Singapore Sees Myanmar Nuclear Program As Unlikely

by Staff Writers
Singapore (AFP) Jun 24, 2007
Myanmar is unlikely to develop a nuclear programme as the military-run country already has enough domestic problems to overcome, Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo said Sunday. "I can't believe that a nuclear programme is high up on their list of priorities... They have enough problems of their own," Yeo said in response to a question at the World Economic Forum on East Asia.

Russia announced in May that it had agreed to help build a nuclear research centre in Myanmar.

Washington denounced the plan, saying such a facility would be a singularly bad idea given Myanmar's abysmal rights record and non-existent nuclear oversight structure.

Myanmar is under US and European economic sanctions imposed in response to rights abuses and the house arrest of 62-year-old democracy icon and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Washington has accused the Myanmar regime of torturing, raping and executing its own people as well as waging war on minorities and looking the other way while drug and human trafficking grows.

The impact of the sanctions has been muted as China, India, Russia and Thailand have spent billions of dollars to gain a share of Myanmar's vast energy resources.

Myanmar is one of 10 members in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Singapore, but it has embarrassed the regional bloc by refusing to introduce democratic reforms.

The junta crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 and two years later rejected the results of national elections won by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

ASEAN is pursuing a policy of "constructive engagement" to encourage Myanmar to democratise. But this has led to friction with the United States and the European Union.

Source: Agence France-Presse

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