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This is an archive article published on January 22, 2003

‘The West is too far from us, India is more understanding’

Foreign Minister of Myanmar U Win Aung is a key member of the pro-India faction led by the increasingly powerful Vice Senior-General Maung A...

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Foreign Minister of Myanmar U Win Aung is a key member of the pro-India faction led by the increasingly powerful Vice Senior-General Maung Aye within the Myanmarese ‘junta.’

Yangon is slowly emerging out of its international isolation — it is now a member of the ASEAN and has already allowed UN special envoy Ismail Razali nine times into the country for talks with the jailed Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

China remains an old and trusted friend, says Win Aung, having returned from China only a fortnight ago, but points out that India is an ‘‘understanding neighbour’’. Excerpts of an interview with Jyoti Malhotra

What brings you to India?

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Friendship. We are friends with all our neighbours and India, of course, India is a big neighbour and very important to our foreign policy. I bring with me the friendship, understanding and will to cooperate from our people.

Why is India important to Myanmar?

We are surrounded by Thailand, China, Bangladesh, Laos and India, of which India and China are the largest countries. We regard India not only as an important neighbour, but also as a country with which we are linked culturally and historically. We say that we are descendants of the Sakya clan, of Lord Buddha. So India is our motherland.

How do you regard your other big neighbour, China?

China is also very important for us because we share a 1,300-km long border and we also have close historical relations. Our history is made up of contacts between India and China and we were in the middle. So both nations are important to us.

Is Myanmar, then, a geostrategic prize between India and China?

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Sometimes its a prize, sometimes it is a reason for our suffering. Look at our history. When the British came to Myanmar and wanted to expand their trade to China, we were caught in the middle.

We had to fight three wars with the British and lost all three, after which we were annexed into the British Empire. Similarly, with the Japanese during World War II. So you can see that the reason for our suffering was proximity with the big powers.

Is there a contest between India and China today?

No, we are happy to say that after the end of the Cold War and our membership in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), we would not like to be an obstacle to India’s ‘‘look east’’ policy that also includes China.

Is India doing enough with Myanmar or can it do more?

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India is doing quite a bit, but there are many areas where India could do more. For example, India, Myanmar and Thailand have signed an agreement to build a road, that could happen.

It could also help build the deep sea port at Daiwe in southern Myanmar, so that Indian ships and Thailand ships can refuel here instead of waiting to cross the Malacca Straits

You spoke about Indian ships going to Myanmar on a goodwill visit? Have any Chinese ships come to Myanmar yet?

No, I don’t think so, I have not seen any Chinese ships coming to our ports.

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As an eastern neighbour, do you feel that India is far too obsessed with its western neighbour Pakistan?

No, I don’t think so. The Indian leadership is doing all it can for the security and safety of the nation. Every government wants the prosperity and safety of its people.

The Indian government is very happy with your assistance in arresting terrorists and insurgents who have crossed over the border in the Indian north-east into Myanmar. Why did you do that?

Not only India, we have helped many countries in this regard. We have many armed groups operating within our country as well, fighting the government for so many years.

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We have suffered as a result of that. So we won’t let any armed groups launch a rebellion from Myanmar into another country, or have a base in our country and cross the frontier to carry out raids, no we wont allow that. That’s our principled stance. We are strictly non-aligned, that means that we would like to observe our principles of non-interference.

Speaking of non-interference, how are things within Myanmar?

We faced a crisis soon after independence in 1948. The British wanted to give us back our country split into several parts, (so) they planted the seeds of mistrust in our people… we had to solve these problems. Chapter 10 of our constitution allowed secession after 10 years, but what would have happened to this land?

We knew that once the process of disintegration began it would not stop. The survival of our nation as Myanmar and as a union would be difficult. That’s why we are trying to solve our problems once and for all. Not to have a military coup again to save the nation from falling down. We realised that we had to expand our base and develop the whole country, including all the remote areas to create a sense of union spirit.

Is this union spirit incompatible with the spirit of democracy? I am not talking of western democracy, but Indian democracy…

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Maybe its the same. Democracy is a way of, and how to, live. ‘Democratic,’ its an adjective. Union spirit means not being blind to the spirit of the union. Only if people realise that we have to live together, then it’s possible…

In India, Opposition is strong, combative and critical of the government. Do you think something like this could happen in Myanmar?

(Laughs) Yes, that is Parliamentary democracy. It can happen, of course, in our country. Our roots and aims are in multi-party democracy. But I think that all political parties have a common aim, for the benefit of the people of the country. Not personal or party interest alone, but national interest should be in the forefront. In India you call it ‘‘combative democracy’’, but anyway, your parties don’t have armies fighting in Parliament! Criticism is a good thing, better than fighting!

How is Mr Razali doing?

Yes, he has been busy in our country, he has been here nine times. Yes, he’s doing his job fine. (Laughs)

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As a Foreign minister you have travelled all over the world. Do you think that the West interferes too much in your country?

(Laughs) The West doesn’t understand us. They understood only one thing. They thought that changing personalities alone would be the solution. They didn’t want us to share our views with them. They would like to push their own values on us, their own thinking. They don’t want to listen to our arguments. They don’t want to listen to our history and to our background.

Of course, there are people who understand, but those who don’t, I think they are like people pretending to sleep. The West is too far from us. I think our neighbours, like India, have a better understanding of us.

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