Myanmar Needs Us

NYTIMES: Letter To the Editor:January 3, 2002

Re "On the Road to Mandalay, an Ethical Predicament" (Bagan Journal, Jan. 1):

While it may be morally desirable not to visit Myanmar in protest over the repressive regime presently governing the country, tourism is, at least, a legitimate revenue earner for the nation and some of its citizenry. This has to be better than the rampant drug trade, or the catastrophic legal and illegal timber harvesting devastating much of the hill country.

Further, Myanmar is now a pawn of (or hostage to) China, which shares its long northeastern border and purportedly accounts for the majority of its international trade, and anything reasonable to dilute that influence has to be encouraged.

PHILIP GETHIN-JONES
Wilton, Conn., Jan. 1, 2002