Burma Action:

Letter to the Ambassador of China

(drafted by Bhikkhu Bodhi)

Month-day-2007

Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong
People's Republic of China
Chinese Embassy

2300 Connecticut Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20008

Dear Honorable Sir,

I am writing to you to express my dismay at the grave violation of human rights that has been taking place in Burma, and along with this, my disappointment in the stance that the Government of China has taken on this issue. For over forty years, the Burmese government has suppressed the aspirations of the Burmese people for democratic rule and for the essential freedoms of speech, press, and association that most other countries enjoy. To secure its hold on power, the military junta has arrested hundreds of people involved in the democracy movement, including the leaders of the National League for Democracy, which won the general elections held in 1990. The military commanders also drain the Burmese economy of the wealth that accrues to the country through the sale of its oil, natural gas, and timber to other nations, above all, to China. The profits from these sales are not used for national development or for the benefit of the Burmese people. Instead, they are mainly used to purchase weapons, which are used primarily to keep the population in check and prevent a popular uprising. A large percentage of the revenues is also deflected into the private bank accounts of the junta’s leaders, as is evident from the videos of the lavish wedding of Gen. Than Shwe’s daughter last year, which can be viewed on YouTube.

As a Buddhist follower myself, I have been utterly repelled by the ruthless way in which the Burmese military regime—sustained in power only because they control the army--has been treating Buddhist monks and nuns. In all Buddhist countries, monks and nuns are highly respected and treated with courtesy and veneration. Yet we saw that the soldiers shot openly and at random into the peaceful demonstrations led by the monks, and we read how monks have been dragged from their monasteries, stripped of their robes, and subjected to imprisonment and torture. It is quite likely that a large number of monks have been killed, even several hundred. It is difficult to find out the details because the Burmese government conducts its affairs under a cloak of extreme secrecy.

In any case, the key to transformation within Burma lies largely with China. On the stage of international affairs your country has consistently been the most prominent defendant of the military junta. If China had the will, it could apply strong pressure on the Burmese generals to enter into negotiations with the opposition for a return to popular democratic rule and for the establishment of the basic freedoms for which the Burmese people yearn. Yet China has not only refused this role, but it has persistently obstructed the efforts of other countries, at the UN and in other forums, to apply effective pressure on the Burmese government to abandon its reign of terror and its tyrannical domination of its own population. Every measure that might have amounted to more than a mild censure has failed, largely because China (along with India and Russia) has raised objections, threatened a veto, or watered down resolutions until they are almost toothless.

I write to you now to appeal to your government to alter your approach to this grave situation and to cooperate with the international community in its attempts to exert pressure for a change in Burma. The establishment of popular democratic government in Burma will in no way diminish the close cooperation between Burma and China; in fact, a change in Burma would likely bring more widespread economic prosperity to the Burmese people, resulting in a much more robust economy that would constitute a stronger market for the purchase of Chinese-made goods.

I sincerely hope that you will change your position. Such a change would win for China the admiration and respect of the international community rather than the disdain and blame which are now being leveled at your government by those sympathetic to the movement for peaceful transformation in Burma. It would also give China the opportunity to serve as a leader on the international stage rather than as a hindrance to progressive change.

I thank you for giving this letter consideration.

Sincerely yours,

[Your name and address]