appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Owen Churchill

The US State Department called on Beijing to ramp up pressure on Myanmar’s military government and pledged to escalate its own punitive actions on Monday after the country’s junta executed four prisoners, including a former lawmaker and a prominent rights activist.
“Arguably no country has the potential to influence the trajectory of Burma’s next steps more so than the PRC,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
“The fact is that the regime [in Myanmar] has not faced the level of economic – and in some cases diplomatic – pressure that we would like to see,” Price said. “We are calling on countries around the world to do more. We will be doing more as well.”
While Price did not outline any new sanctioning plans by Washington, he said “all options that serve to cut off the regime’s revenue – which it uses to perpetrate this violence – [are] on the table”.


The Myanmar military government said on Monday it had put to death four prisoners, including a former member of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party, in the country’s first official executions since 1976.
The executions have prompted a wave of global condemnation from governments, the United Nations, and rights groups.
“These reprehensible acts of violence further exemplify the regime’s complete disregard for human rights and the rule of law,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.
But absent from the voices expressing outrage was Beijing, where a foreign ministry spokesman stressed on Monday that China “always adheres to the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs”.
Wang Yi’s Myanmar trip could derail Asean’s peace plan by ‘emboldening’ junta
“We always maintain that all parties and factions in Myanmar should properly handle their differences and conflicts within the framework of the constitution and laws with an eye on the long-term interests of the country and the nation,” the spokesman, Zhao Lijian, told reporters.
That follows a pledge articulated by Chinese Foreign Minster Wang Yi in April that China would continue to back Myanmar – with whom it shares a 1,400-mile border – “no matter how the situation changes”.
Asked about the tack nations like China and India have adopted in their relations with Myanmar, Price said: “There are countries around the world that haven’t done enough, certainly, when it comes to rhetorical condemnation, when it comes to imposing cost, when it comes to the core charge that it cannot be business as usual with the junta.”
Myanmar’s junta last February took power in a coup that saw military leaders seize control from the elected civilian government.
Foreign Minister is most senior Chinese official to visit Myanmar since coup
Suu Kyi has faced a barrage of criminal charges levelled by the junta since she was ousted last year, and in April was sentenced to five years in prison over corruption charges that rights advocates have condemned as bogus.
According to a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the military government in Myanmar has killed more than 2,100 people since it seized power last year. The Thailand-based non-governmental organisation estimates the junta has issued death sentences to 117 “political prisoners”.
“The military seems unconcerned with ending this crisis or reducing violence in accordance with its international obligations, let alone any willingness to respect due process, justice or rule of law,” Michelle Bachelet, the UN human rights chief, said on Monday.


Malaysia to invite Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing for Rohingya repatriation talks

As Asia rapidly ages, who cares for the carers when they grow old?

Up in smoke: why Southeast Asia failed to halt the haze

As Singapore weighs joining China-led AI body, does it risk US retaliation?

Myanmar

US calls on China to escalate pressure on Myanmar after junta’s execution of 4 jailed activists

People protesting in Yangon, Myanmar on Monday following the execution of four pro-democracy activists. Photo: Lu Nge Khit via Reuters

Myanmar genocide case can proceed, top UN court rules as it throws out all junta’s objections

Pro-Rohingya demonstrators stomp on an image of Myanmar military governor General Min Aung Hlaing, outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Friday. Photo: AP 

Myanmar junta troops lay landmines around churches, homes and toilets, Amnesty International says

A church that was destroyed after allegedly being mined and burned down by the Myanmar military is seen in Daw Ngay Ku village, eastern Myanmar’s Kayah state. Photo: Amnesty International via AP

A landmine found during a de-mining operation in eastern Myanmar’s Kayah state. The dangerous work is done ‘by hand with only rudimentary equipment and without any professional training’, Amnesty said. Photo: Amnesty International via AFP

A church that was destroyed after allegedly being mined and burned down by junta troops is seen in Daw Ngay Ku village, eastern Myanmar’s Kayah state. Photo: Amnesty International via AP

Chinese-built surveillance systems spread across junta-ruled Myanmar, including hundreds of Huawei cameras: sources

Surveillance cameras are seen on the Bund in Shanghai. Photo: EPA-EFE

Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar, hold a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi while flashing the three-finger salute, a symbol of resistance, during an anti-junta protest in February last year. Photo: EPA-EFE

A man adjusts a CCTV camera at the stall of video surveillance product maker Dahua Technology at the Security China 2018 exhibition in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Police arrest a protester in Mawlamyine during a demonstration in February last year against the military coup. Photo: AFP

Secretary of State Blinken vows pressure on Myanmar junta, urges China to do the same, during trip to Thailand

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives for a meeting with Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangkok, Thailand on Sunday. Photo: Pool via Reuters

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha during a meeting in Bangkok on Sunday. Photo: Handout via EPA-EFE

Asean special envoy appeals to Myanmar junta to spare Suu Kyi prison

The 77-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been on trial accused of at least 20 crimes since a coup against her elected government last year. Photo: AFP

News

China

World

United States & Canada

Asia

Southeast Asia


‘Arguably no country has the potential to influence the trajectory of Burma’s next steps more so than the PRC’, says State Department
But Beijing counters condemnation by citing its adherence to ‘principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs’



‘Arguably no country has the potential to influence the trajectory of Burma’s next steps more so than the PRC’, says State Department.


United States

Human rights

Aung San Suu Kyi