Japan Faces Dilemma On Decision To Get Involved With The Coup In Myanmar

NPR
February 25, 2021

Transcript

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The Biden administration wants to put democracy at the core of its foreign policy. The coup in Myanmar a few weeks ago is an early test, and the administration has slapped sanctions on the coup leaders. Washington also wants other countries to follow its lead. Japan has some real influence in Myanmar, and NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports, this puts Japan in a tough spot.

Myanmar coup latest: UK slaps new sanctions on Min Aung Hlaing

NIKKEI ASIA

Nikkei staff writers
February 22, 2021

Military supporters confront residents in Yangon; ASEAN eyes 'informal' talks

A protester in Mandalay holds a placard with the face of Myanmar's military commander in chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. © AP

YANGON/BANGKOK -- On Feb. 1, Myanmar's military detained State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint in the country's first coup since 1988, bringing an end to a decade of civilian rule.

The Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy had won a landslide in a general election last November. But the military has claimed the election was marred by fraud.

For all our coverage, visit our Myanmar Coup page.

China ready to ‘work with Asean’ to ease Myanmar coup turmoil

South China Morning Post

Laura Zhou in Beijing
20 Feb, 2021

• Chinese foreign minister tells Indonesian counterpart that unrest not in interest of Myanmar or region
• Beijing hopes all parties will ‘continue the process of democratic transition’

A man takes part in a protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

China has said it is willing to work closely with Asean to ease political tensions in Myanmar as pressure mounts on Beijing to condemn the military coup in its Southeast Asian neighbour.

In a call with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi on Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said a peaceful and stable Myanmar was important to both China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Myanmar coup: What is happening and why?

BBC News
Alice Cuddy
19th Feb' 2021

Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing had just turned 20

A 20-year-old woman shot in the head during anti-coup demonstrations in Myanmar has died of her injuries.

Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing was taken to hospital last week, after police used water cannon, rubber bullets and live ammunition to try to disperse protesters.

The country has seen mass demonstrations after the armed forces arrested the country's elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and members of her party.

Advocates will ask President Biden to help ‘end the coup’ in Myanmar during Friday visit to Michigan

Michigan

Kayla Miller | kmille17@mlive.com
Feb 18, 2021

More than 100 people turned out Friday, Feb. 12 at the Calder Plaza in Grand Rapids to protest the military coup in Myanama

PORTAGE, MI -- A Burmese advocacy group is holding a protest for Myanmar during President Joe Biden’s visit to a major COVID-19 vaccine production facility in Portage Friday.

The “Protest for Myanmar” will be held beginning at noon Friday, Feb. 19, outside the Air Zoo, 6151 Portage Road, according to a Facebook event page.

For foreign investors in Myanmar, coup adds new uncertainties

Aljazeera
Megha Bahree
18 Feb 2021

The possibility of Western sanctions leaves foreign entrepreneurs in Myanmar worried about their future prospects.


Ongoing street protests against the February 1 military coup in Myanmar have added to fears among foreign investors of a return to the instability of the country's pre-democracy era [Sai Aung Main/AFP] 

On February 1, Vijay Dhayal, an Indian business consultant in Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, received a call at 6am (23:30 GMT) from a member of his team telling him that a coup was under way, plunging what had been a routine Monday morning into turmoil

The military had begun detaining civilian leaders, overthrowing Myanmar’s democratically elected government and turning the clock back to the period between 1962 – when Myanmar’s military first took control, 14 years after independence – and 2011, when it ushered in parliamentary elections and democratic reforms.

 

Burmese actress goes into hiding as celebrities opposing Myanmar coup added to arrest list

CNN
Sandi Sidhu and Helen Regan,
February 18, 2021

(CNN)Since "day one" of the military coup, Burmese actress Paing Phyo Thu -- one of the country's highest-paid stars -- says she has been on the streets opposing the ruling junta.

One of Myamar's highest-paid actresses, she has been offering financial help to striking staff who have given up their jobs to take part in the growing civil disobedience movement, known as CDM. 

Where Do the Rohingya Go After the Coup in Myanmar?

The New York Times

Opinion
Mayyu Ali
Feb. 18, 2021

 In the countrywide protests against the coup, nobody is talking about the future of the persecuted Rohingya minority.

Mr. Ali is a Rohingya poet who had to flee his home in Myanmar after the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya by the military.

Credit...Daniel Zender


COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh — I have been living in a refugee camp here since 2017, after the campaign of murder, rape and arson by the military in Myanmar forced more than 750,000 people from the Rohingya community to flee our homes in Rakhine State. Since the military coup in Myanmar on Feb. 1, our camp has been abuzz with conversation and even more uncertainty about the future. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who ordered the genocidal violence against us, has taken charge of the country.

US calls military acts in Myanmar a coup, UN Security Council takes no action

ARAB NEWS

AGENCIES
February 02, 2021

Myanmar’s police officers stand guard at the entrance of parliament members residence at the congress compound in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Feb. 2, 2021. (Reuters)

• Biden has threatened new sanctions against the generals who seized power in Myanmar
• UN envoy urges Security Council to ‘send clear signal’ to support Myanmar democracy

WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS: The US State Department will conduct a review of its foreign assistance to Myanmar after determining that the military takeover in the Asian country this week constituted a coup, senior officials said on Tuesday.

US President Joe Biden has threatened new sanctions against the generals who seized power in Myanmar and detained elected leaders including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi early on Monday.

Myanmar coup: military steps up action against protesters

GENEVA SOLUTIONS

Peace & Humanitarian

15 February 2021,


Myanmar’s military deployed armoured vehicles onto the streets of several cities across the country on Sunday and warned protesters they could face up to 20 years in prison.

Anti-coup protesters calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and an end to military rule continued on Monday while the military stepped up its presence on the streets of Myanmar and threatened demonstrators with long prison sentences and fines.

Myanmar coup: What will the military do now?

BBC

By Jonathan Head
South East Asia correspondent

The man who stunned the world by bringing Myanmar's democratic experiment crashing down has made just two public appearances on state television to explain himself.

Looking nervous in front of the teleprompter, General Min Aung Hlaing made no mention of his coup, the detention of the country's elected leaders, the mass demonstrations against military rule in all corners of Myanmar and from all walks of life, the storm of international condemnation and the threat of renewed sanctions.

Instead he repeated tired old military slogans about the need for discipline and unity, and his still unsubstantiated allegations of electoral irregularities in last November's poll. Aside from his evident uneasiness in the unfamiliar role of trying to assuage a furious public, Min Aung Hlaing betrayed no awareness of the dangerous crisis into which he has dragged his country by seizing power.

UN Rights Body Adopts Watered-Down Text on Myanmar Coup

U.S.News

Associated Press,
JAMEY KEATEN,
Feb. 12, 2021

The U.N.'s top human rights body has passed a consensus resolution urging military leaders in Myanmar to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian government leaders detained after a military coup.

Myint Thu, ambassador of the Permanent Representative Mission of Myanmar to Geneva, addresses his statement during the Human Rights Council special session on "the human rights implications of the crisis in Myanmar" at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday, Feb. 12, 2021. The special session of the Human Rights Council on the situation in Myanmar is take in person and in virtualle due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights body passed a consensus resolution Friday urging military leaders in Myanmar to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian government leaders detained after a military coup, while watering down an initial draft text amid pressure led by China and Russia.

In a special session at the Human Rights Council, the original resolution presented by Britain and the European Union was revised to remove calls to bolster the ability of a U.N. rights expert to scrutinize Myanmar and for restraint from the country's military.

After the updated resolution passed with no opposition, Chinese Ambassador Chen Xu thanked the sponsors for “adopting our recommendations” but said China still was distancing itself from the measure.

‘We cannot hope for anything good’: Myanmar coup sparks despair for Rohingya

The Guardian
Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Shaikh Azizur Rahman
Sun 14 Feb 2021 

While Aung San Suu Kyi defended a genocidal campaign against the Muslim minority, refugees fear military rule will end dreams of a return home

Rohingya living as refugees in Bangladesh had hoped to return to Myanmar, but live in fear of the military. Photograph: Damir Šagolj/Reuters

For the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar, news of the fall of Aung San Suu Kyi after the military coup was bittersweet.

After all, no community had felt more betrayed by Myanmar’s civilian leader. When she came to power in 2015, the belief was that she would overturn decades of persecution and finally bring about peace and citizenship, following in the footsteps of her father, Gen Aung San.

Instead, under her watch the military carried out their most violent operation against the Rohingya, embarking on a genocidal campaign of rape, pillage and murder in Rakhine state in 2017 and driving almost a million people over the border to Bangladesh as refugees.

Boris Johnson condemns Myanmar coup, but is silent on genocide

MIDDLE EAST EYE

Peter Oborne
12 February 2021

British inaction in the face of the Rohingya slaughter shows, yet again, that atrocities against voiceless Muslims count for little or nothing in the chanceries of the West 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks in London on 10 February 2021 (AFP)

Within hours of last week’s Myanmar coup d’etat, the denunciations came pouring in. Britain began considering new sanctions. US president Joe Biden pledged action against the military leaders who had directed the coup, which dislodged Myanmar’s Nobel-prize-winning leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

In London, the British Foreign Office hauled in Myanmar Ambassador U Kyaw Zwar Minn, citing the need for “a peaceful return to democracy”. Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the “unlawful imprisonment” of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Rohingya in Bangladesh’s camps held rally against coup in Myanmar

DNA

Central News Desk

Md. Kamruzzaman
February 13, 2021

DHAKA, Bangladesh: Dozens of Rohingya youths in the world’s largest refugee camps in Bangladesh’s southern district of Cox’s Bazar on Friday held a peaceful rally, supporting the ongoing pro-democratic movement in Myanmar.

“We love democracy and human rights everywhere in the world and so we always support a democratic transition in Myanmar,” Khin Maung, founder of Rohingya Youth Association (RYA) told this journalist.

Underlining the military coup in Myanmar as a move that has stopped the democratic transition of power in the Southeast Asian state and will increase human rights violation, he added: “This is our main concern as a citizen of Myanmar and part of Myanmar society.”

A Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate

THE WHITE HOUSE

FEBRUARY 11, 2021 

 

STATEMENTS AND RELEASES

February 10, 2021

Dear Madam Speaker: (Dear Madam President:)

Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order (the “order”) declaring a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Burma. The order responds to the February 1, 2021, coup in Burma by targeting the military and its leaders, their business interests, and their close family members. The order holds to account those responsible for unjustly arresting and detaining government leaders, politicians, human rights defenders, journalists, and religious leaders; rejecting the will of the people of Burma as expressed in elections held in November 2020; and undermining the country’s democratic transition and the rule of law.

U.S. 'Stands With The People,' Imposes Sanctions On Myanmar's Coup Leaders

nrp

SCOTT NEUMAN

February 11, 2021

Women protest on Wednesday against the military coup that toppled the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi earlier this month. The Biden administration on Thursday announced sanctions against several of the coup leaders.Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The Biden administration has imposed sanctions on 10 current and retired top-ranking leaders in Myanmar's military following a coup earlier this month that toppled the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, the Treasury Department announced it was freezing U.S.-based assets belonging to the sanctioned individuals. The list includes six members of the newly installed junta, including its head, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, and his deputy, Soe Win. Hlaing was already on a U.S. sanctions list from 2019, when he was targeted for the army's brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in the country's western Rakhine state.

What Myanmar's Coup Means For The Rohingya

capradio
By Ashley Westerman | NPR

Shafiqur Rahman / AP
Thursday, February 11, 2021

Rohingya refugees walk at the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Feb. 2. Rohingya refugees from Myanmar living in camps in Bangladesh are condemning the military coup in their homeland and saying it makes them more fearful to return. A brutal counterinsurgency operation by Myanmar's military in 2017 drove more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to neighboring Bangladesh.

This month's military coup in Myanmar has made an already dire situation for Rohingya refugees even worse, say human rights activists. Now, prospects are even more unlikely for hundreds of thousands to return to Myanmar from sprawling camps in neighboring Bangladesh.

"The coup is obviously good for no one," says Matthew Smith, cofounder of the human rights advocacy group Fortify Rights. "But for the Rohingya, the risk is heightened. This is the military regime responsible for the atrocities over many, many years."

U.S. Can Impose Substantial Costs on Those Responsible for Coup in Myanmar: State Dept.

U.S News

By Reuters, 

Wire Service Content 

Feb. 10, 2021,

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - The United States can impose substantial costs on those responsible for the coup in Myanmar, the State Department said on Wednesday after President Joe Biden said he approved an executive order that will pave the way for sanctions.

State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters that the continued demonstrations in Myanmar after the military detained elected leaders and seized power on Feb. 1. indicates the aspirations of the people of Myanmar for democracy.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Doina Chiacu and Daphne Psaledakis, Editing by Franklin Paul)


Copyright 2021 Thomson Reuters.

Resistance to coup grows despite Myanmar's block of Facebook

 abc NEWS

The Associated Press
5 February 2021,

Myanmar’s new military government has blocked access to Facebook as resistance to Monday's coup surges amid calls for civil disobedience to protest the ousting of the elected government and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi

YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar’s new military government blocked access to Facebook as resistance to Monday's coup surged amid calls for civil disobedience to protest the ousting of the elected government and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Facebook is how most people access the internet in Myanmar and the company urged that it be restored.

The military seized power shortly before a new session of Parliament was to convene on Monday and detained Suu Kyi and other top politicians. The takeover has been criticized by President Joe Biden and others internationally who are pushing for the elected government to be restored.