A Burmese officer is quoted in a cable sent from the US embassy in Rangoon to Washington as witnessing the building of an underground facility 300 miles north west of the capital.

An expatriate businessman witnessed a barge carrying reinforced steel bars of a diameter that suggested a large project and dockworkers saw other suspicious items arriving.

“The North Koreans, aided by Burmese workers, are constructing a concrete-reinforced underground facility that is ‘500ft from the top of the cave to the top of the hill above’,” according to the cable obtained by WikiLeaks and printed in the Guardian.

via WikiLeaks: Burma ‘building nuclear site with North Korea’s help’ – Telegraph.

thaileaks
Thailand's withering democracy has also affected its posture toward its neighbors, leading to a demonstrable upswing in relations with like-minded countries, most noticeably Myanmar.

Following Myanmar’s November elections, universally attacked by Western governments as neither free nor fair, Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was quoted as saying that, “a single election could not change Burma’s situation overnight,” and that Thailand “would deal with the new government emerging from the election in an open and constructive way.” The remarks were duly noted by the Myanmar junta.

Although former Prime Minster Thaksin Shinawatra had business links with the junta, Bangkok has historically maintained a pro-Western and anti-junta position regarding Myanmar. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, noted that the last Thai prime minister hailing from the Democratic Party, Chuan Leekpai, made a point of not setting foot on Myanmar soil in the late-1990s due to the junta’s oppressive grip on power. Conversely, Abhisit not only visited Naypyidaw — Myanmar’s secluded new capital — but also came home with a multi-billion-dollar port-development deal. “Thailand’s relative emphasis on human rights and democracy as its foreign policy underpinnings have gone out the window,” Thitinan wrote recently.

About the author

Bangkok Correspondent at Siam News Network

Bangkok Correspondent for Siam News Network. Editor at Thailand Business News

1 comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Get notified of our weekly selection of news

You May Also Like

Global Woes Cast Shadow over ASEAN+3 Growth

The continuing strict dynamic zero-COVID policy and real estate sector weakness in China and potential recessions in the United States and the euro area are weighing on the region’s outlook.

China’s Reopening Should Bring Timely Boost to ASEAN+3

Deteriorating global economic conditions are weighing on the region’s outlook, but China’s reopening last December should provide some counterbalance.