Rescuing Myanmar, one cup at a time

Western bras “Made in Thailand” by Burmese workers forced across the border by Western sanctions

The Wall Street Journal’s man on the ground in Myanmar should be applauded for his nuanced reporting on a bra factory across the river in Thailand this Monday, which employees Burmese workers for $3 a day to produce lingerie that will end up in stores across the United States, under names like Maidenform and Vanity Fair. (Page 1: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB 119222553593857680.html?mod=hps_us_inside_today.)

While U.S. and E.U. sanctions prevent Western manufacturers from sourcing goods in the country formerly known as Burma, the WSJ reveals that multinationals have merely found a way around sanctions by establishing factories across the border, which produce clothing that bears the label “Made in Thailand,” but is really a product of desperate, and as a result, cheap, Burmese labor.

It comes as no surprise that the laissez-faire WSJ spotted and nailed this story of international trade beneath the headlines of the military junta arresting and beating protesting Buddhist monks and killing civilians. The article’s one weakness is that it gives into the temptation to paint the cost-conscious factory owners as saviors in the Adam Smith sense—by acting out of self-interest they provide jobs that the Burmese and its despotic military government need.

NewsShark Verdict: While the go-go gadget reach of global trade appears to be filling a void in this instance, it has also unquestionably contributed to the current economic stagnation in Myanmar, sustained the military junta’s rule and allowed the human rights abuses to continue. Conveniently, Chevron Corp. and Total SA’s $300 million a-piece- investments in Myanmar’s gas fields were grandfathered in under the current sanctions regime, so the generals will still get fat royalty payments no matter how many protesting monks are beaten and disappeared. Even if sanctions did cut off Western energy investments, resource-hungry China would more than pick up the slack, as Chinese energy companies are already starting to do.

And, as so often happens, while Myanmar exports natural gas and crude oil, it cannot refine those fuels and must import them and heavily subsidize fuel for its own citizens. Indeed, it was the spike in global fuel prices and subsequent cut in subsidies that sparked September’s street protests.

In the end, it’s clear that strengthening economic sanctions, which the Bush Administration is contemplating, will only make life more miserable for Myanmar’s people. Only increased investment will create more leverage with the military regime.