Burmese American Democratic Alliance (BADA)

For Immediately Release
Contact: Aung Khin, 714 609 4526 in Los Angeles; Nyunt Than, 510 220 1323 in San Francisco

Chinese Policies, Burmese Misery; No to Irresponsible China
China must stop supporting Burma's military thugs; protests planned, action called

United States has imposed the strongest sanction ever on Burma after recent violent attack on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party leaders by the military. However, China is softening the impact of US sanctions that could have brought down the regime otherwise. China openly criticized the US sanctions, and pledged to help Burma's military.  As much as China is becoming another superpower of this free world, its ignorance of the will of Burma's people and irresponsibly siding with the  brutal regime can no longer be tolerated. The time has come for China to stop turning blind eyes on the suffering of the people under brutal dictatorship in Burma and to withdraw its support for the dictators.

What you can do/Action call:

Please write, email and fax a letter to Chinese ambassador and Consulate Generals in your area telling them you would like China to stop supporting Burma's military thugs. Instead China should join United Nations, United States in securing the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisons in Burma as well as helping restored the democratic civilian government immediately. Otherwise, you would link Burma's issues to all existing issues with China and campaign including asking your representatives to United States Senate and United States Congress to push for resolutions enforcing the followings:

1. U.S. should denounce China for supporting Burma's military thugs.
    
2. China is hosting 2008 Olympic, Beijing Olympic. It would be embarrassing for the world if China supports military thugs in Burma. U.S. should warn China about it.
    
3. Pressure the U.N. Commission on Human Rights to hold more hearings on China's slave labor and any other forms of human rights violations. Also condemn the continued existence of the loagai, the camps in China where political prisoners work 14 hours a day, eating coarse rice and rotten vegetable leaves, hands bleeding and infected from brutal working conditions, and lacking in anything approaching decent health care.
    
4. US should reconsider outsourcing much of its manufacturing and production work to China that helps China becomes the forth largest economy in the world while Americans losing their jobs. Chinese products have become the largest component of America's trade deficit. From virtually zero in the 1980s, America's trade deficit with China jumped to US$103 billion last year, with America exporting just US$22 billion worth of goods to China while importing US$125 billion.
    
5. The U.S. should try revoking China's most-favored-nation (or "normal," as it is now called) trade status. Withdrawing MFN "might hurt Chinese workers in the short term, but it would hurt business leaders in Hong Kong, Taiwan, America and China even more. It would surely get their attention."
    
6. China should be banned from the World Trade Organization.
    
7. Apply pressure on the World Bank to look more carefully at its projects. With all the unmet needs in free countries, there is no reason why China should be the largest customer of the World Bank, whose operations are funded largely by American taxpayers.
    
8. Chinese acts that violate "international norms" — such as the sale of missiles and nuclear technology to threatening regimes in countries such as Syria, Iran and Iraq — should be condemned, and end this danger to world peace.
    
9. Other nations should stop selling China the technology and equipment used by the military and police against dissidents.
    
10. Respect "the legitimate demands" of Tibet and Taiwan, and link them to other aspects of U.S. policy. "Particularly in the case of Taiwan, the United States must make very clear that the cost of any use of force by the Mainland Chinese will be extremely high."

Chinese Embassy, United States
Ambassador Yang Jiechi
Tel: (202) 328-2500 Fax: (202) 588-0032
Email: chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn

The Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco is located at
1450 Laguna Street, San Francisco, CA 94115.
Consul General Wang Yunxiang; Tel: 213-807-8088. Fax: 213-380-1961
Political and Press Office: 415-674-2945; press@chinaconsulatela.org

The Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles is located at
443 Shatto Place, Los Angeles, CA 90020
Consul General Zhong Jianhua; Tel: 213-807-8088. Fax: 213-380-1961
Political and Press Office: 213-807-8029 press@chinaconsulatela.org