Rangoon, Thursday

BURMA'S military junta, reeling from a United States decision to impose sanctions, has lashed back at Washington, accusing it of trying to derail its efforts to join the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean).

Lieutenant Colonel Hla Min, a spokesman for the State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc), said that sanctions were part of a broader US strategy aimed at preventing Burma from entering the protective fold of Asean membership.

''We have predicted this since eight months back, that more and more pressure will be put on Myanmar (Burma), especially at this moment to derail Myanmar's entry into Asean,'' Hla Min said during a visit this week to Tachilek in eastern Shan State.

Hla Min said the US decision, announced on Tuesday, was aimed at encouraging the seven-member grouping to withdraw from a policy of engagement with Rangoon in order to isolate it.

He said Washington was trying to paint Burma's military government as among the world's most oppressive regimes.

''(But) the Asean countries also know the true situation in this country,'' he said, ''. . . and they know that we are being unfairly pressured.''

Asean includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Burma, Laos, and Cambodia are expected to join this July.

Leaders of the Asean countries said this week that the US sanctions would not delay Burma's entry into the group.

But some Western analysts have said Burma's accession was tantamount to approval of the Burmese government and could make the regime less likely to bend to pressure over human rights and drug-trade allegations.

United States officials here say Burma's track record on both issues is abysmal.

They report arbitrary arrests and deaths in custody, and point to Slorc's continued failure to recognise the 1990 election victory of the National League for Democracy, co-founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The US government also estimates Burma is the largest opium provider in the world, producing some 2500 tonnes last year, most from the Golden Triangle region on the borders of Burma, Thailand, and Laos.

But Hla Min said the government was working towards drugs eradication and was concentrating its efforts on ensuring that Burma's citizens had adequate food and clothing.

''Human rights will come at a later stage,'' he added.

Some analysts see Asean's moves to incorporate Burma as being partly prompted by concerns over China's perceived close relationship with the Rangoon government, which in recent years has purchased more arms worth than $1000m from its giant neighbour.

Earlier this week, Slorc officials took foreign journalists to see work underway on a 65-mile stretch of military-built highway linking China's Yunnan province with central Burma.

Officials said the 12ft-wide road was due for completion by July and would be able to support vehicles of up to 30 tonnes. They said its purpose was to transport commodities.-Reuter.