Bizarre and contemptible legal charges brought against Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is due to be tried in Rangoon on Monday, have produced a predictable but justified storm of outrage from Western democracies and the United Nations. Everyone from the British prime minister to Bono has condemned the prosecution of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and demanded her release. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has muted American outspokenness about human rights in several other countries and who previously ordered a review of U.S. sanctions against Burma, said she was "deeply troubled" by the "baseless" case.
Just as predictable, unfortunately, has been the relative silence of Burma's neighbors. Singapore and Indonesia -- the latter a strengthening democracy -- questioned the charges and called for Aung San Suu Kyi's release, as did Japan. But the countries on which Burma relies most -- China, India, Thailand and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- had little or nothing to say. That probably means Burma's ruling generals will feel free to go forward with a trial that could produce a new, five-year prison sentence for the 63-year-old dissident, who has been under house arrest for the past six years.
The charges stem from a strange incident last week in which a troubled, 53-year-old American tourist swam across the lake next to Aung San Suu Kyi's house and pleaded with her to be allowed to stay overnight. She agreed -- thus exposing herself to charges of violating the conditions of her home detention. The intrusion by American John William Yettaw, who has also been charged, proved convenient for the regime; Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers said the term of her home detention was due to expire later this month. A new prison sentence could ensure that she plays no role in planned elections next year, which are meant to institutionalize military rule.
Such a sentence, if it comes, should inform the Obama administration's ongoing review. Humanitarian organizations have been heavily lobbying for a change of policy, arguing that the regime is becoming more open to Western aid and influence, and that the current strategy of tough sanctions hasn't worked. Yet the renewed persecution of this brave and ailing woman -- whose party won the last fair election 19 years ago -- shows that the generals have no interest in making meaningful concessions to Burma's long-suffering people or to the West. If they did, they would use Monday's court session to drop all charges against Mr. Yettaw and Aung San Suu Kyi and allow them both to return home free.