Burma

BURMA

    Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, on June 11, 1995 my colleagues joined Senator Feinstein and myself in passing the Burma Freedom and Democracy Act. This legislation prohibits the importation of all products from Burma, freezes the assets of Burma's ruling thugs and their political arm, bans travel to the United States for the junta's political and military leadership, and provides assistance for democracy activists inside the country. At this time, our House colleagues are working to pass their version of this legislation and I urge them to do so quickly.

    Today we have news reports from Tokyo that the Japanese Foreign Ministry will be suspending new development assistance pending the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. This is a positive first step, but this is not enough.

    I urge our Japanese allies to reflect upon the junta's continual efforts to smother democracy in Burma and review their overall engagement policy towards the junta. The junta put the final nail into the coffin of constructive engagement when it signaled its hostility to political dialogue and national reconciliation on May 30 by arresting Suu Kyi and murdering Burmese democrats. It is painfully clear now that the junta's support for engagement was nothing more than a farce used to bankroll its corrupt and vicious rule.

    Constructive engagement for Japan and Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, has done nothing to improve the political, economic, or social situation in Burma. The ASEAN policy of noninterference will not stand. Burma's military government is a festering sore infecting the region with narcotics, HIV/AIDS, and instability. In fact, without question, Burma is worse off now than at any point in its history. The path now is clear: isolate the vile thugs who rule this country. We must encourage Burma's neighbors to use their considerable influence to make clear to the military regime that they, too, find the political situation intolerable; it must change.

    When the Prime Minister of Thailand visits the United States and his meetings with American officials are dominated by the issue of Burmese atrocities, it displaces Thai national security and economic issues from the discussion. When the Association of South East Asian Nations convened in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, this month and the discussions centered not on fighting HIV/AIDS or improving regional economic development but on the arrest of Suu Kyi and the murder of National League for Democracy political activists, it distracts ASEAN from other important issues.

    The regime in Burma is pulling down the region, and it is time that its neighbors owned up to their responsibility in fixing this problem once and for all. This is not a problem that can be pushed under the rug; ASEAN and Burma's neighbors must confront this problem. Until the region confronts the junta and demonstrates backbone in the face of corrupt despotism, they will find the United States a less willing negotiating partner.

    Clearly, the transfer of power 1990 elected government will provide peace, stability, and the opportunity for enhanced regional economic growth. It is this goal, not merely the release and continued harassment of Suu Kyi, that should drive the foreign policies of Burma's regional neighbors.

    I welcome the statements coming from Japan demanding Aung San Suu Kyi's release from the notorious Insein Prison—a jail Burmese political prisoners call "The Hell of Asia." However, her release from prison alone will solve none of Burma's problems. There is much more that needs to be done here in Congress, and at the White House, by Japan, ASEAN, the European Union, and by Secretary General Kofi Annan and the United Nations Security Council to ensure that the thugs now ruling Burma are one day soon consigned to the ash heap of history.