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Chinese influence in Burma increases: Webb
Irrawaddy - January 22, 2010
Lalit K. Jha, Washington – Chinese influence in Burma has grown steadily at a time when the US has cut off virtually all economic and diplomatic relations, said Sen. Webb, the chair of the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"Chinese arms sales and other military aid has exceeded $3 billion. Other public and private Chinese aid has been in the form of billions in interest-free loans, grants, concessional loans and debt relief. There have also been numerous low-interest loans," he said during a Senate hearing on Thursday.
"As only one example of China's enormous investment reach, within the next decade or sooner, Beijing is on track to exclusively transfer to its waiting refineries both in-coming oil and locally tapped natural gas via a 2,380-kilometer pipeline, a $30 billion deal. All the while, China has encouraged within Burma an intrinsic suspicion of US motives in the region."
Webb, who last year became the first US lawmaker in a decade to meet Burmese Snr-Gen Than Shwe and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, is viewed in Washington as an advocate of the US policy of engagement with the military junta.
During Suu Kyi's conversation with Webb one of topics was China's influence within the Burmese regime.
However, Suu Kyi told Webb that she rejected such terminology with regard to China, and she wanted Burma to be on good terms with all its neighboring countries as well as the international community at large, according to Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win.
"She said China is Burma's neighbor and wants to be a good friend of Burma. She said she did not see China as a fearful influence," Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy in August.
Webb said the Obama administration has been slow in engaging the military junta.
"While most recently Burma's military junta has confirmed its intent to hold an election this year and to allow opposition parties to form, we have been slow to engage the government," he said.
"I am not trying in any way to defend the actions of the military junta. We are trying to figure out a way to open up dialogue," the senator said.
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