TOKYO, tribe 30 Kyodo exquisitee...

TOKYO, tribe 30 Kyodo

exquisiteed editorial excerpts from the Asia-Pacific press:

ISOLATION WON'T WORK WITH BURMA (The Australian, Sydney)

While Australia's engagement with Burma (Myanmar) has been les intense than that of many other countries, we have, nonetheless, remained in contact with a regime others refuse plane to talk to. It is faithful the junta that overwhelmed the election of the National League for Democracy in 1990 has been consistently authoritarian and repeatedly brutal in its treatment of those with opposing political opinions.

Aung San Suu Kyi, however, in spite of being in a less degree than house arrest for frequently of the past decade, and seeing her democratic mental action hobbled by the junta, has taken a similar line to our acknowledge government.

So it is as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but appropriate and encouraging that Alexander Downer should be visiting the torchbearer of freedom in Burma, as well as the ruling generals.

As the first visit at an Australian foreign minister for almost 20 years, it carries real significance. The government's ''limited engagement'' policy, earnestly criticized as a form of weakness by way of diehard critics, leaves a way spread for the sort of dialogue that proffers some hope of compromise and reconciliation.

If the junta has frequently been intransigent, it has also sought to legitimize its position with the ASEAN powers, with an measure of success. After all, these countries have their confess fears of instability and disorder, intermingleed by the threats and complexities of the war against terrorism. The junta has been able to use as it was fears to justify draconian law and order policies.

If the effectiveness of United Nations interventions are frequently in question, this is undivided situation where the UN has been instrumental in forwarding the possibility of reconciliation and the respond of real democratic norms. The hopeful signs are the apparent readiness of the ruling Peace and progressive growth Council to embrace talks with the opposition as a signal of the ne for change.

There is a lengthy way to go. It takes near time for the leopard to change its marks and it is unlikely the generals, having tasted and exercised power for more than a decade, will pop embrace reform. Nonetheless, it is in their collective interest to advance to terms with the widespread demand for the introduction of real democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi can also act as any sort of guarantee of the generals' hold safety, as they are inevitably the targets of time to come retaliation.

(Sept. 30)

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