Wednesday, May 14, 2008; A18
A MASSIVE earthquake in central China appears to have prompted a quick and aggressive response from the Chinese government. Tens of thousands of troops have been deployed to the stricken region, and Premier Wen Jiabao is personally directing rescue efforts at the quake's epicenter. The highly publicized operation is a dramatic change from Beijing's reaction to previous disasters: The last earthquake of similar proportions, in 1976, was treated like a state secret. It also starkly contrasts with the rapidly worsening situation in neighboring Burma, where up to 2 million people have been imperiled by the criminal failure of the country's military regime to provide relief in the 12 days since Cyclone Nargis struck the country.
Yet China is contributing to the mounting man-made disaster in Burma even as it rescues its own citizens. The communist government has adopted the position that it will welcome international aid for earthquake victims, but not foreign aid workers -- the same xenophobic stance that Burma's military junta has taken. In China's case, it may be that international disaster experts are unnecessary. In the case of Burma, their inability to enter the country -- and the regime's restriction and misappropriation of aid deliveries -- is compounding what U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called "a grave humanitarian crisis."
While indirectly bolstering the junta's resistance to foreign assistance, China is also shielding Burma from pressure to open up. It has led the opposition at the U.N. Security Council to proposals that humanitarian aid be authorized for Burma without the regime's consent, under the U.N. doctrine known as "responsibility to protect." Beijing also resists a milder proposal for a U.N. resolution ordering Burma to accept relief and allow rescue efforts.
More than abstract principles of sovereignty are at stake here. As Mr. Ban and other U.N. officials have been warning in increasingly blunt statements, hundreds of thousands of lives could be at risk if Burma's intransigence continues. As of now, the U.N. has been able to deliver less than 20 percent of the food it says is needed in the stricken Irrawaddy Delta. There is a severe risk of epidemic because of the failure to provide clean drinking water or dispose of bodies. To prevent "a second catastrophe," a U.N. spokeswoman in Geneva said yesterday, an air or sea corridor is needed to channel massive quantities of supplies into Burma, along with heavy lift helicopters to distribute it. Those could be provided by U.S., French and British naval ships within reach of Burma's southern coast -- if only the regime would allow it.
Almost certainly it will not do so unless compelled. The U.S. and European forces have the option to act unilaterally -- and they should not rule it out, though such an operation would be fraught with obstacles and risks. The Bush administration and its allies must meanwhile insist that the Security Council formally debate a resolution mandating that Burma immediately accept a U.N.-coordinated relief and rescue operation. China must understand that its refusal to cooperate with such an effort will make it complicit in the loss of Burmese lives and in the crime against humanity that Burma's generals are committing-- and that the offense will not be forgotten before the opening of the Beijing Olympics.
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