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Blinken touts deeper U.S. engagement amid concern over ‘aggressive’ China

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  • Says Indo-Pacific must be free from coercion, intimidation
  • Cites discontent over Chinese firms, loans, infrastructure
  • U.S. to help keep internet free, secure – Blinken
  • Blinken visiting Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand

JAKARTA, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday touted a U.S. strategy to deepen its Asian treaty alliances, offering to boost defence and intelligence work with partners in an Indo-Pacific region increasingly concerned over China’s “aggressive actions”.

During a visit to Indonesia, Blinken described the Indo-Pacific as the world’s most dynamic region and said everyone had a stake in ensuring a status quo that was without coercion and intimidation, in a barely veiled reference to China.

He said United States, its allies and some South China Sea claimants would push back against any unlawful action.

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“We’ll work with our allies and partners to defend the rules-based order that we’ve built together over decades to ensure the region remains open and accessible,” he said in a speech at a university.

“Let me be clear: the goal of defending the rules-based order is not to keep any country down. Rather, it’s to protect the right of all countries to choose their own path, free from coercion and intimidation.”

China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its own, despite some overlapping claims with other coastal states and an international tribunal that ruled that China’s vast claim has no legal basis.

Beijing has rejected the U.S. stance as interference from an outside power that could threaten Asia’s stability. China’s foreign ministry had no immediate comment on Blinken’s remarks.

Blinken is making his first visit to Southeast Asia since President Joe Biden took office in January, a trip aimed at shoring up relations after a period of uncertainty about U.S. commitment to Asia under the administration of Donald Trump.

‘A BETTER KIND OF INFRASTRUCTURE’

Despite tensions in the South China Sea, Beijing’s influence has grown in recent years as it pushes more infrastructure investment and integrated trade ties in the Asia-Pacific, in the perceived absence of a U.S. economic strategy for the region.

Blinken said the United States would strengthen ties with treaty allies like Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines and boost defence and intelligence capabilities with Indo-Pacific partners, as well as defending an open and secure internet.

He stressed, however, that it was not a contest between a U.S.-centric or China-centric region.

He also said Washington was committed to pressing the military junta in Myanmar to end violence, free detainees and return to an inclusive democracy.

The United States was also committed to a new comprehensive regional economic framework, which would include more U.S. foreign direct investment and U.S. companies identifying new opportunities in the region, he said, without providing details.

The administration has yet to spell out what exactly Biden’s envisaged economic framework will entail. The Trump administration walked away from a U.S.-inspired multinational Pacific trade deal, in 2017.

Blinken, who will also visit Malaysia and Thailand this week, said the United States would work to strengthen supply chains and close the region’s infrastructure gaps, from ports and roads to power grids and the internet.

In another swipe at China, he said the United States was hearing increasing concerns in the Indo-Pacific about opaque, corrupt processes of foreign companies that imported their own labour, drained natural resources and polluted the environment.

“Countries in the Indo-Pacific want a better kind of infrastructure,” he said.

“But many feel it’s too expensive – or they feel pressured to take bad deals on terms set by others, rather than no deals at all.”

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Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel and Stephen Coates

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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U.S. imposes sweeping human rights sanctions on China, Myanmar and N Korea

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The flags of the United States and China fly from a lamppost in the Chinatown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., November 1, 2021. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

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WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) – The United States on Friday imposed extensive human rights-related sanctions on dozens of people and entities tied to China, Myanmar, North Korea and Bangladesh, and added Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime Group to an investment blacklist.

Canada and the United Kingdom joined the United States in imposing sanctions related to human rights abuses in Myanmar, while Washington also imposed the first new sanctions on North Korea under President Joe Biden’s administration and targeted Myanmar military entities, among others, in action marking Human Rights Day.

“Our actions today, particularly those in partnership with the United Kingdom and Canada, send a message that democracies around the world will act against those who abuse the power of the state to inflict suffering and repression,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a statement.

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The North Korean mission at the United Nations and China’s, Myanmar’s and Bangladesh’s embassies in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Biden gathered over 100 world leaders at a virtual summit this week and made a plea for bolstering democracies around the world, calling safeguarding rights and freedoms in the face of rising authoritarianism the “defining challenge” of the current era. The U.S. Treasury Department has taken a series of sanctions actions this week to mark the summit.

The Treasury on Friday added Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime to a list of “Chinese military-industrial complex companies,” accusing it of having developed facial recognition programs that can determine a target’s ethnicity, with a particular focus on identifying ethnic Uyghurs.

As a result the company will fall under an investment ban for U.S. investors. SenseTime is close to selling 1.5 billion shares in an initial public offering (IPO). After news of the Treasury restrictions earlier this week, the company began discussing the fate of the planned $767 million offering with Hong Kong’s stock exchange, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

U.N. experts and rights groups estimate more than a million people, mainly Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities, have been detained in recent years in a vast system of camps in China’s far-west region of Xinjiang.

China denies abuses in Xinjiang, but the U.S. government and many rights groups say Beijing is carrying out genocide there.

The Treasury said it was imposing sanctions on two Myanmar military entities and an organization that provides reserves for the military. The Directorate of Defense Industries, one of the entities targeted, makes weapons for the military and police that have been used in a brutal crackdown on opponents of the military’s Feb. 1 coup.

The Treasury also targeted four regional chief ministers, including Myo Swe Win, who heads the junta’s administration in the Bago region where the Treasury said at least 82 people were killed in a single day in April.

Canada imposed sanctions against four entities affiliated with the Myanmar military government, while the United Kingdom imposed fresh sanctions against the military.

Myanmar was plunged into crisis when the military overthrew leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her government on Feb. 1, triggering daily protests in towns and cities and fighting in borderlands between the military and ethnic minority insurgents.

Junta forces seeking to crush opposition have killed more than 1,300 people, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) monitoring group.

The Treasury also blacklisted North Korea’s Central Public Prosecutors Office had been designated, along with the former minister of social security and recently assigned Minister of People’s Armed Forces Ri Yong Gil, as well as a Russian university for facilitating the export of workers from North Korea.

North Korea has long sought a lifting of punishing U.S. and international sanctions imposed over its weapons programs and has denounced U.S. criticism of its human rights record as evidence of a hostile policy against it.

The Biden administration has repeatedly called on North Korea to engage in dialogue over its nuclear and missiles programs, without success.

The U.S. State Department on Friday also barred 12 people from traveling to the United States, including officials in China, Belarus and Sri Lanka.

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Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Simon Lewis, David Brunnstrom, Matt Spetalnick, Alexandra Alper, Tim Ahmann and David Ljunggren
Editing by Chris Sanders, Alistair Bell and Jonathan Oatis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Myanmar’s Suu Kyi jailed for four years, drawing global outrage

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Dec 6 (Reuters) – A court in military-ruled Myanmar jailed deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi for four years on Monday on charges of incitement and breaching coronavirus restrictions, drawing international outrage of what some critics described as a “sham trial”.

President Win Myint was also sentenced to four years in prison, said a source following proceedings who spoke on condition of anonymity, as the court delivered its first verdicts in numerous cases against Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders detained by the military in a coup on Feb. 1.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the coup against Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government led to widespread protests and raised international concern about the end of tentative political reforms following decades of military rule.

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Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi, 76, has been detained since the coup along with most senior leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Others are abroad or in hiding and no party spokesperson was available for comment.

“The conviction of the State Counsellor following a sham trial in secretive proceedings before a military-controlled court is nothing but politically-motivated,” U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said in comments echoed by the European Union and others.

A military spokesman did not respond to attempts by Reuters to reach him for comment on the sentencing, which was widely reported in domestic media.

The military has not given details of where Suu Kyi has been detained and it was not immediately clear if the sentencing would mean any immediate change in her circumstances.

Dr. Sasa, a spokesperson for Myanmar’s shadow civilian government set up following the coup, called on the international community to step up sanctions against Myanmar’s military rulers.

The trial in the capital Naypyitaw has been closed to the media and the junta’s public information outlets have not mentioned the proceedings. Suu Kyi’s lawyers have been barred from communicating with the media and public.

Suu Kyi faces a dozen cases that include multiple corruption charges plus violations of a state secrets act, a telecoms law and COVID-19 regulations, which carry combined maximum sentences of more than a century in prison.

Suu Kyi and co-defendant Win Myint received jail terms of two years for incitement and the same term for breaches of coronavirus protocols. They had denied the charges.

Western countries have demanded Suu Kyi’s release and condemned the violence since the coup in which some 1,300 people have been killed, according to rights groups.

Liz Truss, the foreign minister of former colonial power Britain, condemned Suu Kyi’s sentencing as “another appalling attempt by Myanmar’s military regime to stifle opposition and suppress freedom and democracy”.

Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi attends the joint news conference of the Japan-Mekong Summit Meeting at the Akasaka Palace State Guest House in Tokyo, Japan October 9, 2018. Franck Robichon/Pool via Reuters

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The European Union’s top diplomat condemned the verdict as “politically motivated”.

China, which has long had good relations with the military as well as Suu Kyi’s government, urged all parties to “bridge their differences under the constitutional and legal framework, and continue to advance the hard-earned democratic transition”, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.

Japan, a major investor in Myanmar, said in a statement that the verdict was an “unfavourable development” and called for the restoration of democracy in the country.

‘MOST POPULAR’

Suu Kyi’s supporters say the cases against her are baseless and designed to end her political career and tie her up in legal proceedings while the military consolidates power.

Her jailing had been widely expected.

“I don’t expect anything out of this broken justice system,” Maw Htun Aung, a deputy minister in the opposition parallel government, told Reuters after the sentencing.

The junta says Suu Kyi is being given due process by an independent court led by a judge appointed by her own administration.

Suu Kyi, the daughter of the hero of Myanmar’s independence, spent years under house arrest for her opposition to military rule but was freed in 2010 and led her NLD to a landslide victory in a 2015 election.

Her party won again in November last year but the military said the vote was rigged and seized power weeks later. The election commission dismissed the military’s complaint.

Rights group Amnesty International said the charges against Suu Kyi were farcical and her jailing showed the military’s determination to eliminate opposition and suffocate freedoms.

Historian and author Thant Myint U said military leaders thought their predecessors who introduced reforms more than a decade ago had gone too far in allowing Suu Kyi back into politics and the entire reason for the coup was to exclude her.

“She remains far and away the most popular (figure) in Myanmar politics and may still be a potent force in what’s to come,” he told Reuters.

But Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said the more severe criminal charges that Suu Kyi had yet to face would most likely ensure that she “is never allowed to be a free woman again”.

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Writing by Martin Petty, Ed Davies and Robert Birsel; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Angus MacSwan

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Violence escalates in India’s northeast after forces mistakenly fire on civilians -officials

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GUWAHATI, India, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Protesters threw stones and set fire to areas around a camp belonging to Indian forces in the remote northeast, with one civilian shot dead in renewed violence a day after 14 people were killed by defence forces, officials said.

At least 14 civilians and one member of the security forces were killed in Nagaland state on Saturday night, after Indian forces mistook a group of labourers for militants and opened fire.

More than a dozen civilians and some members of the security forces were also wounded in the incident and violence that followed, said a federal defence ministry official based in New Delhi.

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Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said he was “anguished” at the news of civilians, who were members of a local tribal group, being killed.

Nagaland’s chief minister Neiphiu Rio told Reuters an investigation would be conducted and the guilty punished. He said the incident was the result of an intelligence failure.

India’s northeast is home to a complex web of tribal groups, many of which have launched insurgencies, accusing New Delhi of plundering resources and doing little to improve their lives.

People in Nagaland have frequently accused security forces of wrongly targeting innocent locals in their counterinsurgency operations against rebel groups.

On Sunday, civilians launched protests against the government in the Mon district of Nagaland, where the 14 tribal people were killed.

“There is a mob outside which is pelting stones,” a security official who did not want to be named told Reuters from the camp, which was surrounded by protesters.

“One civilian was shot dead and two more injured in firing by Assam Rifles a short while ago in Mon town,” Noklem Konyak, president of the Konyak Students Union, told Reuters by telephone.

Konyak is the dominant tribe in Mon district.

Indian military and government officials were not immediately available to comment on the latest killing.

‘CRUDE WEAPONS’

Saturday’s incident took place in and around Oting village in Mon district, bordering Myanmar, during a counterinsurgency operation conducted by members of the Assam Rifles, the country’s oldest paramilitary force, said a senior police official based in Nagaland.

Firing began when a truck carrying 30 or more coal mine labourers were passing the Assam Rifles camp.

“The troopers had intelligence inputs about some militant movement in the area and on seeing the truck they mistook the miners to be rebels and opened fire killing six labourers,” the senior police official told Reuters, requesting anonymity.

“After the news of firing spread in the village, hundreds of tribal people surrounded the camp. They burnt Assam Rifles vehicles and clashed with the troopers using crude weapons,” he said.

Members of the Assam Rifles retaliated, and in the second attack eight more civilians and a security force member were killed, the official said.

The Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA), an influential rights’ group in Nagaland, appealed to all Naga tribes to mourn the loss of civilian lives and demanded that the Indian army’s cantonments should be shifted out of civilian areas.

“Let the world know our grief and sorrow and may our voices of protest be heard against the continuing militarisation and killings under the Armed Forces Powers Act,” said Abeiu Meru, the president of NMA.

The Act gives armed forces sweeping powers to search and arrest, and to open fire if they deem it necessary for the maintenance of public order in parts of the country they declared as “disturbed areas”.

Some parts of Nagaland were given that designation by the federal government last year.

Police and local government officials have intensified vigilance and patrolling across the border state ahead of final rites for the dead scheduled on Monday.

In recent years India has tried to persuade Myanmar to evict rebels from bases in the thick jungles of the unfenced region, which borders Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

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Reporting by Zarir Hussain; Additional reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Devjyot Ghosal, Editing by Rupam Jain, William Mallard, David Evans and Alex Richardson

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Five dead after Myanmar security forces ram car into Yangon protest – media

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FILE PHOTO: Police stand on a road during an anti-coup protest in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 3, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

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Dec 5 (Reuters) – Five people were killed and at least 15 arrested after Myanmar security forces in a car rammed into an anti-coup protest on Sunday morning in Yangon, local news portal Myanmar Now reported.

Witnesses on the scene told Reuters dozens had been injured. Photos and videos on social media show a vehicle that crashed through the protesters and bodies lying on the road.

Another protest was held in Yangon in the afternoon despite the morning violence.

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Anti-military protests are continuing despite the killing of more than 1,300 people since the Feb. 1 coup. The scattered protests are often small groups voicing opposition to the overthrow of an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the return of military rule.

The opposition’s shadow government said it was heartbroken to see peaceful protesters crashed and shot to death.

“We will strongly respond to the terrorist military who brutally, inhumanly killed the unarmed peaceful protesters,” the National Unity Government’s defence ministry said in a statement on social media after Sunday’s attack.

In the incident, a “flash mob” protest in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, was rammed minutes after it started, witnesses said.

“I got hit and fell down in front of a truck. A soldier beat me with his rifle but I defended and pushed him back. Then he immediately shot at me as I ran away in a zig-zag pattern. Fortunately, I escaped,” a protester who asked not to be identified for security reasons told Reuters by phone.

A car occupied by soldiers hit the crowd from the back, two witnesses said, and followed the scattered protesters arresting and beating them. Some were seriously injured with head wounds and unconscious, according to the witnesses.

A spokesman for the ruling junta did not answer calls seeking comment on Sunday.

The military has said that protesters who have been killed instigated the violence. It says it staged the coup because a November election won by Suu Kyi’s party was rigged. The election commission has dismissed the assertion.

Wars with ethnic minority insurgents in remote frontier regions in the north and east have intensified significantly since the coup, displacing tens of thousands of civilians, according to United Nations estimates.

Suu Kyi, 76, faces a dozen cases against her including incitement and violations of COVID-19 protocols.

She has rejected all the charges to date.

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Reporting by Reuters Staff; Editing by Kim Coghill and William Mallard

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Xi tells Southeast Asian leaders China does not seek ‘hegemony’

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Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at a meeting commemorating the 110th anniversary of Xinhai Revolution at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 9, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

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  • China will not ‘bully’ smaller countries – Xi
  • Duterte slams Chinese behaviour in South China Sea
  • Myanmar not represented at summit

BEIJING, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping told leaders of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at a summit on Monday that Beijing would not “bully” its smaller regional neighbours, amid rising tension over the South China Sea.

Beijing’s territorial claims over the sea clash with those of several Southeast Asian nations and have raised alarm from Washington to Tokyo.

But Xi said China would never seek hegemony nor take advantage of its size to coerce smaller countries, and would work with ASEAN to eliminate “interference”.

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“China was, is, and will always be a good neighbour, good friend, and good partner of ASEAN,” Chinse state media quoted Xi as saying.

China’s assertion of sovereignty over the South China Sea has set it against ASEAN members Vietnam and the Philippines, while Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also lay claim to parts.

The Philippines on Thursday condemned the actions of three Chinese coast guard vessels that it said blocked and used water cannon on resupply boats headed towards a Philippine-occupied atoll in the sea.

The United States on Friday called the Chinese actions “dangerous, provocative, and unjustified,” and warned that an armed attack on Philippine vessels would invoke U.S. mutual defence commitments. read more

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told the summit hosted by Xi that he “abhors” the altercation and said the rule of law was the only way out of the dispute. He referred to a 2016 international arbitration ruling which found China’s maritime claim to the sea had no legal basis. read more

“This does not speak well of the relations between our nations,” said Duterte, who will leave office next year and has been criticised in the past for failing to condemn China’s conduct in the disputed waters.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

MYANMAR NO SHOW

Xi told the summit that China and ASEAN had “cast off the gloom of the Cold War” – when the region was wracked by superpower competition and conflicts such as the Vietnam War – and had jointly maintained regional stability.

China frequently criticises the United States for “Cold War thinking” when Washington engages its regional allies to push back against Beijing’s growing military and economic influence.

U.S. President Joe Biden joined ASEAN leaders for a virtual summit in October and pledged greater engagement with the region. read more

The summit was held without a representative from Myanmar, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said on Monday. The reason for the non-attendance was not immediately clear, and a spokesperson for Myanmar’s military government did not answer calls seeking comment.

ASEAN sidelined Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, who has led a bloody crackdown on dissent since seizing power on Feb. 1, from virtual summits last month over his failure to make inroads in implementing an agreed peace plan, in an unprecedented exclusion for the bloc.

Myanmar refused to send junior representation and blamed ASEAN for departing from its non-interference principle and caving to Western pressure.

China lobbied for Min to attend the summit, according to diplomatic sources. read more

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Reporting by Gabriel Crossley, Rozanna Latiff and Martin Petty; Editing by Stephen Coates

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Biden vows to stand with SE Asia in defending freedom of seas, democracy

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  • Biden pledges to defend freedom of the seas
  • U.S. concerned by China’s “coercive and proactive actions” across Taiwan Strait
  • China’s Premier Li says upholding peace in South China Sea in everyone’s interest

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Oct 27 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden said on Wednesday the United States would stand with Southeast Asian allies in defending freedom of the seas, democracy and human rights and backed efforts to hold the Myanmar junta accountable to its commitments to peace.

Southeast Asia has become a strategic battleground between the United States and China, which controls most of the South China Sea and has turned up military and political pressure on fiercely democratic Taiwan, a self-ruled island it considers its own.

Australia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed on Wednesday at a virtual regional summit to establish a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, a sign of Canberra’s ambition to play a bigger role in the region.

Biden joined Southeast Asian leaders in rebuking Myanmar’s junta as the summit opened on Tuesday without a representative from the country following its top general’s exclusion for ignoring peace proposals.

“In Myanmar, we must address the tragedy caused by the military coup which is increasingly undermining regional stability,” Biden said on Wednesday.

“The United States stands for the people of Myanmar and calls for military regime to end the violence, release all political prisoners and return to the path of democracy.”

He also said the United States was deeply concerned by “China’s coercive and proactive actions” across the Taiwan Strait, a waterway linking the island and the mainland.

Tensions between Taiwan and China have escalated in recent weeks as Beijing raises military and political pressure.

That has included repeated missions by Chinese warplanes in Taiwan’s air defence identification zone, or ADIZ, which covers a broader area than Taiwan’s territorial air space which Taiwan monitors and patrols to give it more time to respond to any threats.

China has never renounced the use of force to ensure eventual unification with Taiwan.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told the summit upholding peace, stability, freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea was in everyone’s interest.

“The South China Sea is our common home,” he said.

REGIONAL ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK

Biden also said he would speak out for “human rights in Xinjiang and Tibet (and) the rights of the people of Hong Kong”.

China denies human rights abuses in farwestern Xinjiang and the Himalayan region of Tibet. It also denies meddling with freedoms in the former British colony of Hong Kong.

Biden also announced discussions with partners in the IndoPacific region would start to develop a framework “that will position all of our economies for the future”.

“We look forward to working together with digital economy standards on infrastructure and regional connectivity, on supply chain resilience and anti-corruption and worker standards and so much more,” he said

Critics of U.S. strategy for the region point to its lack of an economic component after former President Donald Trump withdrew from the trade deal now known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2017.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters he had stressed in Wednesday’s meetings his country’s resolute stance on “urgent regional situations”, including the East and South China Seas, North Korea and Myanmar.

“I also mentioned human rights situations in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, as well as the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan strait,” he said.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Australia-ASEAN pact would strengthen diplomatic and security ties and promised Canberra would “back it with substance”.

“This milestone underscores Australia’s commitment to ASEAN’s central role in the Indo-Pacific and positions our partnership for the future,” he said in a joint statement with Foreign Minister Marise Payne.

Brunei, serving as chair of ASEAN, said the agreement “marked a new chapter in relations.”

After the announcement, Australia said it would invest $154 million in projects in Southeast Asia on health and energy security, counter-terrorism, fighting transnational crime, plus hundreds of scholarships.

China has sought a similar agreement with ASEAN. Premier Li met ASEAN leaders on Tuesday, and the bloc’s leaders will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in November at a virtual summit, two diplomatic sources told Reuters.

Morrison sought to reassure ASEAN that a trilateral security pact agreed last month between the United States, Britain and Australia, under which Australia will get access to nuclear-powered submarines, would not be a threat to the region.

Reporting by Ain Bandial in Bandar Seri Begawan and Tom Allard in Sydney; Additional reporting by Stanley Widianto in Jakarta; Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo, Colin Packham in Canberra, David Brunnstrom in Washington and Neil Jerome Morales in Manila; Writing by Martin Petty and Nick Macfie; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Jon Boyle and Sonya Hepinstall

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Myanmar a no-show at summit after ASEAN sidelines junta boss

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  • Myanmar a test for ASEAN’s credibility – Thai PM
  • Malaysia backs chair’s call on Myanmar representation
  • U.S. security advisor meets Myanmar shadow govt
  • Myanmar rejects ASEAN exclusion move

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Oct 26 (Reuters) – A Southeast Asian summit started on Tuesday without military-ruled Myanmar, after its junta refused to send a representative following its leader’s exclusion for ignoring a peace roadmap agreed six months ago.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had said it would accept a non-political representative from Myanmar, but the junta said on Monday it would only agree to its leader or a minister attending.

Myanmar’s absence was not mentioned by either Brunei, the ASEAN chair, or the 10-member bloc’s secretary-general, at the opening of the virtual meeting.

ASEAN decided to sideline from the summit junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, who led a Feb. 1 coup against an elected government, for his failure to cease hostilities, allow humanitarian access and start dialogue with opponents, as agreed with ASEAN in April.

After Tuesday’s leaders meeting, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Twitter he fully supported Brunei’s decision on Myanmar’s representation, while Thai counterpart Prayuth Chan-ocha said ASEAN’s dealings with Myanmar were crucial for its reputation and a test of its resolve.

“ASEAN’s constructive role in addressing this situation is of paramount importance and our action on this matter shall have a bearing on ASEAN’s credibility in the eyes of the international community,” Prayuth said, according to his office.

The sidelining of Min Aung Hlaing was a huge insult to the junta and a rare, bold step by a regional grouping known for its code of non-interference and engagement.

Myanmar’s military, which ruled the country for 49 of the past 60 years, objected strongly, accusing ASEAN of departing from its norms and of allowing itself to be influenced by other countries, including the United States.

ASEAN made the call days after its special envoy Erywan Yusof said he would not be given access to all parties in the country, including ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is charged with multiple crimes.

‘TRUST ASEAN’

Prayuth, a former coup leader in Thailand, urged Myanmar to follow its commitments and for Erywan to visit soon and make an “important first step in the process of confidence-building”.

Prayuth “expressed hope that Myanmar will trust ASEAN in helping Myanmar to achieve peace and harmony, as well as to return to the democratic process.”

Myanmar security forces have killed more than 1,000 civilians and detained thousands more, subjecting many to torture and beatings, according to United Nations envoys, who say the army’s excessive use of force has displaced tens of thousands of people.

Myanmar has rejected that as biased and exaggerated by unreliable sources and says the conflict is being stoked by “terrorists” allied with a shadow National Unity Government (NUG).

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met on Monday with representatives of the NUG, an alliance of pro-democracy groups, local militias and ethnic minority armies formed after the coup. read more

ASEAN leaders were due also to collectively meet leaders of the United States, China and South Korea.

U.S. President Joe Biden will attend a joint session of the ASEAN summit by video link.

Michael Vatikiotis, Asia Director of the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, said Myanmar’s junta “probably cares about being frozen out of the summit”, although it has a history of enduring international isolation.

“The question now is whether regional leaders will agree to engage with the parallel National Unity Government more formally, as the U.S. and EU has started to do,” he said.

Reporting Ain Bandial in Bandar Seri Begawan; Additional reporting by Tom Allard, A. Ananthalakshmi in Kuala Lumpur, Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok; Writing by Kay Johnson and Martin Petty; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore

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ASEAN excludes Myanmar junta leader from summit in rare move

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BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Southeast Asian countries will invite a non-political representative from Myanmar to a regional summit this month, delivering an unprecedented snub to the military leader who led a coup against an elected civilian government in February.

The decision taken by foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at an emergency meeting on Friday night, marks a rare bold step for the consensus-driven bloc, which has traditionally favoured a policy of engagement and non-interference.

Singapore’s foreign ministry said on Saturday the move to exclude junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was a “difficult but necessary decision to uphold ASEAN’s credibility”.

The statement went on to cite the lack of progress made on a roadmap to restore peace in Myanmar that the junta had agreed to with ASEAN in April.

More than 1,000 civilians have been killed by Myanmar security forces and thousands arrested, according to the United Nations, amid a crackdown on strikes and protests which has derailed the country’s tentative democracy and prompted international condemnation.

The junta says those estimates of the death toll are exaggerated.

ASEAN’s current chair Brunei said a non-political figure from Myanmar would be invited to the Oct. 26-28 summit, after no consensus was reached for a political representative to attend.

“As there had been insufficient progress… as well as concerns over Myanmar’s commitment, in particular on establishing constructive dialogue among all concerned parties, some ASEAN Member States recommended that ASEAN give space to Myanmar to restore its internal affairs and return to normalcy,” Brunei said in a statement.

It did not mention Min Aung Hlaing or name who would be invited in his stead.

Brunei said some member states had received requests from Myanmar’s National Unity Government, formed by opponents of the junta, to attend the summit.

‘JUSTIFIED DOWNGRADE’

ASEAN has faced increasing international pressure to take a tougher stand against Myanmar, having been criticised in the past for its ineffectiveness in dealing with leaders accused of rights abuses, subverting democracy and intimidating political opponents.

A U.S. State Department official told reporters on Friday that it was “perfectly appropriate and in fact completely justified” for ASEAN to downgrade Myanmar’s participation at the coming summit.

Singapore in its statement urged Myanmar to cooperate with ASEAN’s envoy, Brunei’s second foreign affairs minister Erywan Yusof.

Erywan has delayed a long-planned visit to the country in recent weeks and has asked to meet all parties in Myanmar, including deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained in the coup.

Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said this week Erywan would be welcome in Myanmar, but would not be allowed to meet Suu Kyi because she is charged with crimes.

Reporting by Ain Bandial; Additional reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore and Simon Lewis in Washington; Writing by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by William Mallard & Simon Cameron-Moore

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Southeast Asian bloc to discuss excluding Myanmar junta leader from summit

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A bird flies near the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) secretariat building, ahead of the ASEAN leaders’ meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, April 23, 2021. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

  • Myanmar junta criticised for reneging on ASEAN commitment
  • Credibility risk if ASEAN relents on Myanmar – Philippines
  • Indonesia, Malaysia, S’pore indicate favour exclusion – sources
  • Myanmar junta chides countries, U.N. for “double standards”

Oct 14 (Reuters) – Southeast Asian foreign ministers will discuss excluding Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing from an upcoming summit at a meeting on Friday, sources told Reuters, as pressure builds on the ruling military to comply with an agreed peace roadmap.

The meeting comes as the junta ruled out allowing a regional envoy, Brunei’s second foreign affairs minister, Erywan Yusof, to meet deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is on trial on multiple charges since her elected government was overthrown in a Feb. 1 coup.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed on a five-point consensus with Min Aung Hlaing in April, but several members of the bloc have criticised the junta’s failure to implement the plan, which includes dialogue among all parties, humanitarian access and an end to hostilities.

Friday’s previously unscheduled virtual meeting will be hosted by ASEAN chair Brunei, according to multiple sources based in ASEAN member countries, including diplomats and government officials.

Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia had indicated that they were in favour of excluding Min Aung Hlaing from the Oct. 26-28 virtual summit, but were pushing for a consensus among nine ASEAN states, three of the sources said. Myanmar is the 10th ASEAN member.

A spokesman for Thailand’s foreign ministry confirmed a meeting would be held on Friday.

Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin on Thursday voiced support for excluding Min Aung Hlaing from future summits, adding that ASEAN could no longer afford to take a neutral stance on Myanmar.

“We can continue keeping them (Myanmar) at a distance but… if we relent in any way, our credibility as a real regional organisation disappears,” Locsin said in an interview with Australian think-tank Lowy Institute.

“What’s that? We’re a bunch of guys who always agree with each other on the worthless things, things that don’t count in the world.”

The U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed Myanmar, also known as Burma, with Erywan on Wednesday.

It said the two “expressed concern over the violence and deteriorating crisis in Burma and emphasized the urgency for the Burmese military regime to cease the violence, release all those unjustly detained, and restore multi-party democracy and Burma’s democratic transition.”

It said they also reaffirmed the need to hold the Myanmar government accountable to the five-point consensus and facilitate a meaningful visit by Erywan, to include engagements with all stakeholders.

Myanmar junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun did not respond to calls seeking comment. Brunei’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

ENVOY VISIT STALLED

Myanmar, with a long history of military dictatorship and international sanctions over systematic human rights abuses, has been ASEAN’s trickiest issue since the group was formed in 1967, testing the limits of its unity and policy of non-interference in each others’ affairs.

More than 1,100 people have been killed since Myanmar’s coup, according to the United Nations, many during a crackdown by security forces on pro-democracy strikes and protests, during which thousands have been arrested.

Erywan last week confirmed some members had been “deep in discussions” about not inviting Min Aung Hlaing.

A long-planned visit by Erywan to Myanmar has been delayed in recent weeks. Earlier this week, he said he was in consultations with parties in Myanmar, did not take sides or political positions and looked forward to a visit.

Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun, in written remarks dated Wednesday, said the military would not block Erywan from visiting but would not allow him to meet Suu Kyi, because she is charged with crimes. read more

Reporting by Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur and Tom Allard in Jakarta; Additional reporting by Ain Bandial in Bandar Seri Begawan, Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Martin Petty and Rozanna Latiff; Editing by William Mallard and Nick Macfie

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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