Visit to N.Z. to make Burmese more aware

Press, 11 April 1984, Page 28

Visit to N.Z. to make Burmese more aware

NZPA staff correspondent Hong Kong The visit to New Zealand

this week by the Burmese Prime Minister, Maung Maung Kha and other officials is a good-will visit which should help make Burma more aware of what New Zealand has to offer, said diplomats in Bangkok. The visit of the first highlevel delegation from nonaligned socialist Burma in several years was prompted mostly by Burma’s interest in Australian mining and energy developments, officials said. But New Zealand’s trade commissioner in Bangkok, Mr Phil Klap, said the delegation’s New Zealand tour would make it easier for officials on future trips to Burma. “There will be a few more people aware of what we can do,” he said. Burma, according to diplomatic sources, is still firmly under the control of a former Army General, U Ne Win, the chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party. Burma won its independence from Britain in 1948, but faced rebellions launched by various nonBurmese tribes living on the borders, including the Karens, Shans, and Kachins,

prompting the establishment of a military Government in 1962.

The minority tribes have continued to pose problems for the Burmese Government, with intermittent clashes which flared up again this year. Burma incurred the displeasure of Thailand last month when its forces crossed the Thai border during big anti-rebel attacks against Karen forces which began in February and are continuing. Karen forces control the thriving smuggling traffic on the Thai-Burmese border, which is believed to be both a significant source of export earnings for the Thais and to provide an unofficially estimated 70 to 80 per cent of all consumer goods in Burma. Analysts say that any serious attempt to stop the black-market trade, which sees Burmese timber, jade, and precious stones cross into Thailand in return for textiles, medicines, plastic goods, and other consumer items would result in shortages of basic commodities with the risk of social and political unrest. General Ne Win, in a series of political shake-ups midway through 1983, ousted his former protege, a retired brigadier-general, Tin 00, and other senior Government members, for complicity in General Tin Oo’s alleged misappropriation of Government funds for personal use. Diplomatic sources said General Tin 00, who has been joint secretary of the Socialist Party and one of Burma’s most powerful men before his fall from grace, had tended to favour the opening up of Burma to the outside world.

The State, which under General Ne Win has adopted the “Burmese way to socialism,” went into virtual self-

imposed isolation after 1962 from which it began emerge only a decade ago. Burma, which maintains a policy of strict neutrality, withdrew from the nonaligned movement in 1979, saying members of that organisation were exploiting the movement for “their own grand designs.” The biggest foreign affairs event for Burma last year was the shock bombing in Rangoon which killed several members of the South Korean Cabinet who, with President Chun Doo Hwan, were beginning a State visit which was also to have included New Zealand. To the surprise of some observers, Rangoon, after a thorough investigation, not only backed the South Korean Government’s conclusion that North Korea was to blame, but took the drastic step of withdrawing diplomatic recognition of North Korea. Diplomatic sources said

there has been a definite “tilt” towards the West in recent years, although they indicated the downfall of General Tin Oo could retard progress in opening the country up. But a report from Rangoon last month said while Burma was still far from welcoming all forms of foreign investment, it was gradually accepting joint venture investment to boost its flagging economy and reducing its growing debt burden.

The Deputy Foreign Minister, U Tun Tin, in a speech last month, citing a trade deficit of SUS26O million this year, up from ?US2OO million in 1983, said he believed foreign capital was essential for Burma to acheive satisfactory growth.

New Zealand’s own trade with Burma is virtually nil, with only occasional sales of canned milk powder, according to trade officials.