The United States urged strong action against Myanmar as Southeast Asian ministers prepared for a meeting on Thursday to discuss how to deal with the military-led country ahead of an upcoming summit.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers hold emergency talks on Myanmar in Jakarta on Thursday ahead of the November 10-13 ASEAN and East Asia summits in Cambodia.
Daniel Kritenbrink, the top US diplomat for East Asia, said the junta, which seized power in February 2021, is leading “the complete destruction of every advance made in the last decade” as the nation transitioned to democracy.
“The regime’s brutality – wanton killings, murdering civilians, bombing schools, executing activists, beheading teachers. I think what you’re going to see from the United States of America at the East Asia Summit is a very strong call to do more pressure on the regime,” Kritenbrink said.
“I think we have some practical ideas in mind,” he said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
“We will not stand by while this violence continues; we will not stand idly by while the junta prepares for the utterly bogus and bogus elections they are talking about next year,” he said.
Little progress has been made on an ASEAN five-point plan from April last year that called for an end to the violence, increased humanitarian aid and dialogue between the military and the anti-coup movement.
Kritenbrink said the United States had “great respect” for ASEAN, but said Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed “frustration” at the lack of forward movement in Myanmar during talks in August.
The United States was also working with ASEAN leaders to “ensure Ukraine’s meaningful participation in the East Asia Summit,” Kritenbrink said.
The summit should “send a strong message that big countries can’t just take what they want from smaller neighbors,” he added.
Russia, a Pacific power, has traditionally attended the East Asia Summit rather than Ukraine. But the United States has sought to isolate President Vladimir Putin after he launched a full-scale invasion of his neighbor in February.
For the Group of 20 major economies summit, taking place after the East Asia summit in Bali, the Indonesian hosts have sought a compromise by inviting G20 leader Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
