Chinese president visit good omen for dialogue

Chinese president visit good omen for dialogue: Shan politician

A 3-day tour of Burma by President Jiang Zeming that begins today is hailed by an exiled Shan politician as a positive sign for the ongoing talks in Rangoon between the military authorities and Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Sao Sengsuk a.k.a. Khun Kya Nu, from his home in Chiangmai, said he believed the visit bode well for the acceleration of the reconciliation process. "China has a big stake in it: firstly, it is facing uncontrollable problems of HIV/AIDS and drugs that originate from Burma. Secondly, the development of Yunnan as an inter-regional economic zone is currently stuck at the borders of Burma, both of which problems can not be resolved until Burma's internal affairs are straightened out. Last but not least, China's other neighbors have been pressing her to start behaving as a responsible superpower and not allow unruly members of the community to mess up their common interests," he said. 

Sao Sengsuk, however, did not explain why he was so surprisingly positive about Jiang's trip to Burma. 

Sao Sengsuk, 66, is the son to the late Khun Kya Bu, one of the signatories of the Panglong Agreement that united the non-Burman states with Burma in 1947 and brother to Khun Kya Oo, the founder of Shan Human Rights Foundation who died in 1997. A former commander-in-chief of the Shan State Army, he is currently holding several offices: 

Coordinator of the Shan State Organization; Spokesman of the Shan Democratic Union, of which the SSO is a member organization; Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Commission-Shan State, and Member of the Advisory Board of the National Reconciliation Program.