Contradictions in two recent reports on how China plans to deal with the political crisis in Burma. In the first report, from Bloomberg, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces it plans to resist US and UN pressure impose sanctions on the junta:
“We believe in stability, democracy and development,” said China’s Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei at a Nov. 14 briefing in Beijing, before the Singapore summit of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “But without stability first, how can there be democracy or development?” he said. “We cannot allow Myanmar to become another Iraq.”[Full Text]
The Bloomberg article goes on to quote a Beijing-based lawyer as saying a democratic Burma is not in China’s interests. Yet a more recent report by the Associated Press has Premier Wen Jiabao lauding UN efforts to bring about that very development.
For what it’s worth, the AP article never directly quotes Wen as expressing hope for democracy, only “national reconciliation.” So perhaps the contradiction is just a matter of reportorial gloss.
