*In Senate floor speech, McConnell calls on India to abstain from supporting the military junta in Burma*

Washington, DC – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following floor statement Tuesday on the situation in Burma:

“The British statesman Edmund Burke once wrote: ‘When bad men combine, the good must associate.’ Such vivid moral clarity is nowhere better reflected than in the recent events involving Burma.

“In Burma, we have indeed witnessed the combination of bad men—a combination of corrupt military junta leaders and compliant thugs in the Burmese security forces. “This combination recently carried out the brutal suppression of peaceful protests in Burma, killing and imprisoning untold numbers of nonviolent demonstrators, including scores of Buddhist monks.

“What is now needed is for the good to associate.

“The global struggle against terrorism has compelled us to increase our foreign policy engagement in places such as the Horn of Africa, Indonesia and the Philippines.

“In the coming decades, we must realize that China and India are two countries that will play a larger role on the world stage.

“One would have hoped that as India takes on a greater role as a regional power, and as a growing economic power, that pro-democracy elements within Burma could look to associate with its next-door neighbor, the largest democracy on the planet.

“Our nation is pursuing a closer relationship with India in terms of military-to-military contacts and in the development of nuclear energy. India should be wary of coddling the junta in Burma.

“The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently put out a strong statement condemning the brutality in Burma. Instead of echoing the sentiments of Burma’s ASEAN neighbors, the Indian government has only issued tepid statements at best.

“In so doing, India has put itself in league with China and Russia.

“This is all the more troubling since India had been supportive of Burmese reformers in the early 1990s.

“As India assumes a greater role on the world stage more will be asked of it, and this is just such a case. India needs to recognize that responsibility and abstain from supporting the military junta in Burma.

“India needs to use its influence as Asia’s longest-lived democracy to associate with the pro-democracy forces of Burma and press for reforms.

“Understandably India has important interests in its neighbor to the East. For one, India wants to counter the influence of China in Burma. That said, it should look beyond its near-term interests.

“What better way to blunt Chinese influence in Burma than to work to bring about a Burma that reflects the Indian values of democracy and openness, rather than a Burma that reflects the anti-democratic values of the Chinese government?

“I strongly urge the Indian government to reconsider its position on Burma; to speak directly to the regime’s recent actions; and to work for the cause of democracy and reconciliation in Burma.

“Only then can the combination of bad men leading Burma be checked.”

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