US approves sanctions on Myanmar

The almost unanimous vote by the lower house of Congress on Tuesday in favour of slapping a raft of sanctions on Burma mirrors similar measures approved by the US Senate a month ago.

Once the two houses have merged their versions of the act, and Mr Bush signs it, specified imports will be banned and the country's assets in the US frozen.

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Myanmar's textile and clothing industry is likely to be hardest hit by the measures, which were welcomed by some opposition groups in exile.

But a representative of the International Labour Organisation in Yangon, Hong Trang Perret-Nguyen, told the BBC: "Whether it will have an impact on the leadership is not clear at all".

Congress shied away from imposing similar sanctions last year when Aung San Suu Kyi was released from 19 months of house detention.

But her detention at the end of May and the suppression of her movement, the National League for Democracy, has quickly hardened attitudes in Washington.

Myanmar's junta condemned the economic sanctions, describing them as "weapons of mass destruction" that would create havoc.

A spokesman for the regime said in a statement titled "Sanctions Used as Weapons of Mass Destruction" that the measures would deprive people of job opportunities and hurt health care and education in the impoverished nation.

"Sanctions, in short, are imposed on target countries by the rich and powerful nations mainly with the intention to create havoc and bring hardship on the mass population," he said.

Last week the junta sent Bush a petition signed by 350,000 textile workers appealing against the ban, which the Myanmar Times said would threaten annual exports worth 356 million dollars, mostly in the textile sector.

"A ban on imports from Myanmar could cut the country's export earnings by up to a third," the semi-official weekly said Monday.

The European Union has also imposed tighter sanctions on Myanmar, while the country's largest donor Japan has suspended new economic aid.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Randy Schriver on Wednesday criticised China's stance on Myanmar, saying it was isolated in its failure to condemn the junta and should use its leverage to push for change.