Thailand calls for action on Burma

(BangkokPost.com, Agencies)Cebu, Philippines

The failure of a US resolution condemning Burma at the United Nations means Southeast Asian neighbours will have to deal with the dispute, Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram said."I think we should perhaps redouble our efforts to see what we can do to help one another in terms of keeping this matter - give it a regional focus the way it should be - rather than to have it internationalised," he said.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, currently holding its annual summit on the central Philippines island of Cebu, declined to take a position on the US resolution. Indonesia abstained on the resolution, but both China and Russia used their vetoes.China was tight-lipped about Burma's crackdown on pro-democracy activists here at the Asean and East Asian summits. But Beijing was quick to direct criticism at Washington's resolution, which it said did not warrant Security Council attention.

"The situation in Myanmar does not constitute a threat to regional and international peace and security," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in Beijing, according to the official Xinhua news agency on Saturday. "If the Security Council passed a resolution on the (Burma) issue, that would have exceeded the duties of the Council laid out in the United Nations Charter." The US resolution urged Burma to release political prisoners, move toward democracy and stop attacks against minorities, many of whom are used for forced labour.

Earlier this week, Asean foreign ministers told member-state Burma it must make more progress on its "roadmap" for national reconciliation and democracy. But critics of Burma's hardline rule said the time had come for firmer action from international organisations. "I think the United Nations' human rights council has been examining this issue closely for over a decade, but there has never been any result. That's why we need the Security Council," Debbie Stothard of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma told the Reuters news agency.