Import Restrictions Contained in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003

IMPORT RESTRICTIONS CONTAINED IN THE BURMESE FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY ACT OF 2003

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Mr. McCAIN. I again thank my friend and colleague from Kentucky for his commitment to democracy and freedom in Burma in general and his continuing advocacy on behalf of this Nobel Prize winner and truly great citizen of the world.

One of the issues I would like to discuss with the Senator from Kentucky is the fact that a few years ago, Burma was allowed into ASEAN on the premise that there would be some kind of progress made and by being part of this organization they would seek some kind of legitimacy.

Now, apparently, next year ASEAN is scheduled to meet in Burma. I wondered about the Senator's thoughts about that. Maybe we should give that some more attention as the time approaches.

Mr. McCONNELL. I thank my friend from Arizona for bringing it up.

Let me point out to my colleagues that the Senator from Arizona has actually had an opportunity to meet Aung San Suu Kyi. I heard him say before what an inspirational experience that was. I wish I had the opportunity to actually meet her at some point. As the Senator from Arizona pointed out, she basically has been under house arrest for some 15 years.

This outrageous regime in Burma is scheduled, as the Senator from Arizona pointed out, to host in Rangoon the ASEAN meeting in 2006. It will be an interesting test of whether the policies of the governments in ASEAN, which basically add up to constructive engagement, will be honored even through that, and everybody will go traipsing to a meeting in Rangoon.

I had an opportunity to have a few words with the Prime Minister of India. They, like ourselves, abhor the regime there and revere Suu Kyi but nevertheless pursue this policy of constructive engagement. Maybe the scheduled meeting in Rangoon will be a way to bring this whole issue to a head and move the governments in the area in the direction of some kind of policy other than constructive engagement. Obviously, this policy is not going to work. I share the Senator's view.

It is unacceptable for ASEAN to meet in Rangoon while this regime is in power and Suu Kyi is in jail.

Mr. McCAIN. I thank my friend for his continued sponsorship for and renewal of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act. I believe it has had an effect inside Burma. I do believe the people who are in prisons and mistreated, as well as San Suu Kyi herself, are aware of our efforts on their behalf.

I thank my friend from Kentucky for his continued efforts on behalf of these people. I believe we should continue to ask that one day they will achieve their freedom--not if, but when. I think the Senator's efforts and our passage of this legislation will help get them there. I look forward to exploring other options and ways we can put continued pressure on this bunch of thugs to at least allow this brave woman a chance to live some semblance of a normal life. She certainly deserves it.

Mr. McCONNELL. I make a further observation to my good friend from Arizona. The Prime Minister of India mentioned a meeting that Than Shwe, the head thug of the thug regime that controls Burma, apparently came to in New Delhi sometime within the last year. One of the arguments he made with reference to reform was that Burma was so ethnically diverse that it simply could not handle democracy. I am sure my friend from Arizona shares my view of the irony of that. What could be a more ethnically diverse country than India?

No one knows this, but India is the second-largest Muslim country in the world, whose President is a Muslim and has had a total democracy by Western standards these many years, going back to independence. India has done a superb job of absorbing all of these different minorities, many of whom do not speak the same language, into a genuine democracy for over 50 years.

India itself is a repudiation of the argument that the head thug was using against any kind of reform in Burma.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I know my friend from Kentucky and the Senator from California and all Members will renew our assurance to the people of Burma and their brave leader that we will not rest and we will not stop until they achieve freedom and democracy, which is a God-given right.

I thank my colleague from Kentucky.

Mr. McCONNELL. I thank, again, the Senator from Arizona for his continuous interest and outspoken involvement in this issue over the years. It has been fun to be in collaboration with him.

I will say a few words on Burma before the Senate votes, and at the end of my remarks I will ask for the yeas and nays on the measure to renew sanctions for another year on Burma.

These sanctions are absolutely necessary. If you do not want to take my word for it, here is what a Thai journalist wrote in a recent opinion piece in that country's newspaper called the Nation:

Whatever momentum was gained from the international calls to free Aung San Suu Kyi and to allow for democracy in Burma on the occasion of the opposition leader's recent 60th birthday must be sustained at all costs. The outpouring of support from presidents, prime ministers, intellectuals, Nobel laureates and activists demonstrated one simple truth--the Lady matters. Contrary to conventional wisdom, perpetuated by junta apologists and other vested interests in the past five years, that the long-suffering opposition leader of the National League for Democracy has been the main stumbling block of progress because of her attitude toward political processes and national reconciliation, Suu Kyi is in fact loved and respected by the Burmese and other people around the world.

He had it right. The Lady matters.

Under the paranoid misrule of Burmese hard-liner Than Shwe, the human rights and dignity of the Burmese people continue to be grossly abused. The litany of atrocities--from the use of rape as a weapon of war to the murder, torture and intimidation of political activists--are well-known and well-documented. It seems as though the only ones denying that a problem exists in Burma are the very miscreants responsible for creating and propagating that problem.

Second, with the SPDC scheduled to assume chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, next year, as Senator McCain and I were just discussing, the time has come for ASEAN to fish or cut bait.

Again, listen to what others from that region are saying, such as former deputy prime minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim who wrote last month in the Asian Wall Street Journal:

..... It is now evident that constructive engagement [by ASEAN with the SPDC] has not only failed to bring about democratization, but was never seriously intended to encourage any move in this direction. Instead, as far as ASEAN is concerned, the policy amounts to a subconscious manifestation of collective guilt.

I offer that the absence of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the recent security meeting in Laos portends America's involvement with ASEAN should the SPDC be at the helm. The difference might be that no American official attends ASEAN events in her stead.

In case ASEAN members have not noticed, President Bush is a stalwart supporter of freedom in Burma.

As is Secretary Rice. As is the U.S. Congress.

My colleagues may recall that 14 Nobel laureates wrote an open letter on the occasion of Suu Kyi's 60th birthday, which applauded ``those countries that have imposed sanctions to deny the regime the wealth it craves to sustain itself'' and reminded the world that ``Burma was admitted to ASEAN to lift its people up, not to drag the organization down.'' ASEAN members should feel similarly--how could they not?

Finally, the world must press for the immediate and unconditional release of Burmese democracy activists Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience.

Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy and Burma's ethnic minorities have an indisputable role to play in the peaceful reconciliation of that country's myriad problems. This role cannot, and will not, be fulfilled so long as these courageous individuals remain behind prison walls or in the gun sights of SPDC goons.

Earlier today we had an opportunity to hear India's Prime Minister address a joint meeting of Congress.

In my discussion with Senator McCain in the Senate, I just pointed out the Indian Government certainly does not approve of the regime. I questioned the policy of the constructive engagement of India. They are at least thinking about whether that is the appropriate policy in India for the future. It was interesting and noteworthy the Prime Minister of India happened to be here on the very same day we took this measure up.

I particularly thank Senator McCain, Senators Feinstein, Reid, Frist, and Leahy, to name but a few, who have been involved in this issue from the beginning. This is an important statement of principle for America. I urge my colleagues to support this measure overwhelmingly.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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