On May 8, 8:28=A0pm, acous...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(lo yeeOn) wrote:
> All I've seen here in soc.culture.china are threads about the
> Olympics, the Tibet issue, and perhaps Hu's visit to Japan. =A0Does
> anyone know anything about the Chinese government actually having been
> doing anything at all to help the people of Myanmar, i.e., to have
> worked actively and pro-actively to coordinate with other ASEAN
> countries to organize a meaningful emergency rescue mission to relieve
> their suffering?
According to the following news article, emergency supplies totally
500,000 USD had reached Yangon had tramsferred to Myanmar officials
yesterday.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-05/07/content_8123606.htm
>
> Regardless of the military dictator****p in Myanmar, it is the duty of
> Myanmar's neighbors in Far East Asia to do such a thing instead of
> leaving it to the hand of the military at the Pentagon, which is
> currently planning a military relief operation.
>
> If China thinks of itself as a world power and if it is at the same
> time so self-absorbed as to not recognize the im****tance of helping
> its immediate neighbor, do not ever cry about how Myanmar is becoming
> a new US strategic military forward base right at China's footstep in
> the future, like Afghanistan and Iraq have recently become those in
> Central Asia.
>
> The same of course goes for India.
>
> I think the Olympics has been a real distraction and has become a
> weakness of China that is increasing being exploited by outsiders.
>
> China, India, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, and
> others in the region ought to be able to do a lot to help, instead of
> letting the US and other european countries like France to get in and
> do their things other than pure humanitarian relief.
>
> And with success, such humanitarian efforts (from its neighbors) could
> likely bring about real political change to Myanmar in the long run,
> which will be good for all concerned.
>
> The alternative will be for the hegemonic countries in the West to
> rule over the region, a rather unthinkable scenario after Afghanistan
> and Iraq and willcertainly lead to more war: a bad sign for world
> peace.
>
> If China does not have the technical skills to handle this kind of
> relief effort, it ought to think hard about using its wealth to get
> itself up to speed quick because it is going to see a lot of natural
> disasters like this to land on China in the future. =A0The trade winds,
> due to the rotation of the planet and the terrain, are such that
> tropical storms are most severe east of India and east of the
> Caribbean (somewhat northeast of Central America). =A0Now the incessant
> shock-n'awe air strikes in the Middle East since 2001 have injected a
> lot of high energy, high momentum fluctuations into the atmosphere
> that will only be dissipated through these hugely destructive storms.
> Meanwhile the lethal fluctuations are just quietly building up until
> the next unpredictable instance occurs.
>
> It will be sad to see that the Chinese government is one bucket short
> in its effort to modernize the country when it can't even carry out
> necessary relief efforts when disasters strike.
>
> The following article has a single reference to China's role in this
> and it is not pretty.
>
> =A0 =A0China, Myanmar's closest ally, urged the junta to work with the
> =A0 =A0international community.
>
> lo yeeOn
> =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>
> =A0 =A01st big foreign aid flights finally let in by Myanmar junta
>
> =A0 =A0YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's military regime allowed in the first
ma=
jor
> =A0 =A0international aid ****pment Thursday, but it snubbed a U.S. offer
to=
> =A0 =A0help cyclone victims struggling to recover from a tragedy of
> =A0 =A0unimaginable scale.
>
> =A0 =A0Five days after the storm, the junta continued to stall on visas
fo=
r
> =A0 =A0U.N. teams and other foreign aid workers anxious to deliver food,
w=
ater
> =A0 =A0and medicine to survivors amid fears the death toll could hit
100,0=
00.
>
> =A0 =A0Among those stranded in Thailand were 10 members of the USAID
Disas=
ter
> =A0 =A0Assistance Response Team. Air Force trans****t planes and
helicopter=
s
> =A0 =A0packed with supplies also sat waiting for a greenlight.
>
> =A0 =A0"We are in a long line of nations who are ready, willing and able
t=
o
> =A0 =A0help, but also, of course, in a long line of nations the Burmese
do=
n't
> =A0 =A0trust," U.S. Ambassador Eric John told re****ters in Thailand's
capi=
tal,
> =A0 =A0Bangkok.
>
> =A0 =A0"It's more than frustrating. It's a tragedy," he said. Each day
of
> =A0 =A0delay means "a lot more people suffering," he said.
>
> =A0 =A0Myanmar's isolationist regime issued an appeal for international
> =A0 =A0assistance after winds of 120 mph and a storm surge up to 15 feet
h=
igh
> =A0 =A0pounded the Irrawaddy delta Saturday.
>
> =A0 =A0But the junta has been accused of dragging its feet despite
emergin=
g
> =A0 =A0re****ts on entire villages submerged, bodies floating in salty
wate=
r
> =A0 =A0and children ripped from their parents arms.
>
> =A0 =A0"My children were crying all night. There is not enough food.
There=
> =A0 =A0will be no food this evening," said Daw Thay, who took refuge in
a
> =A0 =A0monastery with her three children and her 99-year-old mother in a
t=
own
> =A0 =A060 miles south of Yangon, the country's biggest city.
>
> =A0 =A0Daw Thay, 42, said monks were going without food so others could
ea=
t.
>
> =A0 =A0"We share what we have but there isn't enough. So they (the
monks) =
give
> =A0 =A0the food to the children and the old people first," she said.
>
> =A0 =A0In the swampy delta, a horrible stench rose from corpses and dead
> =A0 =A0animals, bloated and floating in the water. Someone had written
on =
a
> =A0 =A0black asphalt road in Kongyangon village: "We are all in trouble.
> =A0 =A0Please come help us." A few feet away, the desperate plea, "We're
> =A0 =A0hungry."
>
> =A0 =A0Tired of waiting for help in Yangon, red-robed monks, other
civilia=
ns
> =A0 =A0and dozens of soldiers cleared piles of debris and toppled
billboar=
ds
> =A0 =A0from streets and cutting branches off uprooted trees.
>
> =A0 =A0"They've started doing the clean up themselves," Aye Chan Naing,
ch=
ief
> =A0 =A0editor of Democratic Voice of Burma, said as a light rain
showered
> =A0 =A0down. "They are volunteers."
>
> =A0 =A0Public trans****tation was slowly coming back to life in the city,
w=
ith
> =A0 =A0some trains operating, and cars formed lines three miles long to
ge=
t
> =A0 =A0rations of two gallons of gasoline.
>
> =A0 =A0The cyclone blew off the roof of opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi=
's
> =A0 =A0dilapidated bungalow in Yangon and cut off its electricity, a
neigh=
bor
> =A0 =A0said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity=
of
> =A0 =A0the subject. Suu Kyi, who received a Nobel Peace Prize for her
> =A0 =A0pro-democracy activism, has been under house arrest for years.
>
> =A0 =A0More than 20,000 are known dead and tens of thousands more are
list=
ed
> =A0 =A0as missing, and the U.N. estimates more than 1 million people are
> =A0 =A0homeless in Myanmar, which also is known as Burma.
>
> =A0 =A0Four airplanes carrying high-energy biscuits, medicine and other
> =A0 =A0supplies reached Yangon on Thursday, U.N. officials said. Two of
fo=
ur
> =A0 =A0U.N. experts who flew in to assess the damage were turned back at
t=
he
> =A0 =A0air****t for unknown reasons, but the other two were allowed to
ente=
r,
> =A0 =A0said John Holmes, the U.N. relief coordinator.
>
> =A0 =A0By rejecting the U.S. aid offer, the junta is refusing to take
> =A0 =A0advantage of Wa****ngton's enormous ability to deliver aid
quickly,
> =A0 =A0which was evident during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that
killed
> =A0 =A0230,000 people in a dozen nations.
>
> =A0 =A0The first foreign military aid following that disaster reached
the
> =A0 =A0hardest-hit nation, Indonesia, two days later. The most
significant=
> =A0 =A0help came when U.S. helicopters from the USS Abraham Lincoln
began
> =A0 =A0flying relief missions to isolated communities along the
Indonesian=
> =A0 =A0coast.
>
> =A0 =A0It was the biggest U.S. military operation in Southeast Asia
since =
the
> =A0 =A0Vietnam War.
>
> =A0 =A0With the Irrawaddy delta's roads washed out and the
infrastructure =
in
> =A0 =A0shambles, large swaths of the region are accessible only by air,
> =A0 =A0something few other countries are equipped to handle as well as
the=
> =A0 =A0United States.
>
> =A0 =A0Tim Costello, chief executive of World Vision Australia, said
that
> =A0 =A0"it's certainly the case that the Americans, as they showed in
the
> =A0 =A0tsunami, have extraordinary capacity."
>
> =A0 =A0The U.S. government, which has strongly criticized the junta's
> =A0 =A0suppression of pro-democracy activists, will have to convince the
> =A0 =A0generals that Wa****ngton has no political agenda, Costello said.
>
> =A0 =A0"Clearly we all know the political context there, and I think
it's
> =A0 =A0going to take a little bit more time for a breakthrough," he
said.
>
> =A0 =A0Gordon Johndroe, President Bush's national security spokesman,
said=
the
> =A0 =A0U.S. was working to gain permission to enter Myanmar.
>
> =A0 =A0One American official, Ky Luu, director of the U.S. office of
forei=
gn
> =A0 =A0disaster assistance, created a stir by saying one option being
> =A0 =A0considered was air-dropping aid without permission. But Defense
> =A0 =A0Secretary Robert Gates quickly said he couldn't imagine that
happen=
ing.
>
> =A0 =A0Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej of Thailand offered to negotiate
on=
> =A0 =A0Wa****ngton's behalf to persuade Myanmar's government to accept
U.S.=
> =A0 =A0aid.
>
> =A0 =A0France is arguing that the U.N. has the power to intervene
without =
the
> =A0 =A0junta's approval to help civilians under a 2005 agreement that
the
> =A0 =A0world body has a "responsibility to protect" people when
government=
s
> =A0 =A0fail to do it. That agreement did not mention natural disasters.
>
> =A0 =A0French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and British Foreign
Secret=
ary
> =A0 =A0David Miliband asked Myanmar's junta to "lift all restrictions on
t=
he
> =A0 =A0distribution of aid." Separately, Kouchner said France would make
$=
3
> =A0 =A0million available to French aid groups operating in Myanmar.
>
> =A0 =A0The Association of Southeast Nations appealed to the
international
> =A0 =A0community to send relief supplies through Thailand.
>
> =A0 =A0"Please keep the help coming, keep the contributions coming, and
if=
you
> =A0 =A0have to, go to Thailand, park there and wait for redistribution
fro=
m
> =A0 =A0there," said ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan.
>
> =A0 =A0The U.S. military sent more humanitarian supplies and equipment
to =
a
> =A0 =A0staging area in Thailand on Thursday. A C-17 trans****t plane
brough=
t in
> =A0 =A0water and food, joining the two C-130s already in place, Air
Force
> =A0 =A0spokeswoman Megan Orton said at the Pentagon. Another C-130
loaded =
with
> =A0 =A0supplies was on its way, she said.
>
> =A0 =A0The U.S. Navy also has three ****ps participating in an exercise
in =
the
> =A0 =A0Gulf of
> ...
>
> read more =BB
|
