China and India urged to press Myanmar

US President George W. Bush and his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued the call after talks on the sidelines of an Asia Pacific summit in Sydney, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said.

Wirajuda however conceded that international pressure had so far failed to produce a change in the behaviour of Myanmar’s military regime.

US Deputy National Security Adviser Jim Jeffrey confirmed Bush had raised Myanmar with Yudhoyono, saying he had done so with many of the 21 leaders attending the Asia Pacific Economic forum summit. “I wouldn’t want to single out any single country, but we would be delighted if both of those countries would do more. Everybody needs to do more,” he said.

“I wouldn’t want to single out specific actions. We want everybody to take the Burma situation seriously,” he added, using the name by which Myanmar is still commonly known. Bush was calling on all countries attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit “to deal with this pressing human rights problem,” Jeffrey told reporters.

But Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao ruled out the possibility of Beijing wading into the internal affairs of another country. “We have repeatedly stated China’s position, which is not to interfere in other nations’ internal affairs. It’s a very important principle,” he told reporters.

“China has never advocated the use of pressure to handle relevant issues. Facts also prove that such a principle has produced good results in the past. So we still believe this issue should be solved through a dialogue of mutual respect,” he said.

Wirajuda said countries grouped in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had realised their admission of Myanmar to the organisation 10 years ago had not had the desired effect. “All of us in ASEAN have in the past year admitted and recognised that the constructive engagement by ASEAN has not produced any tangible result - we admit that,” Wirajuda said.

“Likewise also the West, they admitted the sanctions and pressure approach do not work, so we are all frustrated,” added Wirajuda, who was present in the meeting between Bush and Yudhoyono.

He said Yudhoyono told the US leader it was “important to also work with China and India to help encourage Myanmar to change” because they are its two biggest neighbours. Bush “agreed that we should talk with China and India,” Wirajuda said.

The US president spoke about Myanmar earlier in his visit to Sydney for the summit, accusing its military rulers of “tyrannical” behaviour in cracking down on street protests.

“It’s inexcusable that people who march for freedom are then treated (this way) by a repressive state,” he said. Protests broke out in Myanmar on August 19 after a severe hike in fuel prices placed even a bus trip out of reach for many people living in a nation ruled with an iron fist.

The protests spread across the country, leading to the detention of more than 150 people, according to rights group Amnesty International. Despite his increasingly sharp attacks on the isolated regime, Bush on Friday invited ASEAN leaders, including an official from Myanmar, to Texas - a trip usually reserved as a diplomatic plum for close allies.

White House national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said all ASEAN heads of state had been invited, except Myanmar, whose “level of participation is to be determined.” The Myanmar protests came as the military regime concluded 14 years of constitutional talks that have left out democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).