Pubdate: Sat, 3 Apr 2004
Source: Nation, The (Thailand)
Copyright: 2004 Nation Multimedia Group
Contact:  http://www.nationmultimedia.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1963
Author: Don Pathan, The Nation
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Thailand
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Kucinich

US-Thai Relations: FTA With Thailand Opposed

Leading Congressman's Letter Slams Thaksin's 'Repression' of Freedom

A growing campaign in the US Congress to encourage the Bush Administration 
to re-evaluate its policy with Thailand has reached a new height, with a 
leading member of the House of Representatives making moves to derail 
upcoming talks on free trade with Thailand.

In a letter circulated to other US lawmakers and obtained by The Nation 
yesterday US Congressman Dennis J Kucinich, who is also a US presidential 
candidate for the Democrat Party, urged his colleagues not to support a 
free-trade agreement with Thailand "until we address Prime Minister 
Thaksin's repressive policies and his cosying up to Burma's brutal military 
junta".

The US Congress will be considering a new free-trade agreement with 
Thailand, and a veto by the American lawmakers could prove an embarrassment 
for both sides. US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick formally notified 
the US Congress in February of the intention to begin free-trade-agreement 
negotiations with Thailand.

Kucinich said: "Thailand is no longer the most democratic, open and free 
partner of the United States in Southeast Asia that it once was.

"Prime Minister Thaksin Shina-watra has orchestrated a sweeping crackdown 
and takeover of the news media," he said, pointing to apparent interference 
with the Thai media that had resulted in the removal of editors and 
journalists for criticism of the government.

Kucinich also criticised Thaksin's war on drugs, adding: "That too is 
marred by contempt for rule of law." He quoted Amnesty International 
reports, saying: "Thai authorities have been complicit in 2,600 
extrajudicial murders of suspected, but never convicted, drug traffickers."

He blasted the Thaksin government for "increasingly cosying up to Burma's 
military junta", the State Peace and Democratic Council (SPDC), and added 
that the government's endorsement of Rangoon's so-called road map to 
democracy was "clearly undermining US policy in the region".

"Let us not forget that last year Congress passed HR 2330, the Burmese 
Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003, by a vote of [418-2] to halt all imports 
from Burma so as to rebuke the SPDC for its atrocious human-rights record," 
he said.

"While it warms to the Burmese junta, Thaksin's Thailand is turning a cold 
shoulder to Burmese refugees," he said, pointing to a recent report by 
Human Rights Watch saying the government's repatriation "is placing 
[Burmese] refugees and undocumented asylum-seekers in danger of 
persecution, arrest, economic sanctions or other reprisals from government 
authorities upon return to Burma".

"Finally it must be noted that the majority of workers on the 
Thailand-Burma border working in Thai factories are Burmese refugees who 
are working in sweatshop-like conditions with absolutely no labour-rights 
standards," he said.

"Burmese trade-union organisers that have attempted to encourage workers to 
demand better labour protection are now facing persecution and are on the 
run from Thai police," he said.

"A free-trade agreement with Thailand will reward these anti-democracy, 
anti-human-rights practices by the Thaksin government. It will also bolster 
the military junta in Burma," he said.

US Senator Mitch McConnell made similar criticism in March of Thailand's 
Burma policy and alleged that it might have been shaped by the Shinawatra 
family's investment in that country.

"What investments, including projects and activities related to iPSTAR, do 
Shin Satellite and Shin Corporation have in Burma, and/or have planned for 
Burma?" McConnell asked the US Senate in early March.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell is scheduled to appear in front of the 
Senate's Foreign Appropriation Subcommittee later this month, and the 
Senator has said he will put the same questions to him. The subcommittee is 
chaired by McConnell.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake