Shans accuse Japan of condoning

Shans accuse Japan of condoning "criminals" 

A respected overseas Shan has charged Tokyo as overlooking criminal actions of Rangoon by its recent approval to grant its largest aid since 1988. 

Referring to the $ 28.6 million grant for the repair of the Japanese-built Baluchaung Hydropower Station II in Kayah (Karenni) State in his letter to the Foreign Minister on 1 May, Prince Hso-khan-fah Yawnghwe, who resides in Canada, said, "We are deeply shocked... The necessity of a democratic nation, such as Japan, extending aid and support to prop us this brutal dictatorship is incomprehensible and offensive." 

The Japanese government has taken this decision in spite of its full knowledge of the regime's activities "such as murder, torture, rape, robber and drug trafficking." 

"The implication is the tacit approval of condoning criminal actions by a legitimate government of an illegal one," he said. 

Hso-khan-fah, 63, is the eldest son of the late Sao Shwe Thaike, former ruling prince of Yawnghwe and the first president of the Union of Burma, and brother to well-known Shan activists, Chao Tzang and Harn Yawnghwe. 

The Baluchaung River originates from the Inlay lake of Yawnghwe. 

Their mother is Sao Hearnkham, who co-authored "The White Elephant", a book on Shan politics last year. 

A Japanese pro-democracy activist said, "It is hard to say what (Prime Minister) Koizumi will do. He has been very vague and is not known for strength in foreign affairs. But he has appointed Makiko Tanaka as Foreign Minister, and she is quite favorable to China". 

The Karenni National Progress Party and the National Coalition Government have voiced their protests earlier.