AP

Posted: 2007-10-16 06:19:17

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) – China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should use their influence to help fix the “atrocious situation” in Myanmar , one of Washington’s top diplomats in Asia said Tuesday.

“It’s an atrocious situation. No one country can solve this problem, we have to work together on this,” U.S. Undersecretary of State Christopher Hill told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio during a trip to Sydney.

The military junta in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been at the center of international ire since it launched a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters last month. A U.N. special envoy returned to Asia this week to urge countries to take the lead in resolving the crisis.

Hill, whose area of responsibility is the Asia-Pacific region, said China should tell Myanmar’s isolated ruling generals they cannot expect protection from Beijing, one of the junta’s chief backers.

“China increasingly understands that in the long run its not good for China, not good for the region, China’s reputation, that it has a situation like Burma,” Hill said.

“So one hopes that in working with the Chinese, we can make the Burmese understand that they can’t go hiding behind the Chinese and ignore everyone else,” he said.

ASEAN, a mostly trade grouping that allowed Myanmar to join in 1997, has a policy of not interfering in the internal affairs of its 10 members. But Hill said that ASEAN is beginning to get involved in the situation in Myanmar.

“But ASEAN cannot do this without China getting into the mix as well,” Hill said. “So we need to work on ways to work with China.”