Kyodo News Service

BANGKOK, Sept. 2 (Kyodo) Myanmar's ruling junta said Tuesday a statement by
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook that the junta is conniving with drug
traffickers was hypocritical coming from the country which introduced poppy
cultivation into Myanmar 150 years ago.

''The British foreign secretary's statement criticizing Myanmar of
involvement in narcotics drugs is regarded here as the century's greatest
hypocritical statement,'' said a statement issued in Bangkok.

It said Myanmar's current drug problem is the direct result of Britain's
colonial strategy of 150 years ago, when it introduced poppy cultivation into
Myanmar and sanctioned trade in opium to provide a source of revenue for the
colonial government.

Britain ruled Burma, now called Myanmar, from the early 1800s to 1948, when
Burma became independent.

''Britain should actually be taking the lead in assisting the victim
countries clean up the mess she had originally and internationally created
instead of pointing fingers at Myanmar to cover up her own fault,'' the
junta's statement said.

Cook told a news conference Monday in Singapore that Myanmar ''is the largest
single world producer of opium, and it has achieved that infamous position
precisely because it is a government that does not act against the drug
barons.''

''It is not only a deeply repressive regime, but it is also a deeply
irresponsible regime in that it is one of the few governments in the world
whose members are prepared to profit out of the drugs trade rather than to
seek to suppress the drugs trade,'' he added.