China asks for calm in Burma

Burma’s closest ally China today issued a plea for calm in the face of a looming disastrous confrontation between protesters and troops.

It called on all sides to exercise restraint , but asked the military-led government to “properly deal” with the unfolding conflict.

“China hopes that all parties in Burma exercise restraint and properly handle the current issue so as to ensure the situation there does not escalate and get complicated,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

Jiang said that order should be restored quickly so that neither Burma’s nor the region’s stability was affected and called on its government to address the domestic tensions that caused the unrest.

“We hope that Burma would be devoted to improving the people’s welfare, maintaining national harmony, and properly dealing with its domestic social conflict so that as to restore peace at an early date,” she said.

China’s communist government has developed close diplomatic ties with junta leaders and is a major trading partner and investor in its neighbour. But with the Beijing Olympics 11 months away, China is eager to fend off criticism that it shelters unpopular or abusive regimes around the world.