Containing What?
During his press conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York last week, U Thant held up his own country, Burma, as an example of how a Communist threat could be contained without the loss of 'one precious American life.' U Thant's praise for Burma was Personally understandable, but politically dis- ingenuous. It is difficult to find out precisely what is going on there, but Philip Goodhart has recently returned from Burma and given me his impressions of a confused scene. Estimates of the amount of territory out of control of the central government are necessarily sketchy, but about 25 Per cent of the Burmese budget is devoted to the War against a variety of insurgents. So far none of the rebels, including the Communists, seem to have received any noteworthy assistance from foreign countries, but the possibility of external assistance to the rebels is always there. If China helps the Communists, it is doubtful whether India and Thailand can stand aside. The possi-
bility of chaos in Central Burma is one of the major threats to stability in the Far East.
The first diplomatic gesture of Mr. Wilson's government was the handing back of the Mandalay regalia. Within weeks of this con- ciliatory move the last important British assets in the country—a jointly owned Unilever factory and the silver mines—were nationalised. Even if the Burmese government wished to pay adequate compensation there is no foreign currency readily available. Goodhart makes the point that economic austerity is matched by political repression. The former Prime Minister, that gentle Buddhist socialist U Nu, is held in un- comfortable custody with some 2,000 sup- porters whose families have to fend for them- selves. Meanwhile the sizeable Indian community is being squeezed out of the country at a rate of 1,000 a month.
Ironically the present Burmese government tried to stop a reception being given for U Thant by the diplomatic corps when he last visited Rangoon. In the end U Thant was allowed to have a party: but it seems premature to talk of Burma containing the threat of Communism, or even the danger of total collapse.
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