Burmese Foreign Minister’s Statement to Chinese Ambassador during a Large Gathering of Ethnic Chinese, His Perspective, and Our Ideas for a Resolution

Burmese Foreign Minister told Ambassador Yao [Zhongming] that in a speech he [Yao] gave on October 1 to a group of Chinese expatriates he made inappropriate anti-American comments. He informed me that at the large gathering for expatriates on October 1 he made reference to “American imperialism.” In order to avoid a mess, it would be better to mind his tongue, he said. I replied that I ‘could not condemn what I myself believed’. Since American imperialism is a fact based on territorial invasions, why shouldn’t people be allowed to discuss it? The Burmese minister explained, “I do not support American imperialists’ invasions, and I support your objection, but I don’t want to cause trouble. I will allow for a normal reference to American imperialism or opposition to the American empire based on specific facts. But I shall speak out broadly against American imperialism.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded to Yao: “Minister Yao, in regard to what you have said about the subject of your October 1 lecture, this Ministry finds nothing inappropriate in your response…For the ambassador to inform our expatriates of this fact cannot in any way be construed as a violation of foreign relations etiquette.”