SINGAPORE (AFP) — China and India need to do more to pressure Myanmar's military rulers to bring about democratic reforms in the country, US Senator Joe Lieberman said Friday.
India in particular can use leverage from its close proximity and economic contacts to influence the junta, he said at a press conference ahead of a regional security forum in Singapore.
Lieberman, the Democratic candidate for vice-president in 2000, is chairman of the United States Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee.
"The answer is 'yes' that China and India need to do more," Lieberman said when asked if the two Asian giants should be more forceful on impoverished, cyclone-devastated Myanmar.
Asked to elaborate about what India can do, he said: "Well, it's closer to the scene... perhaps it has more direct, including economic, contacts with Myanmar and can use that influence to try to progressively create better conditions for the people of Myanmar."
China is one of Myanmar's closest allies, a key trade partner, and one of the few countries believed to hold any sway with the secretive ruling junta.
New Delhi has forged a close relationship with Myanmar's junta in recent years to tackle insurgent groups along their border. The two sides also signed several accords including one involving 130 million US dollars of Indian investment in Myanmar's Sittwe port.
Lieberman is in Singapore to attend the seventh Shangri-La Dialogue over the weekend.
Also known as the Asia Security Summit, the meeting of defence and national security officials and analysts is organised by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, an independent think-tank.
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