Burma's unlucky number

Published: January 14, 2008
International Herald Tribune

China has been striving to make certain that Aug. 8, 2008, the start of this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing, will be an auspicious date. The Communist authorities have even set the start of their gala for 8 p.m. on 8/8/08.

On that same day, victims of the junta ruling Burma will commemorate the 20th anniversary of a popular uprising against military dictatorship that was violently suppressed. Leaders of that movement, known as the 88 Student Generation, were among the first to be arrested when Buddhist monks led popular protests against the junta last September, and they are among the 700 protesters still incarcerated.

The numerological coincidence of China's Olympic gala and Burma's mournful memory will serve a positive purpose if it reminds the world of Burma's agony in the two decades since Aug. 8, 1988 and of the shameful symbiosis between China's government and the Burmese junta. Beijing has been the principal arms seller and commercial partner of the generals in Burma, and the threat of a Chinese veto in the UN Security Council shields the junta from an international arms embargo.

Yet the other rising power in Asia, democratic India, has shown a decent respect for international opinion by halting arms sales and transfers to Burma's military dictators. As 8/8/08 approaches, the world must see to it that when it comes to propping up the Burmese junta, Beijing's number is up next.