BURMA NGO LETTER TO POTUS CALLS FOR UNSC ACTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 005460

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2017
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV JA BM
SUBJECT: BURMA NGO LETTER TO POTUS CALLS FOR UNSC ACTION

REF: TOKYO 5021

Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer, reasons 1.4(b),(d).


1. (C) Four representatives of the Joint Action Committee of
the Burmese Community in Japan (JAC) met with Embassy
Political Minister Counselor on December 4 to express their
concerns over the situation in Burma. They also passed on a
letter addressed to President Bush praising U.S. efforts on
behalf of a democratic Burma and calling for a binding UN
Security Council Resolution, and another letter detailing the
situation faced by women inside Burma. (Copies of the
letters have been faxed and pouched to EAP/J.) The group's
leader, Dr. Min Nyo, pointed to the December 3 statement by
Burma's Minister of Information accusing the United States
and other countries of involvement in recent demonstrations
and rejecting outside advice on drafting a constitution as
evidence of the need for additional action.


2. (C) Outlining their plans to make similar calls on other
UNSC member missions, Dr. Min Nyo said that his group has
already been in contact with the British and French
Embassies, but is having difficulty making arrangements with
the Chinese Embassy, despite assistance from the Japan
Confederation of Labor Unions ("Rengo"). Dr. Nyo noted that
China occasionally receives delegations from the National
Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) out of Chiang Mai, so he
isn't certain why he is meeting with resistance from the
Chinese Embassy in Tokyo. His assessment is that China wants
to be seen as remaining neutral in the debate over Burma, but
he is not convinced that they will not veto any eventual UNSC
resolution.


3. (C) Dr. Nyo expressed appreciation for changes in Japan's
stance toward Burma's junta over the past year, but made
clear that much more needs to be done. He considers a Diet
resolution currently being circulated by the non-partisan
Parliamentarians League for the Democratization of Burma
(reftel) an important step. League executive board member
and opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) lawmaker
Yoshinori Suematsu told him recently that his party has
already approved the resolution and is awaiting action by the
ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Suematsu noted,
however, that domestic political restraints probably mean
that the resolution will not be introduced until the next
Diet session, which begins in January. Dr. Nyo described
passage of a Diet resolution as "beyond our dreams," adding
that he could not have imagined such a step even last year.


4. (C) A possible meeting between a delegation of high-level
monks and League executive board member and LDP Diet Affairs
Chair Tadamori Oshima in mid-December will be another
important milestone, he added. He is encouraged by the
renewed dynamism of the Diet League, which had seen its
numbers shrink from over 200 in the early 1990's to as few as
25 members at the end of the decade. Current membership
numbers close to 80 lawmakers, from both ruling and
opposition parties, he said.


5. (C) Despite the more favorable political climate, however,
conditions remain difficult for refugees from Burma seeking
to settle in Japan, Dr. Nyo reported. Of approximately
10,000 Burmese residents in Japan, he stated, only 1,000 have
refugee status. He attributed Japan's reluctance to accept
more Burmese refugees to fear that it could open the door to
more refugees from other countries as well. Failure to
acknowledge serious problems in Burma, at least until
recently, has made it relatively easy to reject asylum cases,
he lamented.
SCHIEFFER