ETHNIC NATIONALITIES COUNCIL

Recently, Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’ spokesman Sai Lao Hseng said its representatives had made the point clear to its Naypyitaw counterparts Saturday, 17 December, that the non-secession clause included in previous agreements with 3 other armed movements would only hinder the peace process Naypyitaw had initiated,

BANGALORE - In 2011, few countries took the world by surprise as much as Myanmar did. Not only did its new government take a series of steps to usher in democratic reform in the country but it also suspended a giant dam project with China, signaling to the world that it is not quite the Chinese client state it was made out to be.

President Thein Sein seems to be on the right track, when he ordered or instructed the military on December 10 to cease its offensive against the Kachin Independence Organization/Army (KIO/KIA). But reports coming in indicate that either the military is disobeying the presidential order or the instruction has not reached all the units,

When United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton completed her visit to Myanmar on December 2, the diplomatic exchange offered a glimpse of hope for the traditionally military-run country's reform prospects. The high-level visit was widely viewed as diplomatic acknowledgement of the immense changes that President Thein Sein has undertaken since taking office in March.

But if China lite is what Burma’s leaders want, they may have a tough time following Beijing’s lead. For as much as we dismiss it as a pariah state, Burma is already a far more political place than China is. Burma boasts political parties and a charismatic opposition leader in Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. China lacks any such political infrastructure.

How did this happen? Few would have expected that Burma, as isolated a country as North Korea, would see such an opening with the United States. Indeed, many Koreans may be scratching their heads wondering why such progress was possible with Naypyidaw, but not with Pyongyang.