

Burma emerging as strategic ally of N. Korea, China

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Posted by Alaska Paul 2003-10-08 3:25:05 PM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I could see them being a transit point for another destination. We're getting close to the point of interdicting or blockading all proliferation shipments, and Burma does have a lot of coastline

Posted by Frank G 2003-10-8 3:37:19 PM|| 2003-10-8 3:37:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 *Gasp*

No Myanmar?? YES!

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2003-10-8 3:58:11 PM|| 2003-10-8 3:58:11 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 CHINA-BURMA-INDIA INTELLIGENCE

INTRO: INDIAN DEFENSE ANALYSTS SAY CHINA IS DEVELOPING A PRESENCE ON ISLANDS OFF BURMA FOR ACCESS TO THE INDIAN OCEAN AND WHAT WILL BE A VITAL TRADE ROUTE IN THE 21ST CENTURY. NEW DELHI CORRESPONDENT DOUGLAS BAKSHIAN TALKS WITH INDIAN DEFENSE EXPERTS ABOUT THE MATTER.

TEXT: EARLIER THIS MONTH, INDIAN DEFENSE MINISTER GEORGE FERNANDES SAID A MASSIVE ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE ESTABLISHMENT TO MONITOR INDIA HAS BEEN BUILT BY CHINA ON BURMA'S COCO ISLANDS. HE TOLD A PRIVATE INDIAN TELEVISION CHANNEL THERE ARE MOVES TO CONVERT THAT FACILITY INTO A MAJOR NAVAL BASE.

IN RESPONSE TO THE DEFENSE MINISTER'S STATEMENTS, CHINA DENIED INVOLVEMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES -- BUT IT DID NOT SPECIFICALLY NAME BURMA.

DESPITE THE CHINESE DENIAL, A SENIOR INDIAN DEFENSE ANALYST SAYS THERE IS SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE OF CHINESE ACTIVITY IN THE COCO ISLANDS. THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF NEW DELHI'S INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE STUDIES AND ANALYSIS, COMMODORE UDAY BHASKAR, SAYS CHINESE INVOLVEMENT HAS BEEN UNDERWAY FOR SOME TIME.

Posted by rg117 2003-10-8 3:59:40 PM|| 2003-10-8 3:59:40 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 I read some of rg117's CBI intel in another source that I can't recall. Frank stole my thunder, as it could be a transfer point to ME destinations. The Chicoms want to lay low and watch our WoT play out. They are playing all ends against the middle. The only thing about the NORKS is that the game that they and the Chicoms are playing could literally or figuratively blow up in everyone's faces. The Chicoms have the vision for the long haul. While the turbans work us down, the ChiComs have key positions on both ends of the Panama Canal and have been cozying up to Cuba with Fidel.

Summarizing, we have 3 fronts going:
1. ME with the WoT
2. Differences with the EU which saps the strength of the west
3. East Asia, with the NORKS, Chicoms, and their proxies.

Lots on our plate. Better think it all through. It does not help with pygmies on the left hammering on our knees, either.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2003-10-8 4:19:26 PM|| 2003-10-8 4:19:26 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Same story in Washington Times: North Korea tried to sell missile technology and related parts to Myanmar's military government, but the outcome is unknown, Kyodo news said Thursday.
Citing an unidentified U.S. government official, the agency said there was "grave concern" over the activation of military exchanges between the two countries that each maintain isolation from the rest of the world. The transaction is believed to have come about due to the matching of interests between Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, which wants to strengthen its military power without depending on so-called Western countries, and North Korea, which wants to explore new sources for acquiring foreign currency. The official did not disclose details such as the type of missile involved in the deal and said U.S. reconnaissance satellites have not picked up any indications the transaction has been completed. Washington suspects North Korea is exporting Scud missiles to Pakistan as well as to Syria and Iran, the report said.

Humm, Chinese getting North Korea to sell missiles to Burma, going to use them as the USSR used Cuba? Another front against India, in case they need one?

Posted by Steve 2003-10-8 4:25:04 PM|| 2003-10-8 4:25:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Hears some more good news I missed, from VOA:
U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Burma is fast becoming a threat to security and stability in southeast Asia. Mr. Lugar heavily criticized Burma's military government for putting the country on what he calls a "dangerous course." In a commentary published Sunday in The Washington Post, the Republican senator from the state of Indiana warned the threat posed by Burma is largely being overlooked by the Western powers.
Senator Lugar said Burma is building a nuclear reactor with help from Russia, and he cites reports that Rangoon is buying missiles from North Korea. He contends that India and China are using Burma as a pawn in their regional rivalry, and that the smaller country has been "cynically" using its position in southeast Asia to foster potential friction.

Posted by Steve 2003-10-8 4:29:33 PM|| 2003-10-8 4:29:33 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 More of Sen. Lugar's statement, WP:
China is the regime's major arms supplier and has assumed significant economic power over the country, recently extending debt relief and a $200 million loan to Burma, which has been cut off from most other external funding. China, reports indicate, has built a port and shipyard south of Rangoon to help export products from China's landlocked western provinces.

Ah, another path to the sea,er, Indian Ocean.

India, concerned about China's rising dominance, has stepped up its relations with Burma. Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met with the Burmese foreign minister earlier this year, the highest-level contact between the two countries in more than a decade, and India is also reportedly building a port on Burma's coast.
Improving ties with regional powers is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if they would push Burma toward more civilized behavior. But neither Beijing nor New Delhi has shown any such inclination. Instead the two huge neighbors are using Burma as a pawn in their rivalry, making it a potential source of friction, not a buffer. Japan is increasingly concerned about China's penetration of Burma, and it was to counter China's influence that the regional grouping of smaller countries, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), decided to admit Burma as a member several years ago. These countries see now that the junta was cynically using them to try to gain legitimacy. More troubling is the news that Burma, one of the poorest countries on earth, has contracted with Russia for a nuclear reactor. Both sides insist it is for medical research purposes, but even if that's true, it would add an unnecessary proliferation risk to a world where terrorists are on the prowl for nuclear material. Some 300 Burmese have been in Russia receiving training to operate the facility, and Burma has also bought 10 MiG-29 fighter jets from Russia. Most disturbing of all, Burma is renewing ties with North Korea that were cut off after North Korean agents in 1983 set off a bomb in Rangoon that killed 21 people, including four visiting South Korean cabinet members. Besides possibly reestablishing formal diplomatic relations, the two have held high-level discussions on military cooperation. The link-up of these two pariah states can only spell trouble. North Korea's main export is dangerous weapons technology, and there have been reports that Burma is getting missiles and other arms from Pyongyang.

Another thing Burma and North Korea have in common is the drug trade, maybe that's Kimme's White Slag connection.

Posted by Steve 2003-10-8 4:38:56 PM|| 2003-10-8 4:38:56 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 the ChiComs have key positions on both ends of the Panama Canal and have been cozying up to Cuba with Fidel.

I can believe that they're trying to get some intelligence facilities in the Western Hemisphere, but the truth is that the Chinese can't defend them from us - they're sitting ducks. Whatever they've got in the Americas are like the isolated islands that US forces took out one by one in the Western Pacific during WWII, except this time, we've got better sensors and smart bombs to take out their fortifications.

Burma is a different matter. I think this human rights kick is getting out of hand. We're severely underestimating the Chinese and letting human rights issues undermine our strategic position in Asia. Burma is sliding back into the Chinese orbit. This is after Burma slipped loose, as a component of British empire, from its role as a vassal state perennially under threat of Chinese invasion. Whatever we think about its government, Burma is in a strategic location that we cannot yield to the Chinese. But this is happening before our very eyes.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2003-10-8 5:06:23 PM|| 2003-10-8 5:06:23 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 But neither Beijing nor New Delhi has shown any such inclination. Instead the two huge neighbors are using Burma as a pawn in their rivalry, making it a potential source of friction, not a buffer.

The naivete of this statement is breathtaking. The Chinese are looking to reassume control over a former vassal state, possibly with a view to annexing the territory to China proper, and India is resisting. How complicated does it get? The Chinese are not looking at Burma as a buffer - to them, it's another stepping-stone to the recovery of Southeast Asian empire.

The Indians are trying to preserve Burma as a buffer, and this can occur only if Burma preserves its independence instead of being incorporated into China. If the Indians do not do business with the current Burmese regime, Burma's current leaders could end up handing the keys over to the Chinese government - making Burma another Chinese Autonomous Region.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2003-10-8 5:13:37 PM|| 2003-10-8 5:13:37 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 CIA operative with a laser sight, JDAM in the night, Myanmars gone without a fight, Burma is back again before first light.

Posted by Lame Jingoist poet 2003-10-8 5:20:22 PM|| 2003-10-8 5:20:22 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 CIA operative with a laser sight, JDAM in the night, Myanmars gone without a fight, Burma is back again before first light.

That's a good thought, but I suspect the Chinese have gotten so used to running things in Burma, they think Burma already belongs to them. I just hope our alienation of the Burmese regime doesn't end up biting us on the rear end, when that Chinese naval base gets up and going.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2003-10-8 6:00:52 PM|| 2003-10-8 6:00:52 PM|| Front Page Top

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