Aung Kyaw Zaw hu khaw the
- From: saya_oo@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: 3 Aug 2005 22:43:36 -0700
Living Under the Eye of the Dragon
By Aung Zaw/Kunming
July 2005
Members of the Communist Party of Burma who have lived in southern
China since the party was fractured by a mutiny in 1989 have to be
careful not to talk about Beijing's warm relations with their former
enemies in Rangoon
China is watched with awe worldwide as its economy grows at an
alarming rate; and with its military might expanding apace, it is
already regarded by the US and the West as a superpower. This and the
fact that it is the Burmese military regime's closest ally concerns
not just western countries but also many Burmese at home and abroad.
Except for one group of Burmese, who both admire China's swift rise
and act as apologists for Beijing over its relations with Rangoon. They
are members of the Communist Party of Burma, long regarded previously
as a Chinese-supported threat to Rangoon; now, the less-than 500 CPB
members live in the southern Chinese city of Kunming, where they are no
longer a threat to anyone.
That's since the party was split by a mutiny by its main fighting
force-members of the Wa ethnic minority, who broke away and forged
their own peace deal with Rangoon in 1989 in exchange for a degree of
autonomy. While the Burman element of the CPB had to settle for a quiet
life in Kunming's Yunnan province and elsewhere in southern China,
with its leaders given housing and a stipend by Beijing, international
anti-narcotics agencies claim the peace deal allowed the Wa to step up
its drug production and trafficking unmolested.
One admirer of China's blossoming into a superpower is Hla Kyaw Zaw,
a senior member of the CPB, now living in Kunming. She commented on
China's breathtaking modernization, which is rapidly changing the
face of the city. She lives in the suburbs. "If I don't come into
the city for two months, I can hardly recognize it when I go back,"
she said. "China's peaceful rise is good for everyone." Like her,
other CPB members living here are also impressed by China's economic
growth.
But that's as far as it goes. When the subject of China's close
relations with Rangoon is raised, talk stops. Lips are sealed-perhaps
understandably, as these party members and their families are now
guests of the country which once supplied them, and gave political
support in the struggle against Rangoon. Even so, it seems CPB members
are still ideologically connected to China, toeing its communist party
line.
They no longer pose a threat to the generals in Rangoon, as Chinese
military trucks which once stopped at the border to deliver supplies to
the CPB now carry on to Rangoon. Beijing is also an important trading
partner, provider of soft loans and aid, and political supporter of the
regime.
Clearly, CPB members are in an awkward position. Unlike Burmese exiles
in Thailand, India and Japan, they are reluctant to raise their voices
over the cozy relationship. Chinese foreign ministry officials keep a
close eye on the Burmese communists. They politely ask them to lay low
and refrain from speaking out, according to some CPB members.
There was no criticism even after China and Russia at the end of June
blocked a US effort in the UN Security Council in New York to hold a
discussion on the continued detention of Burmese opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
Even Chan Htun, Burmese ambassador to China in the 1970s, now living
in Rangoon, was moved to say China was only acting in its own national
interest. "That will only prolong the military dictatorship," he
said.
It was a different response from CPB spokesman Aung Htet, based near
Yunnan's border with Burma. He told The Irrawaddy China and Russia
were protecting their own foreign policies. "Burma has to solve its
own problems, "he said. "It is better if powerful countries are not
involved."
When asked if the CPB was reluctant to criticize Beijing over its warm
relations with Rangoon, he appeared to lose his temper. He refused to
comment on China's policy. Aung Htet, who has to report to a local
police station every three months to renew his stay, said the CPB never
openly criticized the Communist Party of China. "We have
party-to-party relations," added.
Several CPB politburo and executive committee members live in Yunnan.
Other members do not say where they live, though it is unlikely they
are invited to Beijing and given red carpet treatment, as happened to
CPB leaders in the past. The remaining leaders are now in their 80s,
and former chairman Ba Thein Tin died several years ago.
One remaining leader is the respected Brig-Gen Kyaw Zaw, Hla Kyaw
Zaw's father. The former Burmese army officer was a colleague of
Burmese independence hero Gen Aung San, and was with him as one of the
Burmese "thirty comrades" given military training in Japan during
World War II. He joined the CPB in the 1970s. He occasionally gives
interviews to Burmese shortwave radio stations, but does not meet
visitors.
Taking advantage of its cozy relations with Beijing, the Rangoon junta
has asked China to return CPB leaders to Burma. But Beijing has so far
refused. "We are friends and we are treated well," Hla Kyaw Zaw
said.
Since 1998, the CPB has issued a series of statements criticizing the
regime and urging a dialogue between the main opposition National
League for Democracy and the junta. Party spokesman Aung Htet said that
senior CPB members and cadres use the Internet and cell phones to
communicate with each other to discuss party affairs and release
statements. But these statements have rarely touched on China's
policy towards Burma.
The irony is that while CPB remnants take pains to be nice to Beijing,
Chinese leaders might well have forgotten about their lost former
Burmese comrades.
Yet not all those connected with the CPB members are pleased with
China. Aung Kyaw Zaw, a former CPB member, and brother of Hla Kyaw Zaw,
has a completely different perspective to share. Before talking about
China, he was already fired up about his former party. "The way the
[CPB] leadership treated us was worse than the Burmese
governments-that's why we failed this revolution," he lamented.
Obviously, he and the party are no longer on good terms. From his tea
shop in the Yunnan-Burmese border town of Ruili, Aung Kyaw Zaw
continues to work for a democratic Burma. In June, he distributed
leaflets commemorating Suu Kyi's 60th birthday. Chinese police and
intelligence officers came to see him, and he was politely warned not
to be too outspoken about the Rangoon regime.
Aung Kyaw Zaw thinks China's Burma policy is based on trade and
economic issues. "China's national interest is just making
money," he said. "China is run by technocrats." He is blunt:
"They want to suck everything from Burma," he claimed. He said he
has often seen Chinese trucks bringing wood, logs, gems and other
valuable goods from Burma. He has also watched loaded Chinese military
trucks heading for Burma.
Aung Kyaw Zaw is outspoken on a range of issues. He agreed with a
theory that the former British colonial masters should be partly blamed
for Burma's civil war after father of independence Aung San was
assassinated in 1947. (His father, Kyaw Zaw, once accused British
officials of being involved in killing Aung San.)
But he also thinks the Chinese have been responsible for prolonging
Burma's internal conflicts by giving arms to the major players.
First, Beijing gave military aid to the CPB, and now to the military
regime. He believed that the junta has remained in power only because
of China's support.
"They [the Chinese] are supporting the people who are ruining the
country ... a lot of people in Burma hate the Chinese government,"
Aung Kyaw Zaw declared.
"Whoever supports the regime is my enemy."
.
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