Download the Politics Daily Toolbar
Our new toolbar integrates the latest news and analysis into your Web browser and installs in seconds. Download it now!

Politics DailyPolitics Daily

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • COLUMNISTS
  • TOPICS
  • THE CAPITOLIST
  • WOMAN UP
  • DAILY FLOTUS
  • JUST IN
  • THE CRAM
  • CONTACT
  • Inside Politics Daily

    China: Leave Myanmar -- and Aung San Suu Kyi Trial -- Alone

    News this week that Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be kept under house arrest until at least after next year's elections set off swift international criticism. While the United States called for her release and the EU threatened new sanctions against the regime, China adopted a different line, telling the international community to stay out of it.

    In a statement to Reuters on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu cited Suu Kyi's case, saying, "As for the related domestic case, international society should fully respect Myanmar's judicial sovereignty."

    In the past, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has noted that sanctions against Myanmar don't seem to have accomplished much. And, without China on board, new sanctions are unlikely -- and even unlikelier to be effective if they were enacted. Complicating this turn of events is North Korea and growing unease over its cozy relationship with Myanmar.

    On her Asian tour in July, Clinton warned about the potential of a nuclear North Korea helping Myanmar build its own program. She is not the only one concerned. Just this week, India's navy seized a North Korean ship and searched it for nuclear material, trying to determine if it had been heading to Myanmar. No radioactive material was found on the ship.

    So far, China -- one of the few countries besides North Korea to remain friendly with Myanmar's government -- hasn't expressed similar concerns. But, China was part of the dissolved six-party denuclearization talks with North Korea, and Chinese officials have continued to say that they want to be part of discussions if they resume. If China, like the U.S and India, becomes concerned about what the relationship between Myanmar and North Korea could mean for nuclear proliferation, one side effect could be a policy shift on Myanmar's imprisonment of Suu Kyi.

    Get the new
    PD toolbar!



    Follow PoliticsDaily On Facebook and Twitter,
    and download the new Politics Daily toolbar!

    Ria Misra

    Ria Misra is a Washington-based science writer whose recent work has appeared on PBS, NPR and online for the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer... more

    Contact Ria Misra

    subscribe to: RSS email: Ria Misra

    Add your comments

    Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

    When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

    To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

    Avoid hate speech, foul language or a disrespectful tone in your comments. Unwanted comments will be deleted at the discretion of the moderator.

    • Happening Right Now

       

    Other News

     
    News Logo