Clinton's Myanmar trip 'won't hurt ties'

• Derek Mitchell: Press roundtable at US Embassy Beijing on 13 December 2011

"The biggest concern I think is the defining challenge, in essence, of Burma post-independence which is its national unity and national reconciliation. The ability of the country to find a resolution to the division between the ethnic minorities, ethnic nationalities and the center, and the Burman majority. They’ve been basically at civil war, or at least had these constant internal conflicts I should say, since its inception as an independent nation. I think that remains the biggest concern that we all must have about the stability of the country, the sustainability, of the stability of the country." - Derek Mitchell

• Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar meets Suu Kyi - Reuters
• China reaches out to Myanmar - Wall Street Journal
• Wen to skip Myanmar visit, Chinese envoy meets Suu Kyi - CNBC

• China's sway runs deep in Mandalay, Myanmar's ancient capital - Reuters
• Chinese Vice President vows to further ties with Myanmar - People's Daily
• China, Myanmar vow deeper ties - Agence France-Presse

• Myanmar Vice-President meets Chinese sports delegation - New Light of Myanmar
• China and Burma reaffirm strained ties - AFP/DVB
• Myanmar in the Middle: China embrace too strong for Maypyidaw - Bertil Lintner

Burma-China: Another dam puzzle (Part 1)

• People's Daily defends Myanmar investment - Reuters 7 October 2011
• Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo to visit Beijing - Reuters 8 October 2011
• Myanmar risks Chinese anger to woo West - Agence France-Presse 

Do the Myanmar-China pipelines put Myanmar at risk?
Institute of  Southeast Asia Studies, Yunnan - June 2011
Zhu Xianghui of ISEAS in Yunnan, which is affiliated to the School of International Studies of Yunnan University, offers "a new perspective on the power corridor". He tackles allegations of forced labour, concerns over land acquision, the military presence along the pipelines and the social responsibilities of the China National Petroleum Corporation. A firm riposte to activist allegations of human rights abuses in the area of the pipelines.

Forced labour and death flow along China's pipelines in Burma - Michael Sheridan

China's Janus-faced response to the Arab revolutions

• China has now laid down a ‘responsibility to protect’ its own citizens abroad. China’s international interests (it had an estimated 38,000 nationals in Libya, along with contracts worth $18.8 billion) mean it can no longer remain aloof from developments like the Arab revolutions.
• Beijing’s behaviour is increasingly influenced by relationships with other nations, for instance South-South cooperation. Its initial support for sanctions in Libya was influenced by the stance of Arab nations and the Arab League.
• Beijing’s domestic crackdown, including the arrest of artist Ai Weiwei, demonstrate the authorities’ concerns about increasing connections to the outside world and the internal development of a bustling public sphere with more than 400 million internet users and where microblogs are used to dodge censorship and expose official corruption.

1. The EU should engage with China on framing stability in a broader bandwidth and look at joint approaches to crisis management and good governance in third countries.
2. EU should develop a strategy for influencing China through others, as Arab and African reactions to Libya counted more than Western pressure. A discreet China component could be added to EU dialogues with other emerging countries.
3. The EU needs to remain vocal and consistent on Chinese human rights and internal reforms.

China (and Russia) were much concerned at the time of the failed Resolution on Myanmar with the absence of any discernible "threat to the peace ". In his 'Explanation of Vote' on 15 September 2006 opposing the inclusion of "The Situation in Myanmar" on the agenda of the Security Council, the Chinese representative Ambassador Wang Guanagya described such a supposed threat from Myanmar as "preposterous" ("Zhè xiǎn rán yǒu bèi cháng lǐ”) - Page 2 of the record of the 5526th Meeting.

Regional organisations like ASEAN likewise saw no "threat" from Myanmar in 2007 and even the draft Resolution itself did not purport to act under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, and could not therefore postulate any "sanctions" under Article 41. On the other hand, China has taken careful note since the Libyan crisis began of the Arab League's support for a No-Fly Zone and of the African Union's more general concerns. Before the vote China would also have been aware that the three African countries on the Council - Nigeria, South Africa and Gabon - would be supporting the Resolution. It was important therefore for China not to get out on a limb where the Arabs and Africans are concerned, as they have important continuing interests on the African continent. They were in any case in good "abstention" company with the other three "BRIC" countries - Brazil, Russia and India - and also with Germany, the largest country in Europe.

To preserve their position of principle, China referred in their two 'Explanations of Vote' on UNSCRs 1970 and 1973 at respectively the 6491st and 6498th Meetings of the Security Council to the "special situation" (6491st) and "special circumstances" (6498th), which is effective code that their abstention was not to be taken as a precedent.

Nonetheless, the three other Permanent Members of the Security Council (US, UK and France) will be pleased to have secured progress on an apparent de facto extension of the powers and responsibilities of the Council to discuss and take decisions on 'Responsibility to Protect' and human rights issues, which China and Russia have in the past strongly resisted. China remains attached however to the narrower, classical interpretation of Chapter VII.