Chính phủ Miến Điện tạm dừng một dự án đập thủy điện gây tranh cãi sau khi người dân phản đối mạnh mẽ.
Đập Myitsone là dự án do Trung Quốc hợp tác đầu tư với nước chủ nhà trên sông Irrawaddy, tại khu vực hiện xảy ra Bấm xung đột vũ trang giữa quân chính phủ và lực lượng thiểu số. Chiến dịch phản đối con đập có sự tham gia của các nhà hoạt động trong nước, nhà nghiên cứu và các nhóm quốc tế.
Danh sách phản đối của họ gồm những điểm như thiếu tham vấn với nhân dân, nguy cơ gây hại môi trường khi sẽ tạo ra một hồ chứa nước diện tích bằng Singapore, và khiến người thiểu số Kachin phải di dời.
Thay đổi thái độ
Nhà lãnh đạo phong trào đòi dân chủ Aung San Suu Kyi gần đây cũng ủng hộ chiến dịch.
Và bây giờ, trong một cử chỉ nhượng bộ quần chúng hiếm có, Tổng thống Thein Sein nói với quốc hội rằng dự án sẽ tạm dừng.
Con đập đã làm tăng thái độ chống Trung Quốc ở Miến Điện.
Bắc Kinh đang đầu tư lớn trong một loạt dự án cơ sở hạ tầng nhằm khai thác tài nguyên và tận dụng vị trí chiến lược của Miến Điện.
Ngoài ra, sự hiện diện của các thương nhân Trung Quốc hiện bị coi là "tràn ngập" tại các đô thị như Mandalay khiến người dân bức xúc, theo đánh giá của BBC Miến Điện.
Trong một diễn biến mới, hôm nay 30/9, lãnh đạo phe dân chủ Miến Điện, bà Bấm Aung San Suu Kyi đã có cuộc hội đàm mới với Bộ trưởng Lao động Aung Kyi.
Dù chính quyền vẫn không công nhận Liên đoàn Dân tộc Dân chủ (NLD) của bà Aung San Suu Kyi, họ vẫn muốn bà góp phần thúc đẩy các chuyển biến chính trị ở Miến Điện.
Giới chức trong chính quyền dân sự Miến Điện đối thoại với bà Suu Kyi để kêu gọi quốc tế bỏ cấm vận.
Cuộc gặp giữa bà Suu Kyi với Tổng thống Miến Điện trước đó có mục tiêu xóa bớt các khác biệt và tạo nền tảng cho hợp tác.
Giới quan sát cho rằng các chuyển biến ở Miến Điện đang tăng dần và có vẻ như trở nên một xu hướng.
Chính quyền cũng hứa sẽ xem xét đề nghị của quốc tế muốn chính quyền thả chừng 2000 tù chính trị, tuy mới nói là sẽ chỉ làm vào "thời điểm thích hợp".
Nguồn: bbc.co.uk
- - Các nhà ngoại giao Mỹ, Miến Điện dự cuộc họp hiếm có ở Washington (VOA).
-Burma dam: Work halted on divisive Myitsone project
Burma's president has suspended construction of a controversial Chinese-backed hydroelectric dam.
In a letter read out in parliament on Friday, Thein Sein said the $3.6bn (£2.3bn) Myitsone dam was contrary to the will of the people.
The project fuelled fighting between the army and ethnic Kachin rebels.-Burma dam: Work halted on divisive Myitsone project
Burma's president has suspended construction of a controversial Chinese-backed hydroelectric dam.
In a letter read out in parliament on Friday, Thein Sein said the $3.6bn (£2.3bn) Myitsone dam was contrary to the will of the people.
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who recently joined the anti-dam campaign, welcomed the move, seen as a rare victory for social activists.
The BBC's South East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey says it appears to be further evidence of the new leadership's desire to seek legitimacy by being more open to public opinion.
The army handed over power to a civilian authority in March, although many of the new rulers are ex-military.
Our correspondent says lobby groups will still be wary because Thein Sein has said he is suspending the dam's construction only for the term of his office, which ends in 2015.
Spectrum of opposition
The Myitsone dam project was being developed jointly by Burma and China at the head of the Irrawaddy river in Burma's northern Kachin state.
Kachin rebels, who have been fighting government troops in a stop-start insurgency for years, were leading the opposition to the dam.
This year has been one of the most violent in Kachin state in more than a decade.
The dam, which was due for completion in 2019, would be one of the world's tallest at 152m (500ft) high.
The campaign against the project brought together conservationists, environmentalists, Kachin activists and the political opposition.
Their objections ranged from the lack of public consultation to the potential environmental impact of the project.
The dam would create a reservoir of some 766 sq km (300 sq miles) - about the size of Singapore - and displace thousands of ethnic Kachin villagers, our correspondent says.
"We have to respect the will of the people as our government is elected by the people," Thein Sein said.
"We have a responsibility to solve the worries of the people so we will stop construction of the Myitsone Dam during our current government."
The decision to suspend construction was unexpected.
Earlier this month, a report in the local Eleven journal said Electric Power Minister Zaw Min had declared that construction of the dam would proceed despite the objections.
Last week, police arrested a man who staged a rare solo protest against the project outside a Chinese embassy building in Rangoon, AFP news agency reported, and a rally this week against the project was also blocked.
After the decision, Aung San Suu Kyi said: "We understand the president in his memo to the national parliament has asked to suspend the Myitsone dam because of public concerns.
"Since every government should listen carefully to people's voices and tackle the concerned problems, I welcome this move."
The decision to halt construction was "a welcome surprise for everybody, inside and outside of Burma", Aung Zaw, editor of the Irrawaddy News website, based in northern Thailand, told the BBC.
"The people [are] really happy and welcome the decision made by President Thein Sein because it wasn't only [Aung San] Suu Kyi, let me remind you of that.
"It's the population, the whole Burmese who feel they belong to the culture heritage of the Irrawaddy river. They welcome the news."
Maung Maung Than, from the BBC's Burmese service, points out that the effect of damming the Irrawaddy - which flows from the north of Burma into the massive delta in the south - would have been felt throughout the country.
The vast majority of the power produced on the dam was to be exported to China, and correspondents say the dam had served to inflame growing anti-Chinese sentiment in Burma.
Beijing is investing vast sums in a series of big infrastructure projects aimed at exploiting Burma's rich natural resources and geographic position in the region.There has as yet been no official reaction from China to the unusual step taken against it by its isolated ally.
-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15121801
------
Burma suspends $3.6bn China dam project
Burma’s authoritarian government has suspended the construction of a $3.6bn Chinese-backed hydroelectric dam in what is being seen as a conciliatory gesture to its opponents and possibly the most visible sign yet that it is prepared to reform.
The government has come under increasing pressure in recent months over the potential environmental and social impact of the 6,000mw Myitsone dam in Kachin state, northern Burma, which was to be built by the state-owned China Power Investment Corporation.
More
ON THIS STORY
Suu Kyi meets Burmese leader
Suu Kyi defies regime with ‘political’ trip
Peter Aspden Aung San Suu Kyi to give BBC lectures
Burma official opposition tries to straddle divide
Opinion It is time to fine-tune sanctions on Burma
There have been rare demonstrations in the country’s biggest city, Rangoon, against the dam, which would have flooded an area about the size of Singapore, and in an unprecedented move the government said on Friday that public opposition had swayed its decision on Friday.
In a statement to parliament read out on his behalf, Burma’s president, Thein Sein, said construction should be suspended because “it is against the will of the people”.
Mr Thein Sein said all construction would be stopped for the duration of his term – at least until 2015 – in a striking reversal for the government. Earlier this month, Zaw Min, minister for electric power, had vowed the project would go ahead despite swelling public opposition and widespread criticism.
The decision to suspend the deal comes as the nominally civilian government, which was handed power by the military junta in March, prepares to release some of the more than 2,000 political prisoners held in Burma – a measure seen as crucial to any hope of lifting international sanctions on the country imposed because of its human rights record.
The suspension was welcomed by Burma’s de facto opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who last year was released after 15 years under house arrest. “It’s very good of them to listen to the voice of the people,” said Ms Suu Kyi.
Environmentalists and local communities had argued that the dam threatened the flow of the powerful Irrawaddy River and warned that thousands of people from 63 villages would have to be moved to make way for it. As such the project had become a lightening rod for opposition to both the regime and also the growing role of China, which provided $10bn or two-thirds of all foreign investment in Burma over the financial year 2010-11.
Many Burmese – including some within the regime – have expressed concern about the influence that the Beijing government, and an estimated 2m Chinese immigrants, might exert.
The move may take some pressure off other Beijing-backed mega projects, such as the Shwe pipeline, which will carry oil and gas from the Indian Ocean to the Chinese province of Yunnan, and a planned railway link, which are less controversial but much more important to the economy.
“They made a very clear and bold decision to suspend the project,” said Aung Zaw, editor of the exile Irrawaddy Magazine, who has in the past been a trenchant critic of the government. “Burma is giving a signal to the west because they are feeling squeezed by China and they want the west to play a balancing role.”
China Power Investment Corp has not commented on the suspension.
Burma, for years an outcast in the international community, has shown clear signs of greater flexibility in recent months. President Thein Sein has held a number of meetings with Ms Suu Kyi – the last of which was on Friday. Wunna Maung Lwin, the foreign minister, said at the UN earlier this week that a release of political prisoners is imminent.
No details of the meetings between Mr Thein Sein and Ms Suu Kyi have been released but most observers believe his primary purpose is to obtain her support for a relaxation of sanctions on trade and investment. She is unlikely to agree without substantial releases of political prisoners, observers believe.
The Myitsone dam project was being developed jointly by Burma and China at the head of the Irrawaddy river in Burma's northern Kachin state.
Kachin rebels, who have been fighting government troops in a stop-start insurgency for years, were leading the opposition to the dam.
This year has been one of the most violent in Kachin state in more than a decade.
The dam, which was due for completion in 2019, would be one of the world's tallest at 152m (500ft) high.
The campaign against the project brought together conservationists, environmentalists, Kachin activists and the political opposition.
Their objections ranged from the lack of public consultation to the potential environmental impact of the project.
The dam would create a reservoir of some 766 sq km (300 sq miles) - about the size of Singapore - and displace thousands of ethnic Kachin villagers, our correspondent says.
"We have to respect the will of the people as our government is elected by the people," Thein Sein said.
"We have a responsibility to solve the worries of the people so we will stop construction of the Myitsone Dam during our current government."
The decision to suspend construction was unexpected.
Earlier this month, a report in the local Eleven journal said Electric Power Minister Zaw Min had declared that construction of the dam would proceed despite the objections.
Last week, police arrested a man who staged a rare solo protest against the project outside a Chinese embassy building in Rangoon, AFP news agency reported, and a rally this week against the project was also blocked.
After the decision, Aung San Suu Kyi said: "We understand the president in his memo to the national parliament has asked to suspend the Myitsone dam because of public concerns.
"Since every government should listen carefully to people's voices and tackle the concerned problems, I welcome this move."
The decision to halt construction was "a welcome surprise for everybody, inside and outside of Burma", Aung Zaw, editor of the Irrawaddy News website, based in northern Thailand, told the BBC.
"The people [are] really happy and welcome the decision made by President Thein Sein because it wasn't only [Aung San] Suu Kyi, let me remind you of that.
"It's the population, the whole Burmese who feel they belong to the culture heritage of the Irrawaddy river. They welcome the news."
Maung Maung Than, from the BBC's Burmese service, points out that the effect of damming the Irrawaddy - which flows from the north of Burma into the massive delta in the south - would have been felt throughout the country.
The vast majority of the power produced on the dam was to be exported to China, and correspondents say the dam had served to inflame growing anti-Chinese sentiment in Burma.
Beijing is investing vast sums in a series of big infrastructure projects aimed at exploiting Burma's rich natural resources and geographic position in the region.There has as yet been no official reaction from China to the unusual step taken against it by its isolated ally.
-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15121801
------
Burma suspends $3.6bn China dam project
Burma’s authoritarian government has suspended the construction of a $3.6bn Chinese-backed hydroelectric dam in what is being seen as a conciliatory gesture to its opponents and possibly the most visible sign yet that it is prepared to reform.
The government has come under increasing pressure in recent months over the potential environmental and social impact of the 6,000mw Myitsone dam in Kachin state, northern Burma, which was to be built by the state-owned China Power Investment Corporation.
More
ON THIS STORY
Suu Kyi meets Burmese leader
Suu Kyi defies regime with ‘political’ trip
Peter Aspden Aung San Suu Kyi to give BBC lectures
Burma official opposition tries to straddle divide
Opinion It is time to fine-tune sanctions on Burma
There have been rare demonstrations in the country’s biggest city, Rangoon, against the dam, which would have flooded an area about the size of Singapore, and in an unprecedented move the government said on Friday that public opposition had swayed its decision on Friday.
In a statement to parliament read out on his behalf, Burma’s president, Thein Sein, said construction should be suspended because “it is against the will of the people”.
Mr Thein Sein said all construction would be stopped for the duration of his term – at least until 2015 – in a striking reversal for the government. Earlier this month, Zaw Min, minister for electric power, had vowed the project would go ahead despite swelling public opposition and widespread criticism.
The decision to suspend the deal comes as the nominally civilian government, which was handed power by the military junta in March, prepares to release some of the more than 2,000 political prisoners held in Burma – a measure seen as crucial to any hope of lifting international sanctions on the country imposed because of its human rights record.
The suspension was welcomed by Burma’s de facto opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who last year was released after 15 years under house arrest. “It’s very good of them to listen to the voice of the people,” said Ms Suu Kyi.
Environmentalists and local communities had argued that the dam threatened the flow of the powerful Irrawaddy River and warned that thousands of people from 63 villages would have to be moved to make way for it. As such the project had become a lightening rod for opposition to both the regime and also the growing role of China, which provided $10bn or two-thirds of all foreign investment in Burma over the financial year 2010-11.
Many Burmese – including some within the regime – have expressed concern about the influence that the Beijing government, and an estimated 2m Chinese immigrants, might exert.
The move may take some pressure off other Beijing-backed mega projects, such as the Shwe pipeline, which will carry oil and gas from the Indian Ocean to the Chinese province of Yunnan, and a planned railway link, which are less controversial but much more important to the economy.
“They made a very clear and bold decision to suspend the project,” said Aung Zaw, editor of the exile Irrawaddy Magazine, who has in the past been a trenchant critic of the government. “Burma is giving a signal to the west because they are feeling squeezed by China and they want the west to play a balancing role.”
China Power Investment Corp has not commented on the suspension.
Burma, for years an outcast in the international community, has shown clear signs of greater flexibility in recent months. President Thein Sein has held a number of meetings with Ms Suu Kyi – the last of which was on Friday. Wunna Maung Lwin, the foreign minister, said at the UN earlier this week that a release of political prisoners is imminent.
No details of the meetings between Mr Thein Sein and Ms Suu Kyi have been released but most observers believe his primary purpose is to obtain her support for a relaxation of sanctions on trade and investment. She is unlikely to agree without substantial releases of political prisoners, observers believe.