NEWSPAPER SECTION: ASIA FOCUS
WRITER: BRAHMA CHELLANEY
PUBLISHED : 1 MAR 2021
Directly or indirectly, the military has always called the shots in Myanmar. And now that it has removed the decade-old façade of gradual democratisation by detaining civilian leaders and seizing power, Western calls to punish the country with sanctions and international isolation are growing louder. Heeding them would be a mistake.
The retreat of the "Myanmar spring" means all the countries of continental Southeast Asia -- Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar -- are under authoritarian rule, like their giant northern neighbour, China.
