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IN BEIJING - CHINA, the main backer of Myanmar's defiant military junta, continues to give 'all-out support' to UN mediation efforts there, a senior Chinese foreign ministry official said yesterday.
Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei gave this assurance to the United Nations' special envoy to Myanmar, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, during his two-day visit to Beijing.
Prof Gambari's visit, part of a six-nation regional tour, seeks to appeal to Myanmar's neighbours to do more to pressure the junta to engage in genuine dialogue with pro-democracy opposition forces. He has already visited Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and India.
Today, Prof Gambari will meet State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan, China's highest-ranking foreign policy official, and Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He will then leave for Tokyo, the last stop of his tour.
In a sign of Beijing's sensitivity to further international criticism over its role in the Myanmar crisis, the UN envoy will not meet the press in Beijing, unlike on the previous legs of his tour.
China's official Xinhua news agency reported yesterday that Mr He praised Prof Gambari for his 'remarkable contribution' in meeting Myanmar's generals and detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi following the regime's brutal crackdown last month on pro-democracy protests. Mr He told the envoy that 'China will continue to give all-out support to your work'.
Before the meetings, Prof Gambari expressed gratitude for Beijing's intervention, saying: 'I want to thank you personally and thank the efforts of the People's Republic of China.'
The secrecy surrounding Prof Gambari's talks in Beijing - Myanmar's biggest trading partner and arms supplier - underscores China's low-key approach to a crisis that has embarrassed Beijing and proved a major test of its diplomacy, analysts told The Straits Times.
In response to global pressure, China did not block a UN Security Council statement castigating Myanmar's generals. Beijing was also reported to have persuaded the regime to allow Prof Gambari's visit last month.
But it drew the line at Security Council sanctions to pressure the junta into releasing political prisoners and starting talks with Ms Suu Kyi.
Observers say Beijing must balance its need to protect its international image as host of next year's Olympic Games with its vast energy and economic interests in Myanmar, which shares a border with China's Yunnan province.
China also fears that any outward show of support for a democratic transition in the troubled nation could encourage its own dissidents.
Renmin University international relations expert Shi Yinhong told The Straits Times the Myanmar crisis has put China in an 'awkward position' and the issue has been played down deliberately in Chinese media.
Beijing's bottom line is that 'it won't support regime change in Myanmar or budge on the sanctions issue, at least for now', he said.
'China will tell Gambari there are limits to international intervention and that any efforts to bring about genuine political change cannot bypass the junta.'
clare@sph.com.sg
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