Baird showed up in the southeast Asian country ostensibly to argue for human rights and, in particular, to laud the military dictatorship for letting dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters contest seats in Burma’s army-dominated legislature.
But recent rumblings from world capitals confirm that the real reason was the usual one: resources.
Resource-rich Burma is subject to strict economic sanctions by Western countries. Big companies — and particularly big oil companies — are lobbying hard to have those sanctions lifted.
And Canada hopes to have its firms front and centre when the great barbecue begins.
The fact that Burma’s military-backed leaders allowed any opening toward democracy — and that Suu Kyi gave them her imprimatur — offers Western countries the excuse they need to let trade and investment rip.
The United States has already lifted some sanctions against Burma. The Financial Times reports that more will be relaxed soon.
Reuters news agency reports that European oil giants like Shell, BP and Total are pressing their governments to beat the Americans to the punch. They may well do so later this month when European Union officials review their sanctions.
The Australians are said to be slathering. So too the Japanese.
That Western sanctions have lasted this long is a tribute to the lobbying efforts of pro-democracy groups such as Friends of Burma. Usually governments don’t care if their companies do business with dictatorships — witness Ottawa’s ongoing efforts to curry favour with China.
But Burma is a special case. Its military government, which in one form or another has run the country since generals seized power in 1962, has been particularly ham-handed in its dealings with dissidents and ethnic minorities.
More to the point, its haphazard and crony-based approach to economic development over the years scared off all but the most determined foreign investors.
Burma’s leaders were rumoured to take their cue from astrologers. At one point in the 1980s, they rearranged their entire currency system on a whim.
Canadian firms such as Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. were among those determined investors. But when the dictatorship turned particularly ugly in 2007, even they were forced to draw in their horns.
That’s when Stephen Harper’s Conservative government toughened Canada’s existing sanctions against Burma, calling them the most sweeping in the world.
But Burma has two things foreign companies desperately want: an industrious but dirt-poor population willing to work, and abundant natural resources — from oil to gold to tungsten to timber to copper.
China has reportedly set up factories there to take advantage of a workforce even cheaper than its own. The Chinese also covet Burma’s resources. So does neighbouring Thailand.
Situated between China and equally-booming India, Burma seems ideally placed.
Burma’s democracy activists, including Suu Kyi have warned Western countries against abandoning sanctions too quickly. She cautiously welcomed the military’s decision to release her from almost two decades of house arrest. But this week’s election allowed her and her National League for Democracy to contest only 45 of 664 seats in what is at best a rubber-stamp legislature.
Nonetheless, the pressure on Western governments to ease sanctions is only growing.
It’s up in the air whether Burma will become a democracy any time soon. Frankly, I doubt it.
What is clear is that Western countries will soon label it open for business. When that happens, Harper’s Conservatives want to ensure that Canadian companies are positioned to reap the spoils.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Thomas Walkom
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