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delightful among its pagoda-crowned hills. Above all, Pagan, the ancient capital which boasts about 5,000 pagodas in an area of 16 square miles, is superb. Most of the buildings are in ruins
but one or two have been splendidly restored. This site is to be compared only and in its very different way with Cambodia's Anghkor Wat.
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29. The internal political situation is unexciting. Power remains in the hands of Ne Win, despite his relinquishing of the Presidency. to San Yu, a "yes-man" without any caucus of support in either the Army or the Party. Ne Win is not popular but the people are used to him and his image was certainly improved by the gestures he made in 1980 to his old opponents and to the Buddhist Church. Three names were mentioned to me as possible successors (apart from San Yu) - Tin Oo, Military Assistant to Ne Win and Joint Secretary of the BSPP, General Ktaw Htin, Minister of Defence and Aye Ko, General Secretary of the BSPP. I was told, however, that of the three, Ktaw Htin enjoys the greatest popularity in the army.
30. Of all the people whom the Embassy had kindly arranged for me to meet, two were of particular interest. U Saw Lader, Director of the Christian Audio Visual Board, Head of the Baptist Church in Mandalay and a member of the People's Assembly, was a Karen of the old school with evergreen memories of his service with the Chindits and of the British officers under whom he fought the Japanese. U Myint Thein, ex-Chief of Justice and a spry 82-year old had, like U Saw Lader, spent years in jail for political offences. According to his account, imprisonment was strict but not inhuman (he was, for example, allowed home for family weddings and funerals). Both these gentlemen were finally rehabilitated and "rewarded" by Ne Win.
assured by U Tin Tun,
Director
31. On foreign affairs, I was General (Political) of the MFA, that Chinese aid to the BCP had
undoubtedly decreased of late. Burma had no problems with her other neighbours. It was unlikely that she would join ASEAN in the
foreseeable future.
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Bangladesh
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