Daily News- January 17 - 2002- Thursday

  • Junta troops arrest six Chinese nationals, seize illegal timber
  • Myanmar's Coffee Export To Rise In 2002
  • U.S. House Speaker Vows Aids to Thailand in Drug War
  • Thai-Burma: Bordering on trouble
  • Myanmar agrees to join Asian rice cartel
  • Myanmar Youth Team Defeats Yonsei University in Soccer Friendly

    • Junta troops arrest six Chinese nationals, seize illegal timber

    Text of report by Democratic Voice of Burma on 15 January

    SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] troops under the Northeast Military Command have arrested some Chinese nationals for illegal logging in Kutkai, Namhkam, and Mong Mit Township forest areas since 3 January. Up till 7 January, they have arrested six Chinese nationals and seized about 500 felled logs, over 100 tons of sawn timber, saw-mill equipment, over 40 timber trucks, and many sawing machines and generators.

    Many Chinese nationals have infiltrated into Mong To and Mawsi regions west of Namhkam and they have been smuggling logs on a daily basis. They are bribing and conniving with the national races that have signed cease-fire agreements with the SPDC and regional SPDC troops.

    Many Chinese nationals arrested and jailed were released the following year in an annual Chinese prisoners exchange programme. Observers say in view of the seizure of more than 40 timber trucks, the arrest of six Chinese nationals is far too few. DVB correspondent Myo Win Thant filed this report.

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    Myanmar's Coffee Export To Rise In 2002

    YANGON, Jan 16 (Oana-Xinhua) -- Myanmar's coffee export is expected to rise in this year due to rising demand in international markets in Europe and other overseas markets, according to the state-run Myanma Farms Enterprise (MFE).Citing the interest in buying Myanmar coffee by traders, it predicts huge potential for further growth in the industry.

    Coffee is mainly grown in Pyin Oo Lwin in the northern Mandalay division with good climatic and physical conditions. In addition, the MFE is also planning to extend the cultivation of coffee plantations to other states such as Shan, Kachin and Chin which possess similar conditions to Pyin Oo Lwin.

    According to the MFE, the cultivated area of coffee in Myanmar is now about 10,530 hectares, which the enterprise plans to expand to 40,500 hectares in the next five years.Other official statistics show that Myanmar produces nearly 2, 000 tons of coffee beans annually.

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    U.S. House Speaker Vows Aids to Thailand in Drug War

    BANGKOK, Jan 17, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Visiting U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert said that the United States would apply diplomatic pressure in cooperation with Thailand to help combat narcotics trafficking in notorious "Golden Triangle", where the borders of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos converge, the Nation newspaper reported Thursday.

    In separate meetings with his Thai counterpart, Parliament President Uthai Pimchaichon, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, Hastert praised Thai efforts to bring major narcotics-producing countries, including Myanmar, China and Laos into anti-drug dialogues, the report said.

    Hastert was quoted as saying that the narcotics problem was not limited to particular countries such as Myanmar but was a regional issue that would require cooperation from all countries if it was to be solved.

    During his trip, Hastert visited Chiang Mai province, 900 kilometers north from Bangkok, where he was briefed about joint efforts to combat drug trafficking by the Third Army Region and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

    The Thai Army has accused the ethnic group United Wa State Army (UWSA), which signed a peace agreement with Myanmar government in 1989 in return for limited self-rule in parts of Shan State, of producing methamphetamines and other illicit drugs for sale in Thailand. Hastert today leaves for South Korea, the last leg of his three-nation tour of Asia, which also included Japan.

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    Thai-Burma: Bordering on trouble

    The Bangkokpost

    The troops guarding our northwest frontier have been ordered to be on their very best behaviour as the last thing we want is to harm what we are told are tip-top relations with Rangoon. - There once was a political party named Seritham but it is now just a part of the Thaksin juggernaut. There is some life in some of its people though. - The education minister may not know much about schools, but he's a dab hand at politics.

    The members of the Pha Muang Task Force deployed along our northwestern border with Burma have been ordered to follow the ``rules of engagement'' to the letter should there be any unexpected military encounter with troops from across the other side.The order is part of the army programme to avoid all unnecessary conflict with Burma that might undermine our improved ties.

    One soldier with the Chiang Mai-based task force, which supervises security along the Burmese border, said Maj-Gen Nakorn Sripetchphand, the task force commander, had told his troops to comply with the rules which provide step-by-step guidelines to be followed should there be an accidental encounter with Burmese forces while on patrol.

    ``This is aimed purely at lessening [the risk of] military clashes in the border area,'' said one of Maj-Gen Nakorn's aides. ``Our troops have been briefed on what to do should they accidentally encounter Burmese troops and what action to take to settle a border rift peacefully before it turns violent.''We are told repeatedly by the government that relations between ourselves and Burma have improved tremendously since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited Burma last June.

    Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkhasing, commander of the 3rd Army, has been assiduous in toeing this government line. He recently dumbfounded Burmese forces along the border by presenting them with hundreds of packets of instant noodles as a new year gift.

    This comes just 11 months after there was a clash at Ban Pang Noon in Chiang Rai's Mae Fah Luang district which nearly turned very nasty. Between 50 and 80 Burmese troops were reported to have been killed during a firefight with the Pha Muang Task Force after the Burmese had seized a military outpost 500m inside Thai territory. The Burmese were said to be planning to use the outpost as a springboard for an assault on the rebel Shan State Army, whose military base straddles the border.Reports of Burmese troop movements in recent weeks at several border points, including near Ban Pang Noon, have raised concerns among officers of the Pha Muang Task Force.

    One said things could again get sticky if the Burmese tried once more to establish a beachhead on Thai soil from which to attack the Shan rebels.``We have been ordered to avoid any unnecessary clashes with the Burmese forces, but if any incursion is intentional then we will have to counter fiercely,'' the officer said.

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    Myanmar agrees to join Asian rice cartel

    The Daily Star
    AFP, Yangon-Myanmar has agreed in principle to be part of a rice "cartel" formed by Asia's leading rice exporters aimed at regulating prices as well as stabilizing the world market market sources here said.

    Thailand, Vietnam, China, the United States, Pakistan, India and Myanmar in that order -- are the world's leading rice exporters with annual exports totalling 18 million tons according to 2000 figures.

    The envisaged six-nation organization would comprise Thailand, Vietnam, China, Pakistan, India and Myanmar which together make up 70 per cent of the world's rice exports, the industry sources said.

    Thailand floated the proposal last month, saying the association would be modelled on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) but would not act as a price-fixing cartel.

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    Myanmar Youth Team Defeats Yonsei University in Soccer Friendly

    YANGON, Jan 17, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The selected under-20 Myanmar youth team defeated the Yonsei University team from Republic of Korea 2-0 in a friendly soccer match held at the Youth Training Center Wednesday evening.

    Myanmar striker Yan Paing opened the scoring by firing home the ball passing from Tint Naing Tun Thein to the left corner of Yonsei University's goalkeeper in the 7th minute. Yonsei University tried to level the scoring but miss many chances to make it equalize in the first half.

    Although the visitors got the upper hand in the second half, they could not make even a goal. The hosts sealed the victory by substitute Thu Ya's goal through a corner kick from his teammate Tint Naing Tun Thein five minutes before the end. Two players each from the Myanmar side and the visiting side were shown yellow cards. The Yonsei University team's captain Park Hyuk Soon, with two yellow cards, was sent off in the 89th minute.

    This was the third match between the two teams with the first match ending at 1-1 draw and the second match 2-0 in favour of the visitors. Their fourth match will be held next Wednesday.

    The Myanmar youth team will compete in the forthcoming First Under-20 Football Championship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Thailand and Cambodia later this month. Myanmar plays in Group A together with Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

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