"Why is there severe malnutrition in this Garden of Eden?" asks Medecins Sans Frontieres physician Frank Smithuis of Myanmar, a country with worsening poverty, a collapsed education system and rampant AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria rates, according to the New York Times.

The country is ruled by an oppressive military junta, but Myanmar's neighbours aren't rushing to condemn it. According to the newspaper, the reason for this lies in the country's reserves of a precious natural resource: gas. China and India are already signing deals with the Myanmar regime (and we're talking billions here) to build new ports and pipelines. Meanwhile, citizens use paraffin and wood for their lighting and heating once they've used up the two hours of electricity a day they get from the government.

U.S. President George Bush met Asian leaders at last week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Vietnam and urged them to keep up the pressure on Myanmar. But that may well go unheeded. China is still thirsty for oil and gas, which pushes it to overlook issues such as autocratic leadership - as we've seen from its charm offensive in Africa, including Sudan.

Its support for Myanmar's regime is regarded as the main reason the junta's grip has survived for so long and still shows no signs of weakening, according to people inside and outside the country, the New York Times says.

And China isn't the only culprit. India changed its tune towards Myanmar nearly a decade ago, because it wanted to contain China's spread in the country. Thailand hands over $1.2 billion a year to Myanmar's government for natural gas. The list goes on.

This kind of trade might be easier to defend if the revenues benefited Myanmar's people. But the paltry sum the government budgeted for AIDS in 2004 - a mere $22,000 - according to a recent health survey by John Hopkins University Medical School, quoted in the newspaper, suggests they are not a priority.

The New York Times also reports that health workers are coming across children in urban areas with severe malnutrition for the first time. Meanwhile, the wedding of junta leader Than Shwe's daughter cost estimated $50 million, according to Australia's Age.

The paper gives an overview of different ethnic minorities, as well as dissident groups and their struggle against the country's oppressive regime. The author also mentions hints by military analysts of a new U.S. covert operation in this part of the world, helping the fledgling armed resistance.

Even Thailand, which under the leadership of recently deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was a friend of the estranged country, could now be changing tack. There are reports that Shan insurgents, from one of Myanmar's ethnic minorities, are being trained by the Thai army and getting truckloads of assault rifles via Laos, The Age says.

Nonetheless, the government is benefiting from soaring foreign investment, which has jumped to $6 billion this year from just $158 in 2005, the paper reports.

And in case anyone thought the West should go down China and India's route and engage with the regime, instead of pursuing failing sanctions, Britain's Independent is adamant: "Absolutely not."

"The moral duty of the West," the paper continues, "is to attempt to persuade China and others that ignoring the brutalisation of the Burmese people for the sake of a few energy contracts will ultimately prove a very bad investment."

The trouble is, it's not just a few energy contracts China has in mind. China's National Offshore Oil Corporation has indicated it would focus its investment, at least in the medium term, on two countries: Myanmar and Nigeria. If this is the case, the Independent's plea will almost certainly fall on deaf ears.