Pubdate: Wed, 03 Sep 1997 Source: International Herald Tribune Sept 2, U.K. Official Bars Burma From Meeting, Citing Drugs Compiled by IHT staff from dispaches SINGAPOREThe British foreign secretary, Robin Cook, condemned the Burmese government Monday, saying that it profited from the drug trade and that it would not be admitted to a meeting of European and Asian government leaders next year. Mr. Cook said at a meeting of business leaders in Singapore that Europe's recent decision to deny visas to senior Burmese officials made their inclusion at the AsiaEurope Meeting in London in April impossible. In response to Mr. Cook's remarks, Burma assailed Britain as "the world's No. 1 culprit" for narcotics. A senior military official said that the drug problem Burma is "encountering today is the direct result of Britain's colonial strategy 150 years ago." "Whether Mr. Cook is ignorant of the fact or deliberately trying to cover up the most irresponsible and unforgivable criminal act Britain committed by forcefully introducing opium into Asia is anybody's guess," the official added. Burma was a British colony from the mid19th century until independence in 1948. The opium trade provided major revenues for Britain from many of its territories in Asia. The AsiaEurope Meeting is a forum linking the 15 members of the European Union with Japan, China, South Korea and some members of the Association of South East Asian Nations. ASEAN admitted Burma to its ranks this year, despite strong Western criticism of Rangoon's record on human rights and the flourishing drug trade in the country. "There is a common European position across all European countries not to grant visas to ministers from Burrna which will make it impossible for us to consider the inclusion of Burma in the ASEAN process next year," Mr. Cook said at the end of a fournation tour of Southeast Asia. "Burma is the largest single world producer of opium, and it has achieved that infamous position precisely because it is a government that does not act against the drug barons," he said. "It is not only a deeply repressive regime, but it is also a deeply irresponsible regime in that it is one of the few governments in the world whose members are prepared to profit out of the drugs trade rather than to seek to suppress the drugs trade," he added. Mr. Cook said at a news conference before leaving for home that Britain could bar Burma from the gathering because it was not a bloctobloc meeting but a voluntary dialogue between nations. (Reuters, AFP)