The Road to Burma May Run Through China

Last month, the junta again hobbled Aung San Suu Kyi, the overwhelming victor in those elections, which led world leaders to protest against the junta. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright condemned the authorities of Burma (Myanmar) for their treatment of Suu Kyi. So did the European Union. Even Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore, long friendly with the junta, muttered quietly. Not a word was uttered, however, by China - Burma's largest and most powerful neighbor, and the only outside party capable of influencing the behavior of the so-called State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) - the junta.

China holds most of the keys to a resolution of the Burmese crisis. It supplies the Burmese military with most of its modern weapons, though smaller quantities of arms arrive from Singapore. It is Burma's major trading partner, taking and transshipping large quantities of Burma's illicit opium and heroin exports, and supplying consumer goods in return. In 1998, Burma also exported to India, Singapore, and Thailand, and imported from Singapore, Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia, but the products listed did not include narcotics and weapons, which dwarf all other commodities.

The SPDC is one of the most oppressive regimes in the modern world. In an earlier guise, it kept Burma isolated from the world from 1962 to 1988. Then students and Buddhist monks led demonstrations against the junta, which Suu Kyi was asked to lead. Their actions were repressed, and Suu Kyi placed under house arrest. Yet the junta also permitted a national election in 1990, while Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders were detained.

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