Futile Diplomacy

Burma scorns a U.N. envoy.

UNITED NATIONS special envoy Ibrahim Gambari just returned from Burma. It was his third visit since the Saffron Revolution -- in which the government imprisoned, tortured and slaughtered hundreds of its citizens who were engaged in peaceful protests -- and his first since Burma announced a referendum on its faux-democratic constitution. World leaders had hoped this visit, delayed by Burma for months, might at last convince the regime to make its "road map to democracy" more democratic. They were wrong.

After months of delays, Mr. Gambari was granted a visa after the junta announced it had already scheduled the referendum for this May and elections for 2010, both of which serve to falsely legitimize the current military dictatorship. His suggestions for creating a more inclusive constitution and referendum, for allowing international observers during the referendum, and for releasing Burma's 1,900 political prisoners were all thoroughly rebuffed. Yes, Mr. Gambari was allowed to meet with Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. But he was denied meetings with the senior leadership, which further snubbed the United Nations by meeting with Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej just a few days later. (Mr. Samak's takeaway from that meeting: Burma's brutal leaders "meditate," just as good Buddhists should. He declared this after signing a lucrative investment pact.)

The junta needs to know that the world still cares about the fate of the abused Burmese people. One way to convey this message would be to extend targeted banking sanctions against the Burmese leadership and state-owned companies, an action that the United States pioneered but has been slow to fully roll out, and that the European Union has been reluctant to take at all; to impose arms embargoes; and to urge countries such as China that are cozy with Burma to pressure the junta into true reform. Of course, China has been reluctant to "meddle" in another country's "internal affairs" -- especially when those "internal affairs" involve a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests led by monks. Still, well before the recent uprising in Tibet, China allowed a U.N. Security Council presidential statement last October that outlined elements for Burmese human rights reforms and "national reconciliation." China should recognize, then, that Burma's continued destruction of its own people means the junta is defying not only the West but Burma's Asian allies as well.