US Wants India to Urge Burma to Change

Source :The Irrawaddy

US Wants India to Urge Burma to Change

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By LALIT K JHA

WASHINGTON — As Snr-Gen Than Shwe prepares for a five-day visit to India beginning on Sunday, the Obama administration is calling on New Delhi to tell the Burmese junta leader that it is time for Burma to change.

Speaking to reporters at his daily news briefing on Friday, US State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley said, however, that the administration is not worried about the relationship between Burma and India.

“Are we afraid that there's proliferation between India and Burma? Not at all. That is not something that concerns us,” Crowley said in response to a question.

“[India] has a relationship with Burma, and we would ... encourage India and other countries to send a clear message to Burma that it needs to change its course,” Crowley said, adding that other countries in the region and around the world share the same interest in regional stability.

“Others who have relationships with Burma share a responsibility to communicate directly and forcefully to Burma about its responsibilities, whether they are protecting the region against the risk of proliferation or telling Burma directly that it should more constructively engage its opposition and other ethnic groups within Burma,” Crowley said.

Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell also told reporters that the US is seeking New Delhi’s help to achieve its goal of democracy and protection of human rights in Burma.

“We have raised Burma in our conversations with Indian interlocutors. We've made very clear to Indian friends that we think India's very important role in the international community gives it a voice,” he said in response to a question.

“We've asked them to encourage interlocutors inside the country to embrace reform, to free political prisoners and to engage more responsibly with the international community,” said Campbell, who met with Indian officials in New Delhi earlier this year to discuss India's “Look East” policy, which includes Burma.

“Our conversations suggest that Indian friends have taken steps over a period of years and are beginning to play perhaps a more active role in this regard,” he said.

“They've also been very clear that they have strategic interests. We respect those, but we also want to work closely with not just India, but other countries in Southeast Asia, on encouraging this group of military leaders in Naypyidaw to take more responsible choices,” he said.

Campbell said that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would meet Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna in Vietnam next week on the sidelines of the annual Asean Regional Forum meeting, which includes the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) plus other key nations from around the region, including Japan, South Korea, China, Australia and New Zealand.

“During those sessions, we anticipate a very broad and diverse discussion about North Korea; about regional security issues in Southeast Asia; [and] about the importance of architecture, in terms of the American role in the evolving architecture of Asia,” he said.

“While in Vietnam, Secretary Clinton will hold a number of bilateral meetings. Those are being scheduled as we speak. There will be a bilateral meeting with Japan, with China, with India, and several others, including some key states in Southeast Asia as well,” Campbell said.