US to Burmese: “We Won’t Forget You”
China and Russia teamed up on Friday to veto a US-sponsored resolution criticizing Burma’s human rights record. Now we know the Bush Administration’s sense of moral outrage, and willingness to proclaim it at all costs, has not yet been quashed. Even after it became clear the resolution would not pass, they decided to go ahead with it “on a matter of principle.” According to Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns,
“We don’t consider this a defeat,” Burns said. “We did the right thing. We stood up for universal human values.”
Rhetorically, the failed resolution makes the point about the US position on human rights in Burma (which, it should be pointed out, has already been made countless times, in countless other forums). But considering that this failed resolution actually accomplishes nothing, while managing to earn the wrath of China and Russia, one has to wonder whether it is actually an effective tactic for creating change and improving human rights in Burma.
The administration’s acting U.N. ambassador, Alejandro Wolff, said the US voted to assure the Burmese people that “we won’t forget you.” The persecuted Burmese surely are jumping for joy in their prison cells. Democracy is on its way!
China and Russia do not consider Burma much of a security threat, which is a powerful statement considering the fact that Burma borders China on the south. Here are comments from Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya:
“No country is perfect. Similar problems exist in other countries as well.”
Indeed. In addition to China and Russia, the other countries to oppose the resolution: Sudan, Zimbabwe, Belarus, and South Africa.
This is only the fifth time that China has cast its veto since it joined the United Nations in 1971. In the past, China has tended to abstain rather than vote against resolutions it did not support. The last time China and Russia cast a double veto was in 1972.
This is a very assertive move by China. How does this tie back to last week’s anti-satellite missile test? And are the Burmese merely a pawn in the game?
January 26, 2007 at 11:00 pm
[...] responsibility for global environmental problems and its backing of unsavory regimes in Sudan, Burma, and Zimbabwe as two reasons for serious concern. But it was last week’s anti-missile test [...]