Myanmar Protests

"It was sickeningly inevitable that the Burmese junta would send in armed troops to break up the demonstrations in [Yangon], beat the protesters and arrest some of the monks taking part," said The Times in London. "The secretive cabal ruling the country is facing the biggest challenge to its power since 1990, when it annulled an opposition election victory and suppressed the subsequent protests with considerable brutality. The generals saw that unless they stopped the momentum of national protest at their benighted rule, they would lose authority, control and power. Ceausescu and Milosevic are two recent examples of the pattern. ... Daylight is the greatest enemy of dictatorship. If this crisis is resolved peacefully, engaging Burma will be a crucial part of the country's rehabilitation. Burmese society is complicated, and exposure to the outside world may be the best way of loosening some of the constraints. The junta may be persuaded more by the prospect of Western investment than the threat of further isolation. Burma's friends must push hard for freedom for the Burmese people."

Other European papers were looking to China to play a frontline role in resolving the face-off between Myanmar's military regime and its opponents. "China especially can play a fundamental role, given that Beijing is the capital most friendly with Myanmar," pointed out Italy's Corriere della Sera. "It supplies weapons and receives gas, so it has the strongest geopolitical interest. China represents Myanmar's access to the Bay of Bengal. ... Beijing kept officially silent for several days, before cautiously calling Wednesday for a dialogue between the military and the opposition. Moreover, Beijing apparently tried until the last minute to avert an escalation of the crisis. It seems that China is getting nervous. A revolution on its borders is dangerous, and could have an inflammatory effect."

"Myanmar is still a highly isolated society, but now, with developments such as the Internet -- which draconian censorship is unable to brake -- the world has a more immediate and more precise idea of what is happening in the country," stressed de Volkskrant in the Netherlands. "As a result, the junta is less able to clamp down on the protests. Much depends on China's position. This mighty neighboring country is Myanmar's main trading partner and has strategic interests it is unwilling to gamble. But given its international plans and determination to let nothing overshadow the Olympic Games in Beijing, it is to be expected that China's leadership would rather avoid a tragedy in its backyard. It is little to go on, but all Myanmar can draw hope from.

Meanwhile, the conservative Spanish daily ABC considered the wider implications of the crisis in Myanmar for China's international status. "Myanmar is home to the oldest military dictatorship in the world," it observed. "With its staying power and anachronistic nature, it is comparable to the regimes in Cuba and North Korea. China, keen to become the dominant force in Asia, will play a key role in its further development. The government in Beijing now has a unique opportunity to show which way the wind is blowing in its country and what form of foreign policy the world can expect from it. Its response to the democratic movement in Myanmar will reveal China's true colors."

"The cards are on the table," wrote the Basler Zeitung in Switzerland. "The military regime has chosen to react to protesting monks and their supporters with violence, instead of making concessions to their calls for reform and dialogue. Stubborn and inflexible, the generals are reacting as they always do. But despite justified indignation towards the aggressions in Yangon and the shots fired at the peaceful demonstrators, it is important to remember that these events could have turned out worse. In 1988, protests claimed 3,000 lives. International pressure appears to be helping -- at least, so far. But events could take a turn for the worse."