If the European Union may be faulted for downplaying human rights issues in its diplomatic relations with economically booming China, the grouping has certainly been consistent to its democratic ideals in dealing with Myanmar.

Both Myanmar and China are run by one-party regimes. Both countries brutally cracked down on pro-democracy movements in the late 1980s – Myanmar crushed anti-military protests in September, 1988, leaving hundreds dead, while China had its similar Tiananmen incident in 1989. Both countries have also opened their economics up to foreign investment and trade after years of socialism.

Thereafter the similarities start to peel away.

While China has transformed itself over the past decade-and-a-half into the world’s fastest growing economy, improved the livelihoods of millions of its people and won itself diplomatic clout on the world stage, Myanmar has remained an economic backwater and political pariah, condemned by the international community for its ongoing human rights abuses, and has become as increasing embarrassment to its Asian neighbours.

With less to lose, Western democracies have been truer to their ideals on human rights and political freedoms in their foreign policy dealings with Myanmar than with China.

Multilateral organizations such as the World Bank, IMF and Asian Development Bank (ADB) ended their aid to Myanmar in the wake of the 1988 crackdown. All bilateral assistance to Myanmar from Western democracies also dried up that year.

Although the EU has not prohibited its private sector from investing in Myanmar, as the US did in the early 1990s, it has slapped political sanctions on the country, denying its military leaders visas to visit Europe and banning foreign investments with any Myanmar state enterprises.

Even so, European investment in Myanmar has been minimal, in keeping with the general trend away from South-East Asia.

“Myanmar is off the radar screen,” said Stefan Buerkle, business economics chief at the German-Thai Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok. “If German companies invest at all its mostly in Eastern Europe and in Asia it’s China, China, China. The second hype now coming up is India.”

The EU’s “common position” on Myanmar is that sanctions will stay in place until there is significant progress on the country’s political front, specifically in terms of taking steps towards introducing political reforms and freeing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a democracy icon of Nelson Mandela proportions in Western democracies who has been under house arrest for 11 of the past 16 years.

Why is there no similar EU pressure on China? One obvious reason is the draw of the Chinese economy, but there are also political factors.

“There are in Europe many strong lobby groups working on Myanmar, and our politicians and policy makers have to take into consideration what these people are saying, but I’m not sure there are similar lobbies on China. It’s bizarre,” said Jean Francois Cautain, political counsellor for the European Commission in Bangkok, which oversees Myanmar.

A second point, noted Cautain, is that while the EU has made progress in at least discussing sensitive issues such as human rights with China, and other one-party states in Asia such as Laos and Vietnam, no similar progress has been visible in Myanmar.

One reason, of course, is because the EU has pretty much severed all political contacts with the regime over the years and has few bargaining chips left to play, diplomatic sources note.

Then too, Myanmar’s military regime has been remarkably good at cutting itself off from diplomatic contacts. It’s decision last year to move its capital from Yangon to Pyinmana, in the middle of nowhere, is a good example.

Even Myanmar’s partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have grown increasingly frustrated with the ruling junta’s failure to make political progress.

While the EU and US were initially outraged by ASEAN’s decision to accept Myanmar as a member in 1997, they have learned to live with it.

“I think we’ve overcome that now,” Cautain said. “We know that Myanmar is part of ASEAN and we know that some of our ASEAN partners are not really happy with the situation there.”

One flaw with the EU’s current policy towards Myanmar is that, having severed all aid and curtailed diplomatic ties, it has few bargaining chips with which to pressure the ruling regime, European sources admit. Furthermore, there are grounds for arguing the greatest victims of the effort to isolate Myanmar economically are the Myanmar people themselves.

In an effort to address that latter criticism, the EU earlier this year opened an office in Yangon to handle humanitarian assistance to the populace and will next month announce its participation in a “Three-D” programme to tackle the countries three main diseases malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.