Thailand Openly Backs Myanmar Pipeline : Asia: Nation is the major investor in controversial project co-funded by Unocal.

From the vantage point of Deputy Prime Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, the difference between Thailand and its more controversial neighbor, the renegade nation of Myanmar (formerly Burma), is a few miles and several decades of development.

That’s why Thailand makes no apologies for its role as a major investor in a controversial natural-gas pipeline project in Myanmar that has prompted widespread protests against Los Angeles-based Unocal Corp.

Back in the mid-1970s, it was Thailand’s military leaders who were criticized for crushing a democratically elected government and promoting economic development at the expense of political freedom. Today it is the military regime in Myanmar that is under attack from abroad for its repression of political dissent and harsh treatment of ethnic minorities.

Then, as now, it was foreign companies such as Unocal that offered these developing countries badly needed hard currency and technology, according to Supachai, who was interviewed in Los Angeles last week during a conference sponsored by the U.S.-Thailand Business Council.

Today, Thailand is one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies. It anticipates spending $60 billion on infrastructure projects in the next few years.

That history, and a shared border, are why Thailand is the top investor in Myanmar and a partner with Unocal and Total, the French energy giant, in building a $1-billion natural-gas pipeline across that country, according to the Thai diplomat. Thailand, where Unocal has been producing natural gas since 1981, will be the major customer for the gas from the Myanmar project.

As a close neighbor of Myanmar, Thailand has a lot more at stake than a steady supply of energy. Thousands of refugees, fleeing the fighting between Myanmar’s military and a collection of rebel groups, live in camps in Thailand.

“We can’t turn our back on our neighbor,” Supachai said.

For the Clinton administration, Myanmar is yet another spot where its efforts to promote democracy and expand U.S. commercial interests abroad have collided.

Human rights groups want Unocal and other U.S. companies to withdraw from Myanmar, arguing that they are propping up a repressive military regime that has imprisoned the country’s legitimately elected leaders, including Nobel Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. They also cite reports from refugees that the Burmese military is displacing villagers along the pipeline route and is using forced labor to clear the area.

Federated Department Stores, the owner of Macy’s, announced last week it will halt clothing production in Myanmar within three months because it has become unprofitable. Eddie Bauer, Liz Claiborne and Levi Strauss pulled out of the country earlier, citing concerns over human rights abuses and political instability.

Unocal executives argue their pipeline project will benefit the people of Myanmar by providing jobs and eventually the power needed to develop the impoverished country.

Unocal spokesman David Garcia denied reports that forced labor is being used in connection with the pipeline project. He said the route is still being surveyed, and the final path has not even been selected.

Supachai said he meets regularly with Myanmar’s leaders and Thai business people who work in that country and has found no evidence of forced labor being used on the pipeline project. He said as the country attracts more tourism and business travel, it becomes difficult to hide widespread human rights abuses.

He expressed optimism that Aung San Suu Kyi will be released soon.

“Our prime minister asks about this every time he meets with the Burmese leaders,” he said.

Supachai, whose government is a leading advocate of a “constructive engagement” policy with Myanmar, argues an economic boycott would send that country “back to the dark ages.” An increase in foreign trade and tourism, on the other hand, will force the military to give people more freedom as it relaxes border controls and encourages entrepreneurship, he said.

Something as simple as Thailand’s construction of a road across Burma into China will increase contact between the Myanmar people and their neighbors, Supachai said.

“Eventually, the (Myanmar) government can’t avoid giving more choices to their people,” he said.

Thailand also supports bringing Myanmar’s leaders into the international arena by involving them more closely with their neighbors in the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations, the region’s major economic group.

As Myanmar attracts more foreign investment and expands its economy, it will naturally lead to the creation of an educated middle class that will be able to push from within for expanded political and economic freedoms, Supachai said.

“Burma’s situation is much like Thailand a couple of decades ago. It will change not because of outside pressure, but because of changes from within.”