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Thursday 4 December 2008

Business as usual with the Burmese generals

Elliot Wilson explains why international condemnation of Burma’s brutal military leaders is so ineffectual: because many other countries are eager to do deals with them

Take France, which parked a naval vessel off the Burmese coast throughout May, laden with aid destined for the battered Irrawaddy Delta. After repeated refusals to allow the boat to dock, the French government was left with no choice but to reroute its life-saving cargo to Thailand. Paris declared itself shocked at the Burmese military’s recalcitrance, saying that nothing could justify cyclone victims being ‘denied the basic right’ to aid. Yet the best way for the French to help Burmese people is to stop funding their rulers. In 2005, Burma Campaign UK noted that the Paris-based oil giant Total had for many years been the ‘largest European funder of the regime’, allowing the junta to pocket between £100 million and £225 million in tax revenues every year.

In late 2007, just months before Nargis tore through southern Burma, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner rejected allegations that Total was a de facto ally of the Rangoon regime, or that Total’s presence prevented the EU from imposing cohesive sanctions. French touchiness on the issue is palpable: spokesmen defend Total’s ethically untenable position by claiming that if Total abandoned Burma, it would simply be replaced by Chinese energy giants such as PetroChina and CNOOC, which would not bat an eyelid at sucking out Burma’s vast gas reserves to power China’s booming economy.

To its (relative) credit, China has at least been upfront about its support for Burma’s leaders — however amoral this stance may be. China does not have a conscience to be salved by offering aid at the front door while sucking valuable natural resources out the back. Beijing imports gems, precious metals and timber across its vast land border with Burma, and has long been an active supporter of the junta, propping it up with diplomatic aid — including the threat of a veto at the UN should sanctions ever be seriously considered — and financial support.

More articles from: Elliot Wilson | this section

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