China's Burma problem; Whose baggage?
Regarding the article "Hundreds march in Myanmar over prices" (Aug. 23): Human rights activists and citizens marched through the streets of Rangoon in opposition to a steep rise of fuel prices. Unfortunately, policymakers around the world have not shown the same fortitude as these protesters. The UN Security Council has remained shamefully paralyzed on Burma for the past 8 months since China vetoed a multilateral resolution that would have condemned the country's military regime.
Thankfully, opposition to China's position on Burma seems to be growing. Last week, a group of members of parliament from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations called on China to modify its unequivocal support for the junta.
This move may represent the first time in recent history that China's own neighbors are balking at its perceived heavy-handedness in regional diplomacy. In particular, Southeast Asian lawmakers are unhappy that China refuses to endorse Ban Ki Moon and Asean's call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
China could easily reverse the growing frustration with its policy on Burma by endorsing a multilateral approach to to the country, publicly supporting Ban Ki Moon and Asean's calls for the release of Suu Kyi, ending attacks against ethnic minority civilians, and pressing Than Shwe, the military leader, to enter negotiations with Suu Kyi and Burma's ethnic minorities.
Such moves would not only bring greater stability to Burma, they would in no way undermine China's investments in the country. Those marching and bleeding in Rangoon - as well as those suffering and hiding in eastern Burma - hope for such an outcome.
I read with a certain surprise the article "Italy's American baggage" by Andrea Camilleri (Views, Aug. 24) on the case of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti.
The piece claims that "there is probably not a single Italian newspaper that has not devoted an article to the case every Aug. 23 from 1945 to the present."
I am a 50-year-old Italian that has spent 10 years in the U.S. and the rest in Italy, reading newspapers and, like most Italians, talking politics all the time. I never heard of Sacco and Vanzetti while in Italy. I heard about them while in the United States. Sacco and Vanzetti are in the historical memory of the Americans, not Italians.
Carlo Rovelli, Paris
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