On the heels of Canada conferring honourary citizenship status on Burma's democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi, a group of MPs and Senators want the government to do more.
At a press conference today, Parliamentary Friends of Burma (PFOB) called for Canadian action on Burma, where a recent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations left thousands imprisoned and an unknown number of people beaten, tortured and killed.
Chaired by Liberal MP Larry Bagnell, PFOB wants Canada to look into the issue of the "whereabouts and treatments of Burmese detainees" or political prisoners of conscience, including Aung San Suu Kyi who is reportedly under house arrest.
PFOB is a multiparty group of approximately thirty five members with a mandate to support the Burmese democracy movement.
"The reason why my office started this Parliamentary Friends of Burma is that other crises were getting more world attention and places like Burma were falling between the cracks," says Bagnell.
Is PFOB kick-starting Canada's international role in Burma? PFOB and other advocacy groups such as Canadian Friends of Burma claim that it's thanks to their efforts that the issue of conferring honorary citizenship on Aung San Suu Kyi became part of the government's agenda in the recent Throne Speech.
The pillar of PFOB's action plan is dealing with Burma's border nations—India, China and Thailand in particular—and also western nations with investments in Burma. They in essence feed Burma's brutal military junta through trade, investments and arms, Bagnell says.
PFOB is in dialogue with all of Burma's border nations. However, Bagnell says his group must grapple with communist China's well-known economic and military support for rogue regimes such as Sudan, Zimbabwe, Iran, Cuba, North Korea as well as Burma.
In January, the UN Security Council resolution on Burma was vetoed by China and Russia who are both permanent members. Despite international pressure, China has refused to call for tri-partite dialogue on Burma. However, China did support a Security Council presidential statement on Burma earlier this month.
Is China listening to Canadian concerns at all? Bagnell thinks so, as he was summoned recently to meet with Lu Shumin, the Chinese Ambassador to Canada.
"I wouldn't have been called to the Chinese Ambassador's house if it wasn't a big issue for China," he says.
While disappointed with PFOBs "negativity" with regard to China/Burma relations, Lu told Bagnell that China was "working hard" to help resolve the Burmese crisis.
The Ambassador disagreed with implementing economic sanctions against Burma, and as for an arms embargo on the military junta, Lu said that "all nations are allowed to have arms to defend themselves."
Isabelle Bouchard, communications director for Foreign Affairs says Canada has criticized China's involvement in Burma, and has "taken measures" to actively discourage companies from doing business there.
"On Burma, we have expressed our grave concerns to the Chinese government, both in Ottawa and Beijing, urging them to use their influence with the Burmese government to exercise restraint and refrain from violence in response to recent protests."
But Paul Dewar, NDP Foreign Affairs critic, is of the opinion that Canadian companies doing business in Burma must withdraw before Canada can ask other nations to stop supporting the Burmese regime.
Dewar says public pension funds and Canadian companies investing in Burma have been complicit in propping up the military regime.
"It is more than reprehensible that we have our public pension plans investing in Burma, that's been well known, but sadly it hasn't been brought to the public until the recent crackdown."
"I'm always very careful that what we're putting forward is what the democracy movement in Burma is asking for," adds Dewar.
Canada already has "stronger export sanctions than any country in the world [against Burma] and we've made the import environment very unfavorable," says Bagnell. It has been estimated that China's new gas deal with Burma's military is worth a whopping $40 billion. China has sold billions in arms to the regime: tanks, armored personnel carriers, jet attack aircraft, small arms and light weapons.
An article in The Economist states that Burma "offers two of the prizes China values most in its foreign friends: hydrocarbon resources and a friendly army, willing to give it access to facilities on its coast on the Bay of Bengal. China has become the junta's biggest commercial partner and diplomatic supporter."
Naresh Raghubeer, executive director of the Canadian Coalition for Democracies, says the western world has to come to terms with the impact of trade diplomacy with China. When there's a trade surplus "financial relations and dollar figures suddenly become the key distinguishing factor in how we deal with that country."
Prime Minister Harper, adds Raghubeer, deserves some kudos for initiating the motion to give honorary citizenship to Aung San Suu Kyi in the Throne Speech—a first in Canadian politics.
"It's a remarkable action by Canada…we should give the Prime Minister some credit."
On Wednesday, on the 12th anniversary of her captivity, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier again called for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
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