Sunday, September 30, 2007

Burma-China's role in crushing pro democracy protests

The following is an excerpt taken from an article in the Timesonline
Diplomatic sources with access to military intelligence reports have disclosed that the United States and Britain learnt earlier this year of an intense programme of training and cooperation between Burma and China that focused on counterinsurgency and the suppression of street protests.
Diplomatic sources identified the key liaison man as Colonel Fen Lian Feng, a specialist in psychological warfare and counter-subversion who is stationed at the Chinese embassy in Rangoon.
Fen has overseen the supply of automatic weapons that fire rubber-coated steel bullets, new communications gear, teargas and other chemical agents used in crowd control. He has also given the Burmese access to tactical training in confronting crowds using methods taught by the PLA and China’s internal security forces.
The classic doctrine is to get informers into the movement, allow the demonstrations to proceed, break them up with the sudden use of force, identify and arrest the ringleaders and then clamp down hard to seize data, block information and stop people gathering again.

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