The European Union’s (EU) top diplomat said Sunday (April 11) that Russia and the Chinese Communist Party have prevented a concerted international response to the military coup in Burma. The official also said that the EU may provide more economic incentives if democracy is restored in Myanmar.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a social media post that he was not surprised that Russia and China are trying to block the U.N. Security Council from imposing sanctions such as an arms embargo on the Burmese junta.
“The geopolitical competition in Myanmar will make finding common ground very difficult,” Borrell said on behalf of the EU’s 27 member states. “But we are obliged to try.”
Myanmar’s military staged a coup on Feb. 1 to overthrow the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi and detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials. In the immediate aftermath, sustained protests against the military coup erupted across Burma, with Burmese security forces carrying out a bloody crackdown on protesting people. By late Sunday, more than 700 peaceful protesters, including 46 children, had been killed, according to the latest count by the activist group Aid Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). More than 3,000 others have been arrested.
According to AAPP, 82 people were killed Friday in Pegu township alone, near Yangon, which AAPP called “a place of killings.
Burmese protesters continued to rally across the country Sunday with political messages such as “we will win” and “call on the United Nations to intervene to avoid further bloodshed.
EU foreign policy chief Borrelli said, “The world is watching in horror as the (Burmese) army uses violence against its own people.”
Both Communist China and Russia are reported to have ties to the Burmese armed forces, being the country’s first and second largest suppliers of weapons, respectively.
The U.N. Security Council last week called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and others detained by the military, but did not condemn the coup.
The EU is preparing to impose new sanctions on individuals and companies owned by the Burmese military. In March, the EU agreed to impose a first set of sanctions on 11 individuals linked to the coup, including the military’s commander-in-chief.
The EU has relatively little economic influence in Myanmar, though Borrelli said it could offer to increase economic ties with the country if democracy is restored. Europe has become a major export market for Myanmar’s garment industry in recent years, he said, suggesting that the EU could increase economic ties and investment if Myanmar returns to the path of democracy.
In 2019, EU foreign direct investment in Myanmar totaled $700 million, compared with $19 billion from China, according to the data.
Myanmar’s military said the overthrow of the democratically elected civilian government was due to fraud in the election won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party last November. Myanmar’s election commission has refuted the claim.
The Burmese New Year runs from April 13 to April 16. The U.S. Embassy in Burma tweeted that we mourn the innocent lives lost in Pegu and across Burma as this holiday approaches. The tweet referred to the reported use of weapons of war by government forces against civilians. The tweet said the military regime is capable of resolving the crisis and needs to start by ending the violence and attacks.
Separately, the Kachin Independence Army, an ethnic armed group, fought fierce battles with the Burmese military on Sunday in the town of Maungdaw (momauk) in northern Kachin State, Myanmar, AFP reported. “They tried to enter our area, but our army did its best to block them,” Colonel Naw Bu, a spokesman for the independence army, told AFP. The spokesman added that the clashes erupted at 8 p.m. the previous night when Burmese government forces carried out air strikes against them.
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