Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07CHIANGMAI104
2007-06-08 08:44:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Chiang Mai
Cable title:
BURMA EXILES AND CHINESE OFFICIALS KEEP COMMUNICATION LINES
how-toVZCZCXRO9443 PP RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHGH RUEHHM RUEHVC DE RUEHCHI #0104 1590844 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 080844Z JUN 07 FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0496 INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0730 RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY 0006 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0021 RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0001 RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 0005 RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 0013 RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 0005 RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0014 RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA PRIORITY RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 0544
UNCLAS CHIANG MAI 000104
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL TH BM CH
SUBJECT: BURMA EXILES AND CHINESE OFFICIALS KEEP COMMUNICATION LINES
OPEN
REF: (05) CHIANG MAI 195
UNCLAS CHIANG MAI 000104
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL TH BM CH
SUBJECT: BURMA EXILES AND CHINESE OFFICIALS KEEP COMMUNICATION LINES
OPEN
REF: (05) CHIANG MAI 195
1. (SBU) Chinese officials maintain communication with Burma
exiles based in northern Thailand representing the National
League for Democracy - Liberated Area (NLD-LA) and the National
Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB),soliciting their views on
the situation inside Burma and offering advice.
2. (SBU) In a meeting with the Consul General June 7, NLD-LA
and NCUB Foreign Affairs Committee member Nyo Ohn Myint reported
having traveled to China 16 times since 2003 as well as talking
with Chinese visitors in Thailand (reftel). His trips are
usually to Kunming, with an occasional visit to Beijing. He
described the officials he meets as primarily researchers,
although one was from the Foreign Relations Office of the Prime
Minister. He knows them by partial names with no more specific
identification.
3. (SBU) During Nyo Myint's most recent trip to Kunming May
17-20, Chinese officials told him that China's policy "can't be
changed" for at least the next three years and asked him to
prepare a roundtable discussion later in the year in Singapore
or Hong Kong on policy issues. They advised that the NLD needs
to work more with the ethnic groups, at the same time commenting
that the regime's intention to disarm the ethnics is beneficial
for the NLD. They also accused the US of orchestrating the
recent UN Security Council resolution on Burma knowing that
China would veto it.
4. (SBU) According to Nyo Myint, the Chinese are concerned
about Burma's aging leaders, the student movement, and their own
survey research inside Burma that reportedly showed 87% of
respondents expressing a need for change in the political
system. Noting that Burmese delegations often go to China to
study the system there, Nyo Myint's contacts believe that the
Chinese model holds lessons for future political developments in
Burma. Regime visitors have shown particular interest in the
Yunnan experience with Muslims, Shans, Kachins and other
minority rights issues.
5. (U) Nyo Myint brought with him to the Consulate elected MP
and former prisoner Win Hlaing, described on the website of the
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) as
"the latest MP in exile, who escaped from Rangoon to Thailand in
February, 2007. He spent over 8 years in junta's notorious
prison from October 1990 to January 1999." Win Hlaing recently
returned from the May conference in Tokyo of the Japanese
Parliamentary Group Supporting Democratization in Myanmar and
the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC). He will
be part of NLD and NCUB international lobbying efforts, possibly
with a later posting to the Burma Campaign UK office in London.
6. (SBU) In Chiang Mai, NLD-LA has met with the newly arrived
Indian consul but has not yet succeeded in efforts to talk with
new Chinese Consul General Wu Hui Qing, whose husband is
Ambassador in Rangoon. Nyo Myint is pinning his hopes on
making contact with her at the US Consulate Fourth of July
reception.
7. (SBU) Nyo Myint reported similar efforts in Rangoon where 88
Generation Students leaders Min Ko Naing and Mya Aye went
knocking on the Russian and Chinese embassy doors. Shut out by
the Russians, the pair nevertheless talked with Burmese-speaking
officers at the Chinese embassy who used Burmese names and
accused them of being troublemakers.
CAMP
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL TH BM CH
SUBJECT: BURMA EXILES AND CHINESE OFFICIALS KEEP COMMUNICATION LINES
OPEN
REF: (05) CHIANG MAI 195
1. (SBU) Chinese officials maintain communication with Burma
exiles based in northern Thailand representing the National
League for Democracy - Liberated Area (NLD-LA) and the National
Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB),soliciting their views on
the situation inside Burma and offering advice.
2. (SBU) In a meeting with the Consul General June 7, NLD-LA
and NCUB Foreign Affairs Committee member Nyo Ohn Myint reported
having traveled to China 16 times since 2003 as well as talking
with Chinese visitors in Thailand (reftel). His trips are
usually to Kunming, with an occasional visit to Beijing. He
described the officials he meets as primarily researchers,
although one was from the Foreign Relations Office of the Prime
Minister. He knows them by partial names with no more specific
identification.
3. (SBU) During Nyo Myint's most recent trip to Kunming May
17-20, Chinese officials told him that China's policy "can't be
changed" for at least the next three years and asked him to
prepare a roundtable discussion later in the year in Singapore
or Hong Kong on policy issues. They advised that the NLD needs
to work more with the ethnic groups, at the same time commenting
that the regime's intention to disarm the ethnics is beneficial
for the NLD. They also accused the US of orchestrating the
recent UN Security Council resolution on Burma knowing that
China would veto it.
4. (SBU) According to Nyo Myint, the Chinese are concerned
about Burma's aging leaders, the student movement, and their own
survey research inside Burma that reportedly showed 87% of
respondents expressing a need for change in the political
system. Noting that Burmese delegations often go to China to
study the system there, Nyo Myint's contacts believe that the
Chinese model holds lessons for future political developments in
Burma. Regime visitors have shown particular interest in the
Yunnan experience with Muslims, Shans, Kachins and other
minority rights issues.
5. (U) Nyo Myint brought with him to the Consulate elected MP
and former prisoner Win Hlaing, described on the website of the
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) as
"the latest MP in exile, who escaped from Rangoon to Thailand in
February, 2007. He spent over 8 years in junta's notorious
prison from October 1990 to January 1999." Win Hlaing recently
returned from the May conference in Tokyo of the Japanese
Parliamentary Group Supporting Democratization in Myanmar and
the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC). He will
be part of NLD and NCUB international lobbying efforts, possibly
with a later posting to the Burma Campaign UK office in London.
6. (SBU) In Chiang Mai, NLD-LA has met with the newly arrived
Indian consul but has not yet succeeded in efforts to talk with
new Chinese Consul General Wu Hui Qing, whose husband is
Ambassador in Rangoon. Nyo Myint is pinning his hopes on
making contact with her at the US Consulate Fourth of July
reception.
7. (SBU) Nyo Myint reported similar efforts in Rangoon where 88
Generation Students leaders Min Ko Naing and Mya Aye went
knocking on the Russian and Chinese embassy doors. Shut out by
the Russians, the pair nevertheless talked with Burmese-speaking
officers at the Chinese embassy who used Burmese names and
accused them of being troublemakers.
CAMP