The Irrawaddy - Burma Seeks to Join ‘Axis of Evil’

The Irrawaddy - Burma Seeks to Join ‘Axis of Evil’
By HTET AUNG, Thursday, June 25, 2009

A 2008 document leaked from Burma’s Foreign Ministry indicates that the junta has attempted to create an offensive in its diplomatic battle with the United States and its allies by forming an alliance with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The leaked document was obtained recently by The Irrawaddy. It is written in Burmese and is categorized as “secret.” It was submitted to the cabinet on August 12, 2008, and outlines the details of Foreign Minister Nyan Win’s talks during the 15th Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) held in Tehran, the capital of Iran, on July 27-30, 2008.

According to the document, Nyan Win visited the Iranian Foreign Ministry to meet Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on the sidelines of the conference, where he requested that Iran support Burma in its fight against the Western powers.

“In the Asean Regional Forum held last week, the US and its allies criticized us,” Nyan Win reportedly told Mottaki. “The US, Britain, France and their Western allies always try to sabotage our country.

“The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) discussed the Burma issue on July 24 [2008], but we are lucky because our friend Vietnam is chairperson of the council [for that month] and we requested Vietnam’s foreign minister to stand on our side,” explained Nyan Win. “Vietnam did as requested and now I would like to request you to stand on our side as Asean always does.”

The Burmese Foreign Ministry delegation was accompanied by Ambassador Kyi Thein and his First Secretary Aung Kyaw Moe who are heads of the Burmese Embassy to India as well as its mission to Iran.

In exchange for Iran’s diplomatic support for Burma, Nyan Win reportedly offered Iran its official support in Iran’s ongoing dispute with the UNSC regarding the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.

“We therefore support the view that every state has the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in accordance with the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and under the strict supervision of the IAEA’s (International Atomic Energy Agency’s) safeguards,” said Nyan Win in his policy statement to the conference on July 29, 2008.

On the same day, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for developing nations to unite in the fight against the bias of the UNSC, which “only serves the big powers’ interests,” reported Burmese state-run The New Light of Myanmar on July 30.

The NAM document was leaked at a time when the Burmese junta’s nuclear ambitions have reemerged in the news headlines in association with its rapidly growing military relationship with North Korea.

A recent report by Swedish journalist Bertil Lintner on Yale Global online detailed the junta’s massive military project in secretly building a network of underground tunnels with the help of North Korean technicians. However, the report did not identify whether these tunnel projects were related to the Burmese generals’ nuclear ambitions.

The Irrawaddy also uncovered an extensive report on Gen Thura Shwe Man, the junta’s third most powerful man and chief of staff of the army, navy and air force, who signed an agreement with his North Korean counterpart to formalize military cooperation between Burma and North Korea.

Burma’s move toward a relationship with North Korea and Iran would appear to underline a statement by former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2005 when she classified Burma, Iran and North Korea as being among countries that are “outposts of tyranny.”

“To be sure, in our world, there remain outposts of tyranny, and America stands with oppressed people on every continent, in Cuba, and Burma, and North Korea, and Iran, and Belarus, and Zimbabwe,” said Rice in the US Senate session which questioned her foreign policy just before her official appointment as Secretary of the State in January 2005.

According to the leaked document, another step by Nyan Win on the sidelines of the 2008 NAM conference was his search for support from Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan at a time when Turkey was preparing to compete with Ireland and Austria for the two non-permanent seats at the UNSC for the 2009–10 term.

Ali Babacan reportedly requested Nyan Win to vote for Turkey at the meeting. The Burmese foreign minister reportedly responded by requesting that the Turkish minister stand on Burma’s side if the UNSC raised the Burma issue in exchange for Burma’s vote for Turkey’s seat at the UNSC.

The two ministers apparently reached an agreement after Nyan Win promised the Turkish minister that he would instruct Burmese representatives at the UN in New York to vote for Turkey, according to the document. Turkey is now one of the UNSC’s non-permanent members.

Step by step, the Burmese regime appears to be bracing itself against external threats. The network of underground tunnels at Naypyidaw is proof of this.

However, in its attempts to lure Iran and North Korea into a pact, Burma is creating instability in the region and setting off alarm bells all over the world.

The author is an independent researcher in International Development Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.