The Red Cross has mobilized in Myanmar following a cyclone that is estimated to have claimed over 20,000 lives. More info

Frida Ghitis: To help Burma, pressure China

Frida Ghitis  —  5/11/2008 7:13 am

During a visit to Burma a few years ago, I decided to avoid the country's legendarily deadly airlines and instead hire a car to take me along the somewhat less deadly roads. Distances that on the map looked like they should take an hour to cover took entire days.

The criminal extent of the country's neglect was already obvious in Rangoon, where I saw a mother sitting with a large crowd on a downtown sidewalk, despondently holding in her arms a baby so malnourished that I'm sure it died not long after I gave her a small amount of money, probably more than she had ever held in her hand at one time, and definitely more than the country's malignant military government spends on any of its desperate citizens in an entire year.

It comes as no surprise that Burma's army is largely absent during the people's time of need. With tens of thousands dead and perhaps millions homeless, the brutal government of Burma is a no-show. The best its people can hope for is that the world will persuade the junta to allow international aid without the generals stealing too much of the money.

Burma, according to Transparency International, is the world's most corrupt country. It also spends less on health and education than almost any nation on Earth -- about $2 a year for both. By some accounts, most Burmese live on less than a dollar a day, enduring hunger in a country that used to be the world's leading exporter of rice, and one of the most promising economies in Asia.

The Burmese generals, talented as they are, could not have managed to destroy their country all alone. No, to achieve that, they secured support from China. The same country that grinds its heel on Tibet and helps finance genocide in Darfur is the one country that can influence the greedy generals to let the world do what they themselves should be doing: help the Burmese people. China, which never saw a dictator it would not do business with, has sold weapons and handed cheap loans to the generals.

If China will not intercede now, it does not deserve even a single head of state attending its precious Olympic Games.

Instead of attacking the generals, as the Bush administration is doing when seconds count, it should be pressuring Beijing to push the doors to Burma open.

The roads outside Rangoon came to mind when I heard about the latest tragedy to befall the tragedy-overloaded Burmese people. Even without a cyclone, the roads are impassable. That's because the authorities have little to gain by investing in any infrastructure that doesn't enrich the generals. After this natural disaster, it's hard to imagine large quantities of supplies making it through to the millions in need.

When talking about Burma and Rangoon, it must be noted that the generals who stole power from their people 46 years ago renamed the country Myanmar and its former capital Yangon. As long as their power-grab remains illegitimate, as it does, the new names also are illegitimate.

Along the road to the ancient city of Bagan -- from which residents where expelled by the generals -- we saw gangs of slave laborers, including children working in the broiling summer heat. With metal picks they made minor road repairs as a lone soldier stood guard with his rifle. More common were sad efforts by villagers to make a little money by filling the impassable craters with the help of a small, broken shovel, rather than the bulldozer the government should have provided. Drivers handed a few Kyat, the worthless Burmese currency, to the emaciated entrepreneurs.

Washington's reaction immediately after the storm, however well intentioned, can only prove counterproductive. Attacking the generals now will only put them on their heels. The generals plainly don't care about their people. They will only listen to their patrons in China. Right now, China does care what we think. It's time to tell China that it too will be held responsible for the tragedy in Burma, unless it acts immediately to have the junta open the country to international aid. The rocky road to Burma's salvation goes through Beijing.

Frida Ghitis, a world affairs columnist and international consultant, spent more than 15 years at CNN as a correspondent, producer and unit manager.

Frida Ghitis  —  5/11/2008 7:13 am