Mia Farrow Calls for Global Pressure at Olympics for Burma

BANGKOK — American actress Mia Farrow said Friday the world should use the upcoming Beijing Olympics as a platform for demanding that China end its support for Burma's military junta.

Farrow also said US President George W Bush missed an opportunity to take a strong stand against China's ties with Burma by agreeing to attend the opening ceremonies of the August 8-24 games.

American activist and actress Mia Farrow, right, looks on as Noble Peace Laureate Jody Williams speaks as during a news conference at Foreign Correspondents' Club in Bangkok, on Friday. (Photo: AP)

"If there is enough international pressure and if voices are raised loud enough, we can push China to change its position on Burma," Farrow told The Associated Press in Bangkok. "Using the Olympics Games as tool to effect change is important."

Bush, who plans to stay in Beijing for the first few days of the Olympics, said earlier this week he was "fired up" to watch some of the competition.

"I wish that (Bush) had not agreed to attend the Olympics, because that represents a missed opportunity for the United States to stand strong by its own principles," Farrow said. "A statement could have been made by skipping the opening ceremonies."

China is Burma's most important ally, providing economic, military and other assistance while Western nations shun the military-ruled country because of its poor human rights record and failure to restore democracy. China objects to Western criticisms of Burma's junta, saying conditions in the Southeast Asian country have improved since its violent crackdown on peaceful protests last September.

"China must use its unique position with Burma—its business alliance, its seat on the (UN) Security Council—not to protect Burma and its own interests, but to effect change and to improve human rights in Burma," Farrow said.

Farrow has campaigned around the world to urge China to help stop killings in Sudan's western Darfur region. China has been one of Sudan's biggest trading partners, buying oil from the African nation and selling it weapons.

Farrow held a news conference in Bangkok after visiting the Burma-Thailand border with a delegation from the Nobel Women's Initiative, a group founded by female recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The actress urged the United Nations and the international community to take action to protect women in Burma from sexual exploitation and abuse in areas hit by a devastating cyclone in May, which killed more than 84,500 people and left 54,000 missing, according to the junta.