**Two days after Burma sent opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi into further house arrest, regional governments are fine-tuning their responses.**The Indonesian government has been criticised for returning to the dictatorship era after it blocked a meeting of Burmese exiles in Jakarta.
China’s refusal to join international criticism of Burma has been criticised in Hong Kong.
Separately, US Senator Jim Webb will reportedly meet Burma’s top general.
The AFP news agency reported a statement from the senator’s office saying Mr Webb’s scheduled meeting with Burma’s regime leader, General Than Shwe, would be a first-ever encounter between the strongman and a senior US official.
“Later this week, US Senator Jim Webb is scheduled to meet with leaders at the highest levels of the national government in Burma, including Senior General Than Shwe,” the statement reportedly said.
Mr Webb, who is reportedly close to US President Barack Obama, has arrived in Laos at the start of a two-week tour of Southeast Asia and is scheduled to visit Burma this weekend.
‘Draconian’
The ripples from Burma’s ruling against Ms Suu Kyi continue to challenge government around the region, a day after the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) issued a rare statement condemning the trial of the opposition leader on charges that she violated the terms of detention by allowing a US man to stay at her home for two days.
Indonesia has stopped a two-day conference of exiled Burmese opposition groups that was due to discuss plans for a possible future transition to democracy in Burma.
The Indonesian authorities said foreign groups that question other governments were not allowed to operate in Indonesia.
But a member of parliament in Jakarta, Eva Kusuma Sundari, accused the authorities there of caving in to pressure from Burma.
She said she had seen a letter from the Burmese embassy objecting to the meeting and threatening damage to Burma-Indonesia relations if it was allowed to continue.
She expressed amazement that the Burmese Embassy could dictate Indonesian government policy, and said the embassy was clearly interfering in Indonesia’s domestic affairs.
She said some of the Burmese meetings would continue, but in an informal capacity.
The Jakarta Globe newspaper described the government’s move as draconian, and “harking back to the New Order era under former dictator Suharto”.
China ‘diminished’
One of the few governments to support Burma’s ruling against Ms Suu Kyi was China, which said Burma’s sovereignty and judiciary should be respected.
An unusually critical editorial in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong, a former British colony guaranteed autonomy under Chinese rule, assailed Beijing’s stance.
“Defending such an indefensible regime, and its unjust justice, tars China’s image,” the newspaper said in an editorial titled “Stance on Suu Kyi diminishes China”.
“Beijing’s backing of the junta undermines its desire to be taken as a responsible global player,” it said.
Citing China’s goal to be treated as an equal partner on the world stage, the paper said China had missed an opportunity to stand with the international community.
The US, the EU, Britain and France are among those who have condemned the verdict.