Indo-Myanmar ties have taken a historical turn: U Win Aung

By Amit Baruah

YANGON, FEB. 16. The Myanmar Foreign Minister, U Win Aung, in an exclusive interview yesterday, provided an insight into Indo- Myanmar relations, Yangon's perception of Sino-Indian relations and its experience with ASEAN.

The Minister was very pleased with the visit of his Indian counterpart, Mr. Jaswant Singh, and spoke of other areas of cooperation between the two countries.

The following are excerpts from the interview:

The Hindu: How would you assess the visit of the Indian External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, to your country?

U Win Aung: The visit was very fruitful. I asked the Foreign Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, at the airport what he thought of the visit and he said it had been very fruitful. Since 1981, (when) the former Prime Minister, Mr. P. V. Narasimha Rao, who was Foreign Minister at the time, visited our country and 20 years apart, now we have another Foreign Minister visiting our country.

We felt it is the right moment and it is a historical turn in exchange of visits between our two countries and it materialised after the visit of our Vice-Chairman (of the ruling State Peace and Development Council), Gen. Maung Aye, to India. I think that this visit.... after his meeting with various Ministers and at my dinner and call and talks.... seven or eight Ministers together.... because I arranged that. His (Mr. Singh's) visit was very, very short. The meetings this (February 15) morning with our Chairman, Senior General Than Shwe, and also with Secretary- 1, Gen. Khin Nyunt, were very fruitful and, for us, it is a very encouraging sign that the relations between India and Myanmar are coming to a historical turn. It is a turn we have waited for.

We have the recent example of constructing the road from Tamu to Kalewa to Kalemyo. What are the other infrastructure projects that have been discussed during the visit of the External Affairs Minister?

We have agreed to the construction of a bridge in Rih, between Champai (in Mizoram) and Rih. There is a Rhi lake; it's a heart- shaped lake. People in the area used to cross the border and from that point onwards, we will construct some roads. We have also been undertaking feasibility studies from Mizoram to Sittwe (Akyab port) - what we call the Kaladan river project and Palewa. It will have the chance of providing Mizoram with a sea outlet and also another place we are talking is Kyaukpyu - that's a deep sea port.

There are also projects in the field of hydroelectricity, power projects. One in Tamanthi on the Chindwin River and another project we are discussing is at Yeywa, near Mandalay.... we covered a lot of areas (relating to) trade and national crime and also security-related matters as well cooperation in information technology and industrialisation projects of our country.

On the insurgency issue in the north-east which is of concern to India, there is cooperation between the security forces of the two countries. Do you think there can be any formal arrangement in this area or the current arrangement is sufficient?

The current arrangement is sufficient. There are mechanisms between the two armed forces and.... they have been cooperating and also that there are assurances that our border should become (free) of any insurgency problem. We will cooperate in this matter.

Your country straddles both South Asia and Southeast Asia. You are the link between South Asia and Southeast Asia and can enjoy the advantages of both. How do you look at this aspect?

Let us phrase it in this manner. Look at the map. Yes, you are correct that we are right in the middle of East and West Asia and North and South Asia. So, without us you cannot go around and it will not be possible to go around. We are in the middle and we are a link. So, BIMSTEC (grouping Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand and; Nepal having observer status) is one area in which we are very interested so that we can become a link.

There is a good link or bad link. What I mean is that our country which is the co-founder of the Non-Aligned Movement and also co- author of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence with China, India and Myanmar.... and a country which has consistently adhered to its principled stand of non-alignment.... without any deviation we have been strictly adhering to that position. That's why we have been isolated ourselves. And, we didn't want to play in the Cold War games, we don't want our land to be used by any powers to make any sort of hegemonic movements. That's why we have tried to isolate ourselves in the past.

Religiously, we are a Buddhist country. We, Buddhists, have no enemy. We don't regard anybody as a potential enemy.

We want to be peaceful, we want to solve whatever problems which might arise in a peaceful manner. That's the way of life and way of thinking we have. I think that's why we can play a big role in cementing from the East and West and North and South Asia.

On the issue of democracy, it is clear that your Government has its own perceptions. Recently, you have started some talks with the Opposition, how do you see that process?

We, in our country, have had a lot of problems since independence. These problems are not locally-made problems. These problems are created from outside by our old colonial masters... in 1948-49 after independence there was a committee in London... to support the fractious rebellions in our country. Since that time, we had been figthing among ourselves for most of the time.

We need to stop the fighting, create peace and stability, we need to create better understanding among our own people. And love each other. Not in a sort of you-are-this you-are-that; not accusing each other. We need to find solutions where our people of 135 national races could live together for ever. And, we are hoping for national reconciliation.

We had in the past 14 years of Parliamentary democracy which failed. And then socialist-type of economy... for 26 years. Let me very frankly say that that policy also failed to move our country forward. These successive Governments might have been able to solve some problems, but not the fundamental problems of national unity, economic development to all corners of the country and even social problems are there - education, health care....

You will be surprised, that in 1975, the road between Yangon and Mandalay was not safe to travel. At night no traffic at all, no trains. We have not come out if, we have graduated, we have matured from that position right now to a more secure and more peaceful atmosphere....

What we need to do is that all the political forces or political parties or all the people to unite, to have one aim and goal - that is a democratic nation. In the past, NLD (Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy) has been using a confrontational approach, denouncing every move of the Government.... this confrontational attitudes have now stopped and pressure techniques and things like that have been abandoned.... we hope for ever.

There is a perception that there is strategic competition between India and China. Many Western reporters have written about this. I would just like to get your view of this.

The world today is changing. From the bipolar world.... now the Eastern bloc has collapsed.... we have to frankly say that. The unipolar world is the main player. Now, the direction is towards (a) multipolar (world). In this process (along) with globalisation, every country has the responsibility for mankind to create better living conditions for its citizens.

For instance, India with more than one billion people has the responsibility to feed its people, to better clothe its people, to have better shelter and better living conditions... And (the) Chinese Government also, with 1.2 billion people, they have also to create and work hard for the better living conditions of their own people.

We, in our country, (need to do) the same thing. In this world, when our population of the world has crossed six billion, we should not emphasise only on the rivalry between the powers but we should try to have cooperation.

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