Asean Must Speak with One Voice on Burma's Election

Reports of purchases of short-range ballistic missiles have been confirmed and there have been persistent reports of nuclear cooperation between the two nations.

Senior US State Department officials have publicly expressed concern about the shady relationship between Burma and North Korea.

So, where does Asean stand now? Unfortunately, not all in the bloc agree that it is important for Burma to move toward a genuine democracy rather than “disciplinary democracy.”

Not surprisingly, the governments that have been most silent on the need for a free and fair election—Laos, Cambodia, Brunei and Vietnam—are the ones that share the Burmese junta’s penchant for authoritarian rule.

Vietnam, currently chair of Asean, is particularly shaping up as a bulwark against pressure from within Asean and from the outside world.

The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry has said on its Web site that Hanoi supports Burma’s regional and international integration. As a member of the UN Security Council in 2008-09, Vietnam maintained that engagement with Naypyidaw should be based on a policy of non-interference in Burma’s domestic affairs.

In recent months, Burmese and Vietnamese leaders and senior officials have met repeatedly to strengthen bilateral and regional ties.

Last October, Gen Shwe Mann, the joint chief of staff of the Burmese armed forces, traveled to Hanoi to meet with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and sign an agreement on increasing military cooperation.

Two months later, Maung Myint, Burma’s minister for religious affairs, also visited Vietnam, where he signed the first bilateral agreement ever reached between Asean members on religious matters.

The visit was followed in January by a meeting between Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein and Vietnam’s deputy ministers of foreign affairs and defense in Naypyidaw. Then, later in the month, Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win attended a ministerial meeting of the Asean Political Security Community, which Vietnam hosted as the Asean chair for 2010.

In view of these developments, there can be no doubt that the Burmese regime leaders are counting on Vietnam.

There is nothing especially untoward in any of this, but as long as Asean remains divided along political lines, there is a very real danger of its less democratic members reinforcing the Burmese junta’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge the need for change.

Asean should tell the regime leaders unequivocally that the organization is in favor of a genuinely democratic election and that the bloc cannot be seen as defending the right of dictators to rule as they please.