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China, Russia support Indian stand against sanctions on Myanmar

HARBIN (CHINA): India on Wednesday opposed imposing sanctions on Myanmar and called for encouraging all stakeholders to advance political reforms and national reconciliation, a move jointly supported by China and Russia.

“We believe that the initiative taken by the U.N. Secretary-General [Ban-Ki Moon] to open dialogue amongst the various stakeholders in Myanmar should be encouraged,” External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at a joint press conference after the end of the third standalone meeting of Foreign Ministers of India, China and Russia here.

Mr. Mukherjee said India had also suggested that the process of political reform and national reconciliation should be expedited on a broad base and equally among all stakeholders.

“We believe that Myanmar authorities should be encouraged to engage in the process of dialogue with the Special Envoy of the U.N. Secretary-General [Ibrahim Gambari], the initiative which he has taken should be encouraged to take it to the logical conclusion and there should not be any sanctions at this stage,” the minister emphasised.

Mr. Mukherjee acknowledged that the Myanmar issue had figured prominently during the trilateral meeting and they exchanged views on it.

Ultimately, the issue of Myanmar should be resolved by the Myanmarese government and the country’s people, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said.

He said China believed that the parties concerned would conduct dialogue to help Myanmar restore stability and improve the life of the people and promote democracy and development in Myanmar.

“We support the efforts of the U.N. Secretary-General and his Special Envoy as well as the constructive role of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries in this regard,” Yang said.

Mr. Mukherjee ruled out being part of the controversial U.S.-led missile defence system.

“India does not take part in such military arrangement. Therefore the question of our participation does not arise,” He also noted that the issue of missile defence did not come up for discussions at the trilateral meeting he had with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, Yang Jiechi and Sergei Lavrov. “It was not discussed in our trilateral forum. It was not our agenda and we did not consider it necessary to discuss it,” he said.

Mr. Lavrov, commenting on the issue, said there was a lot of talk about various possible modalities and proposals. “I want to tell you that during the recent visit to Moscow by the U.S. Secretary of States [Condoleezza Rice] and U.S. Defence Secretary [Robert Gates], the issue of missile defence system was discussed at length and in great detail,” he said. “Our colleagues from the U.S. have promised to transmit their proposals to us on paper and we are waiting for those proposals to arrive,” the Russian Foreign Minister said. At the same time, Mr. Yang noted that the U.S. push for missile defence system had attracted wide attention of the international community.

“Our stance on the issue of missile defence system is consistent and clear,” he said. — PTI

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