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Britain looks to seize on US ‘momentum’ to improve ties

THE British government is ready to kick start the European Union’s diplomatic dealings with the country if it sees progress on key issues from the Myanmar authorities, the British ambassador to Myanmar told The Myanmar Times last month.

The engagement with the US has created a sense of momentum and, while there hasn’t been any significant movement yet, “we don’t want that momentum to be lost”, Mr Andrew Heyn said.

Real progress could result in economic sanctions being “dismantled” if certain political issues are addressed, Mr Heyn said.

“This is a country with enormous potential to be a major figure within the ASEAN grouping, both in political and economic terms. It has the economic potential to achieve more than it is achieving at the moment, but there are political issues that need to be addressed. It would be fantastic if during my time here, we could see genuine political progress,” Mr Heyn said.

‘This is a country with enormous potential to be a major figure within the ASEAN grouping, both in political and economic terms.’

He said the British government’s Myanmar policy has three strands of engagement: political dialogue, humanitarian aid and economic sanctions.

“The purpose of the approach is to try to encourage change through engagement with all sides of political opinion here including opposition parties and ethnic groups, improved governance through sanctions, and humanitarian aid. These activities run in parallel. We have a pretty good agreement within the EU [but] sometimes there are arguments. For example, we would like to see our EU partners give more humanitarian aid, but in terms of broad policy framework there’s pretty much consensus,” Mr Heyn said.

Economic sanctions are the most contentious aspect of Myanmar policy and one dissenting voice is French Foreign Minister Mr Bernard Kouchner. On October 8, he was quoted by news agency AFP as saying sanctions were “useless, and everyone recognises that”.

Mr Derek Tonkin, chairman of Network Myanmar and a former British ambassador to Vietnam and Thailand, described the EU sanctions as “futile” and “largely symbolic”.

He pointed to the example of several small, family-run enterprises that in 2008 were included in an updated list of targeted businesses, despite having no links to the Myanmar government – or the global economy.

“The sanctions issue is complex,” Mr Tonkin told The Myanmar Times in an email interview. “The restrictive measures decreed by the EU, US, Canadian and Australian authorities ... are already subject to review but the process of removing the sanctions has not yet borne any fruit.”

But Mr Heyn said there was “a pretty clear common position on EU policy”.

“For all policy areas you will have disagreements, behind the conference room doors there are differences of opinion and nuance but there is a clear common position on EU policy toward Myanmar and that overall policy gets reviewed each April, usually pretty straightforwardly,” Heyn said.

“Very specific things could be done quickly – measures that are no secret – that could have immediate direct impact on sanctions policy,” he said. “I think everybody would welcome the election law as soon as possible, the pre-election phase is just as important as the election itself.”

“We can’t say exactly which sanctions would disappear, but what is certain is that, should there be real progress on the ground, we would respond.”

Britain has also increased its aid budget to Myanmar fourfold over the past four years, and total funding now stands at US$45 million per year.

But Mr Heyn said there were no plans to alter the present policy of providing only humanitarian aid to Myanmar and Britain had no plans to extend this to broader development assistance.

“We give humanitarian aid regardless of the political situation but cannot extend that to cover government-to-government support.

Mr Tonkin described the distinction between humanitarian and development aid as “beloved of politicians though not endorsed by development experts who say that the two are indistinguishable”.

The question is how – and when – to seize on the US “momentum” and progress with political dialogue. It’s a question that Mr Heyn, speaking for just one of 27 EU member states, can’t give a definitive answer for.

 

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