U.S., Indonesian leaders say China, India should do more to convince Myanmar on human rights

9/9/2007

SYDNEY, Australia : U.S. President George W. Bush and Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudyohono believe China and India should do more to help convince Myanmar to improve its dismal human rights, an official said Saturday.

Myanmar, also called Burma, has been the target of stinging criticism from Bush and Southeast Asian diplomats on the sidelines of this week's annual gathering of Pacific Rim leaders in Sydney, where the U.S. president called Myanmar's junta leaders' 'tyrannical behavior" inexcusable.

During a meeting with Yudyohono on Saturday, Bush raised his concern over the human rights condition in Myanmar. Yudyohono told him it may be important to enlist the help of China and India, which have important economic ties with Myanmar, in convincing the impoverished Southeast Asian nation to fulfill a long-unrealized promise to embrace democracy, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said.

Bush agreed, recognizing the influence the two Asian giants exert on Myanmar, Wirayuda said.

Wirayuda acknowledged that diplomatic efforts by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Indonesia and Myanmar, to prod Myanmar to rapidly democratize has failed so far.

"We are all frustrated," Wirayuda told reporters.

"All of us in ASEAN have in the past year admitted, recognized that the constructive engagement by ASEAN has not produced any tangible results. We admit that," he said. "But likewise, also, the West, they admitted that sanctions and pressure approach do not work."

Such criticism reflects how even fellow ASEAN members have tested the 10-member bloc's bedrock policy of noninterference in each other's domestic affairs to voice their frustration over Myanmar's intransigence.

Myanmar's spotty rights record again came up when Bush extended an invitation to ASEAN leaders over lunch Friday to visit his Texas ranch for a summit that was earlier postponed.

ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong said Bush may have chosen an informal venue - a barbecue cookout in his ranch - instead of Washington to be able to accommodate a representative from Myanmar, whose presence in the U.S. seat of power could spark criticism from American politicians.

ASEAN, however, would not agree to attend the meeting, which marks the 30th anniversary of U.S. dialogue partnership with the Southeast Asian bloc, without Myanmar. Although it has failed to produce results, engaging Myanmar diplomatically remains a workable approach, Ong said.

"I always think the more critical the U.S. is of the Myanmar position, the more you should bring the Myanmar guy to the summit and tell him straight to the face that you cannot go on like that,"' Ong told The Associated Press in an interview