Australia called on China and India on Tuesday to pressure Burma to end rights abuses and democratize faster, saying efforts by Southeast Asia and the West have failed to move Rangoon's "insensitive" leaders.
Military-ruled Burma has been the target of stinging criticism at this week's annual gathering in Manila of the Asean foreign ministers and their dialogue partners, including Australia.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Western sanctions and threats as well as Asean's approach of "constructive engagement" have failed to convince Burma's military junta to end years of rights abuses and make significant process along a "roadmap" to democracy.
"I hate to say this, but it seems to me that nothing has worked," Downer told reporters on the sidelines of the Manila meetings.
Burma's "leadership seems completely insensitive to and impervious to the views of the outside world," he said.
Downer said he hoped that China and India, which have important economic ties with Burma, would make its ruling junta realize that current conditions there jeopardize the small Southeast Asian nation's future.
Downer said he displayed his exasperation when he met his Burma counterpart, Nyan Win, in a meeting in Manila.
Downer told him that in more than a decade of meetings with Burma's top diplomats, he has repeatedly asked when the junta would undertake democratic reforms or release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
"I said to the foreign minister, `I suppose, this time next year, if I'm back again, you'll just give me the same answer—constitutional reform still under way,"' he said. "It's been under way for more than a decade."
Asked what the best approach toward Burma was, Downer said governments have no choice but to persistently demand change.
Asean has repeatedly said it hopes to encourage democratic reforms in Burma through "constructive engagement" with the junta, but has made little progress.
Asean foreign ministers expressed concern to Burma on Monday about its slow pace of change and urged it to "show tangible progress that would lead to a peaceful transition to democracy in the near future."
"We continue to express concern on the detention of all political detainees and reiterate our calls for their early release," they said in a statement.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the group specifically mentioned opposition leader Suu Kyi, but that Burma did not promise to free her.
Military-ruled Burma has been the target of stinging criticism at this week's annual gathering in Manila of the Asean foreign ministers and their dialogue partners, including Australia.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Western sanctions and threats as well as Asean's approach of "constructive engagement" have failed to convince Burma's military junta to end years of rights abuses and make significant process along a "roadmap" to democracy.
"I hate to say this, but it seems to me that nothing has worked," Downer told reporters on the sidelines of the Manila meetings.
Burma's "leadership seems completely insensitive to and impervious to the views of the outside world," he said.
Downer said he hoped that China and India, which have important economic ties with Burma, would make its ruling junta realize that current conditions there jeopardize the small Southeast Asian nation's future.
Downer said he displayed his exasperation when he met his Burma counterpart, Nyan Win, in a meeting in Manila.
Downer told him that in more than a decade of meetings with Burma's top diplomats, he has repeatedly asked when the junta would undertake democratic reforms or release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
"I said to the foreign minister, `I suppose, this time next year, if I'm back again, you'll just give me the same answer—constitutional reform still under way,"' he said. "It's been under way for more than a decade."
Asked what the best approach toward Burma was, Downer said governments have no choice but to persistently demand change.
Asean has repeatedly said it hopes to encourage democratic reforms in Burma through "constructive engagement" with the junta, but has made little progress.
Asean foreign ministers expressed concern to Burma on Monday about its slow pace of change and urged it to "show tangible progress that would lead to a peaceful transition to democracy in the near future."
"We continue to express concern on the detention of all political detainees and reiterate our calls for their early release," they said in a statement.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the group specifically mentioned opposition leader Suu Kyi, but that Burma did not promise to free her.
