Amid the ongoing West’s sanctions against the regime for thwarting the transition to democracy, China has re-emerged as a major geopolitical player in the country….reports Asian Lite News
China couldn’t let go of its “weak” neighbour Myanmar as it provides Beijing with direct access to the Indian ocean and also makes it possible to bypass the contested South China Sea, Bertil Lintner writes in Global Asia.
In the South Korean-based East Asia Foundation, the writer said that China sees Myanmar as the crucial link in Beijing’s foreign policy as it will make it possible to bypass the contested and potentially vulnerable Strait of Malacca for exports as well as the import of gas, oil and minerals. The grip of Myanmar’s military on the country since the coup it staged in 2021 remains firm despite continuing armed resistance against its rule. Earlier in 2020, a military junta staged a coup after Aung San Suu Kyi won the election. After this, the West imposed sanctions on Myanmar.
Amid the ongoing West’s sanctions against the regime for thwarting the transition to democracy, China has re-emerged as a major geopolitical player in the country.
According to the writer, the importance of Myanmar as an outlet to the Indian Ocean was first outlined by Pan Qi, a former minister, as far back as September 2, 1985, in an article in the Beijing Review.
Now called the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), it is meant to provide China with an outlet for exports to Myanmar and, even more important, beyond. The route broadly follows gas and oil pipelines from the Myanmar coast to Yunnan, which were built in 2013 and 2017.
Plans are also underway for high-speed rail links between Yunnan and Kyaukphyu, a deep-water port on the Bay of Bengal, which also has a 1,600-hectare special economic zone for foreign trade.
It seems that China would like to provide a defence umbrella, which would have to be through support for a loyal Myanmar dependent on China for arms, training and other military cooperation. In the decade after the nationwide uprising for democracy in 1988 that was brutally crushed, Myanmar became isolated internationally and its military had to turn to China for military hardware.
China also helped Myanmar upgrade its naval bases along the coast and on islands in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. Chinese-supplied radar systems were installed in some of these bases, and it is reasonable to assume that China’s security services benefited from the resulting intelligence.
Being preoccupied with the Ukraine crisis, the US is not paying much attention to Myanmar. And the same was seen in the State Department statement, released on January 31, the second anniversary of the coup, Washington appears to have outsourced the Myanmar issue to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“We welcome and support the central role of ASEAN in addressing the crisis in Myanmar,” support the efforts to “fully implement ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus” and reaffirm “support for the ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar and the UN Special Envoy to Myanmar”.
With US preoccupation with global security issues elsewhere has left Myanmar open to renewed Chinese penetration.
As per the author, the Myanmar military may be reluctant to once again become dependent on Chinese arms supplies, but China has since the coup supplied Myanmar with sophisticated electronic surveillance systems, which the generals would have difficulty obtaining elsewhere, including cameras equipped with facial-recognition and license-plate recognition technology.
Such sales increased dramatically in 2022, according to Global Asia citing the industry sources, and the Chinese suppliers have in some instances stripped the equipment of visible branding to obscure the maker and the origin, which could complicate the businesses those companies have in the US and European Union, where strict sanctions apply on entities dealing with the Myanmar junta.
China is the only outside power that has close relations with Myanmar’s strongest ethnic armed resistance groups. In late February, Deng Xijun, China’s special envoy to Myanmar, held meetings in the border areas with representatives from the Kachin Independence Army, the United Wa State Army and the National Democratic Alliance Army in Shan State. (ANI)
The National League for Democracy (NLD) party was among 40 political parties that were unable to meet the ruling military’s registration deadline for an election…reports Asian Lite News
The United States has “strongly” condemned the Myanmar military’s decision to abolish 40 political parties, including the National League for Democracy, the US Department of State Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Wednesday (local time).
While addressing a press briefing on Wednesday (local time), Vedant Patel said that the elections will not be considered “free or fair” without the participation of all the stakeholders in Myanmar. He made the remarks in response to a question regarding the Myanmar military’s decision to dissolve political parties, including Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD). “We strongly condemn the Burma military regime’s decision to abolish 40 political parties, including, as you so noted, the National League for Democracy. Any election without the participation of all stakeholders in Burma would not be and cannot be considered free or fair,” Vedant Patel said.
“And given the widespread opposition to military rule, the regime’s unilateral push towards elections likely will escalate instability. We continue to support efforts by all of those working to establish genuine and inclusive democracy in Burma,” he added.
In response to a question regarding upcoming elections that the Myanmar army plans to hold, Vedant Patel said, “if you are going to remove 40 parties from their ability to participate in those elections, essentially having elections without the participation of all of the appropriate stakeholders, then yes, that is an election that would not be considered free and fair. And given, as I said, the people and public’s opposition to the military rule, the regime’s unilateral push towards elections will, unfortunately, lead to increased instability.”
Myanmar’s military-controlled election commission said that the ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party will be dissolved for failing to re-register under a new electoral law, Al Jazeera reported citing state television.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) party was among 40 political parties that were unable to meet the ruling military’s registration deadline for an election, Al Jazeera reported citing Myawaddy TV.
Earlier in January, the Myanmar military gave two months to political parties to register under a strict new electoral law before fresh elections which they have promised to hold. However, the opponents have said that the elections will neither be free nor fair. The NLD has said it would not contest in the elections and called it illegitimate.
In November 2020, the NLD secured victory in Myanmar’s parliamentary elections. However, less than three months later, the Myanmar military carried out a coup and imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi. She is serving a prison sentence which totals 33 years. As per the news report, Aung San Suu Kyi has been convicted in a series of politically tainted prosecutions brought by the military. (ANI)
The latest sanctions imposed by the United States on the country’s military regime and crony businesses target jet fuel for Myanmar’s armed forces….reports Asian Lite News
In a grand display of forces, Myanmar’s military Junta showcased a grand display of forces soon after the United States imposed sanctions on the ruling military for the current situation of the country, CNN reported.
The latest sanctions imposed by the United States on the country’s military regime and crony businesses target jet fuel for Myanmar’s armed forces. According to CNN, the US Treasury Department announced on Friday that it had sanctioned two people and six entities linked to Myanmar’s military for enabling the regime’s ongoing atrocities.
The display of forces on Monday marked the third time the military, also known as the Tatmadaw, has celebrated Armed Forces Day since overthrowing Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government.
She has since been sentenced to 33 years in prison in secretive trials that her lawyers claim are politically motivated.
Citing a video from state media, CNN reported that Myanmar’s Junta displayed not only forces but several types of equipment including tanks as well as rocket launchers.
The country has notably been torn apart by violence and economic paralysis in the two years since the coup.
The junta has cracked down on anti-coup protesters, arrested journalists and political prisoners, and executed several prominent pro-democracy activists, prompting condemnation from the United Nations and human rights organisations.
Myanmar has been mired in political violence since military leader Min Aung Hlaing seized power in a 2021 coup that upturned any hope the Southeast Asian nation of 55 million people would become a functioning democracy.
The coup was followed by a brutal military crackdown against pro-democracy protesters that saw civilians shot in the street, abducted in nighttime raids and allegedly tortured in detention.
The coup has also resulted in a surge in fighting between the military and a raft of resistance groups allied with long-established ethnic militias in a country that has been plagued for decades by insurgencies.
Resistance groups have repeatedly accused Myanmar’s military of carrying out mass killings, air strikes and war crimes against civilians in the regions where fighting has raged, charges the junta repeatedly denies – despite a growing body of evidence. (ANI)
The National League for Democracy (NLD) party was among 40 political parties that were unable to meet the ruling military’s registration deadline for an election…reports Asian Lite News
Myanmar’s military-controlled election commission said that the ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party will be dissolved for failing to re-register under a new electoral law, Al Jazeera reported citing state television.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) party was among 40 political parties that were unable to meet the ruling military’s registration deadline for an election, Al Jazeera reported citing Myawaddy TV. Earlier in January, the Myanmar military gave two months to political parties to register under a strict new electoral law before fresh elections which they have promised to hold. However, the opponents have said that the elections will neither be free nor fair. The NLD has said it would not contest in the elections and called it illegitimate.
Bo Bo Oo, one of the elected lawmakers from Suu Kyi’s party, said, “We absolutely do not accept that an election will be held at a time when many political leaders and political activists have been arrested and the people are being tortured by the military.”
In November 2020, the NLD secured victory in Myanmar’s parliamentary elections. However, less than three months later, the Myanmar military carried out a coup and imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi. Meanwhile, the Myanmar army justified the coup and said that there was massive poll fraud. However, the independent election observers did not find any major irregularities.
Aung San Suu Kyi is serving a prison sentence which totals 33 years. She has been convicted in a series of politically tainted prosecutions brought by the military, as per the Al Jazeera report. Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters have stressed that the charges that have been made against her were contrived with the aim to stop her from actively participating in politics.
Earlier in January, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his deep concern over the final verdicts and sentencing of Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, reiterating his calls for her immediate release.
“We’ve been asked for a comment on the sentencing of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and I can say that the Secretary-General expresses his deep concern over the final verdicts and sentencing of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and reiterates his calls for her immediate release and that of President Win Myint and of all arbitrarily detained prisoners in Myanmar,” said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for Guterres during a briefing on January 3.
“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines the principles of equality before the law, the presumption of innocence, and the right to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, with all the guarantees necessary for a person’s defence,” he added. (ANI)
With this new funding, the US’ total assistance for those affected by the Rakhine State and Rohingya crisis has reached nearly USD 2.1 billion since August 2017..reports Asian Lite News
The US State Department has announced nearly USD 26 million in additional humanitarian assistance for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, for those people in Burma affected by ongoing violence, and for communities hosting refugees from Burma.
With this new funding, the US’ total assistance for those affected by the Rakhine State and Rohingya crisis has reached nearly USD 2.1 billion since August 2017, when over 7,40,000 Rohingya were forced to flee to safety in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, according to a press statement issued by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday, during the launch of the 2023 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis in Bangladesh.
According to the official press statement, the new funding includes nearly USD 24 million for programs specifically in Bangladesh, providing life-sustaining support to nearly 9,80,000 Rohingya refugees, many of them survivors of genocide, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing, and support to nearly 5,40,000 host community members in Bangladesh.
The assistance, according to Blinken, sees to it that children and young adults have access to education and vocational training, provides families with food and clean water, strengthens sanitation systems to prevent the spread of disease, supports the protection of Rohingya refugees’ human rights and well-being, bolsters disaster preparedness, and helps combat the effects of climate change.
The US urged other donors to contribute robustly to the humanitarian response and increase support to those driven from and affected by violence in Burma.
The United States recognises the generosity of the government and people of Bangladesh and other countries hosting refugees from Burma in the region particularly given that this is the sixth year of this protracted crisis, according to the statement by Blinken.
“We are committed to finding lasting solutions to this crisis, including the safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable return and reintegration of displaced Rohingya when conditions in Burma allow. An essential step in ending this crisis is ending the military regime’s brutal repression of its people and agreeing to a pathway to an inclusive multiparty democracy. We commend our humanitarian partners for the lifesaving work they continue to do every day,” read the US Department of State press statement.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk recently called for a coordinated regional approach to protect the thousands of desperate Rohingya who risk their lives by undertaking perilous sea voyages.
“More than 2,400 Rohingya have sought to leave Bangladesh and Myanmar in 2022 alone, and I am deeply saddened that over 200 have reportedly lost their lives on the way. Recent reports indicate that overcrowded and unsafe boats carrying Rohingyas have been left to drift for days on end without any help,” Turk said in a statement released by the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner.
“As the crisis at sea continues, I urge countries in the region to put in place a coordination mechanism to ensure proactive search and rescue, the disembarkation of Rohingya refugees on their territories, and their effective protection,” he added, noting that some States had already provided assistance.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights called on countries in the region and globally to help Bangladesh support the over one million Rohingya refugees who have sought protection there since 2017.
“Clearly, an urgent solution must be found to enable the voluntary return of all Rohingya, with full respect for their dignity and human rights as full and equal citizens of Myanmar,” he added. (ANI)
Myanmar is a key link in the global opium supply chain and is part of what is considered as the Golden Triangle. Golden Triangle consists of Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos and is one of the most important nodes in the opium trade, writes Sankalp Gurjar
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has recently released its latest report on the opium production in Myanmar. As per the report, poppy cultivation has increased after the military coup in 2021. The increase in production is caused by two primary shocks: the economic downturn triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the military coup.
The isolation of, and instability in, Myanmar after the military coup has incentivised farmers to rely more and more on poppy cultivation. The report notes that it is seen as the safe insurance crop against the backdrop of political and economic uncertainty. The worsening economic outlook has enhanced the role of poppy in Myanmar’s economy. Furthermore, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its aftershocks on global energy, food and fertilizer prices have aggravated the situation.
The growing poppy cultivation presents a security challenge not just for Myanmar but also its neighbours including India. Even the report notes that, “East and Southeast Asia-fanning out from the upper Mekong region across ASEAN countries, to Australia and New Zealand, Japan and the Republic of Korea, as well as India and Bangladesh – is set to continue to face a significant expansion in the illicit supply of drugs.”
Myanmar is a key link in the global opium supply chain and is part of what is considered as the Golden Triangle. Golden Triangle consists of Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos and is one of the most important nodes in the opium trade. Apart from the production, Myanmar offers overland as well as sea routes for the transport of opium. Interestingly, as per the UNODC report, the production areas of Myanmar’s poppy cultivation are located close to the international frontiers with India, China, and Thailand. For example, Chin and Kachin states which are located across India’s Northeast have reported an increase in production.
As a result, India finds itself in an unenviable situation where two countries in the neighbourhood are increasing the production and supplies of opium. Just like Myanmar, Afghanistan under the Taliban has reported an increase in poppy cultivation. Makran coast (of Iran and Pakistan) has emerged as a major supply conduit for drugs. The increased poppy cultivation in the neighbourhood has implications for India’s counter-narcotics efforts, coastal security, and local policing.
Meanwhile, as the military in Myanmar keeps reins of power in its hands, the international isolation of the regime will only contribute in the making of Myanmar as a narco-state. The war between rebels, known as People’s Defence Force, and the military will mean Myanmar will remain unstable and volatile. In this context, the influence of China and Russia is increasing in Naypyidaw after the coup as the West and regional players have turned their back on Myanmar.
Although India has not turned its back on Myanmar after the military coup, the evolving politico-military situation is proving to be a challenge. Earlier this month, Myanmar’s Air Force, while targeting rebels, dropped bombs in Indian territory. This incident could have caused deep embarrassment to Myanmar, but India has chosen to downplay it. India maintained that Myanmar’s Air Force has not violated Indian airspace.
The issue of Burmese refugees had become a challenge for India’s North-eastern States bordering Myanmar. Estimates about the exact number of Burmese refugees vary. There are about 30,000 Chin refugees in Mizoram along the southern districts that border Myanmar whereas in Manipur, there are about 5000-10,000 refugees. The refugee influx from Myanmar has become a thorny issue between the Union Home ministry and Mizoram government.
In the Northeast, refugee flows from neighbouring countries and its impact on local demographics are a politically sensitive matter. To complicate matters further, four North-eastern states (Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, and Mizoram) will go to polls this year. Of the four, Nagaland, Tripura, and Mizoram border Myanmar. Therefore, the situation in Myanmar assumes importance from the point of view of border management, refugee flows and internal security of the North-eastern states.
In this context, India has no option but to engage with the military regime of Myanmar. So far, India has prioritized its security interests over the prospects for democracy in Myanmar. The increased poppy cultivation underscores the need for engaging with the Burmese regime. As the military takeover of Myanmar completes two years and the spectre of continuing instability looms large, India is likely to continue the same approach.
Indian agencies intensify action
Central and state law enforcement agencies in Mizoram have decided to work in a close coordination to deal with the smuggling of various drugs, explosive materials, exotic animals and other contrabands from neighbouring Myanmar, officials said here on Thursday.
According to the officials, Mizoram’s 510 km unfenced international border with Myanmar, especially the bordering Champhai district, is a major hotspot of smuggling.
An Assam Rifles official said that senior officials of Mizoram Police, Assam Rifles, Customs and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) held a day-long meeting on Wednesday and finalised some joint strategies to curb the clandestine trade of drugs and other contrabands from across the border.
The meeting was chaired by Mizoram’s Director General of Police (DGP) Devesh Chandra Srivastva, Assam Rifles Deputy Inspector General Brigadier Girish Upadhya and Deputy Inspector General of Mizoram police (training) L.R. Dingliana Sailo.
The official said that the main purpose of the meeting was to foster greater synergy, enhanced cooperation and unhindered coordination between Mizoram Police, Assam Rifles, Customs and DRI for the greater benefit of the society.
DGP Srivastva emphasised that the close coordination of all sister agencies and the local population are utmost important to enhance and strengthen the overall law enforcement system for the greater benefit of society.
BrigadierUpadhya also stressed on the recent increasing trend of smuggling of narcotics and war-like stores which adversely affects the locals and may even have other far reaching effects in future.
He requested all agencies to work with enhanced cooperation and assist Assam Rifles in its war against all illegal activities, for which all required support and assistance would be provided.
Heroin and highly addictive methamphetamine tablets, also commonly known as ‘Yaba’, foreign origin cigarettes, poppy seeds, opium, marijuana, morphine, bottles of cough syrup are often seized in Mizoram, Manipur, Assam and other northeastern states which are smuggled from Myanmar.
Besides illicit drugs, a variety of other contrabands like gold, as well as arms and ammunition, huge numbers of exotic animals, areca nuts are often smuggled from Myanmar to the northeastern states, especially Mizoram and Manipur.
Myanmar: Emergence of a Narco-state on India’s Eastern Borders?(IN)
Poppy seeds recovered in Assam
The troops of Assam Rifles apprehended one person and seized 10 cases of foreign-origin cigarettes as well as 100 bags of poppy seeds worth Rs 1.65 crore in Mizoram’s Champhai district.
Serchhip Battalion of 23 Sector Assam Rifles under the aegis of Inspector General Assam Rifles (East), on Tuesday, recovered 10 cases of foreign origin cigarettes and 100 bags of poppy seeds worth Rs 1.65 crore at Zotlang village (Zokhawthar-Champai Road). Security personnel also apprehended one person.
A senior official of Assam Rifles said that the operation was carried out by a joint team of Assam Rifles and Custom Preventive Force, Champhai based on specific information.
“The operation was carried out by a combined team of Assam Rifles and Customs Department, Champhai based on specific information. The joint team noticed the movement of a suspected vehicle. The vehicle was intercepted by Mobile Vehicle Check Post (MVCP) and spot checking was carried out, during the search 10 Cases of Foreign origin Cigarettes and 100 bags of Poppy seeds worth Rs. 1.65 Crore were recovered,” officials added.
The approximate cost of the recovered seized items was Rs 1.65 Crore. The seized consignment and apprehended individual were later handed over to Customs Department, Champhai Wednesday for further legal proceedings.
The ongoing smuggling of illegal items is a major cause of concern for the state of Mizoram.
Assam Rifles, rightly christened as the ‘Sentinels of Northeast’ have continued their efforts against the smuggling activities in Mizoram.
(Including reports from India Narrative, IANS , ANI)
The move came one day after the country extended the state of emergency for six more months….reports Asian Lite News
Myanmar’s State Administration Council has declared martial law in 37 towns of four regions and four states in the Southeast Asian country.
According to the council’s orders issued Thursday night, the 37 towns are 11 from Sagaing region, seven from Chin state, five each from Magway and Bago regions, four from Kayah state, two each from Taninthayi region and Kayin state and one from Mon state respectively, Xinhua news agency reported.
The council gave the administrative and judicial power to commanders of respective military commands to perform security, maintain the rule of law and tranquility, the council said in a statement.
The move came one day after the country extended the state of emergency for six more months.
The Junta exported and sold billions worth of natural gas from Rakhine to China in 2022….reports Asian Lite News
Myanmar’s military junta is selling Rakhine’s natural gas to China and it has sold over USD 1.43 billion worth of it in 2022, reported Burma News International (BNI).
Vast oil and gas profits continue flowing to and propping up Myanmar’s military junta since its bloody crackdown on nationwide resistance to the February 2021 coup, opposition and rights groups say. Even though that Rakhine’s natural resources are exported to China for billions every year by successive Myanmar governments, Rakhine state is the second poorest state in Myanmar and has one of the highest unemployment rates, reported BNI.
The Junta exported and sold billions worth of natural gas from Rakhine to China in 2022. BETV Business News cited a statement from a Chinese customs department about the gas produced by the Shwe natural gas project in Rakhine offshore and sold to China through the Myanmar-China natural gas pipeline.
The Myanmar-China natural gas pipeline is under the responsibility of South-East Asia Gas Pipeline Company Limited (SEAGP), while the crude oil pipeline is being managed by South-East Asia Crude Oil Pipeline Company (SEAOP).
The gas pipeline, which was built at a cost of about USD 1 billion, was said to be able to distribute and transport 12 billion cubic meters of gas annually.
The natural gas produced from Rakhine offshore is sent to China’s Yunnan State through the gas pipeline across Magway, Mandalay and Shan State, reported BNI.
In addition to the gas, there is also the 771-kilometer-long crude oil pipeline from Kyauk Phyu to Yunnan State built at a cost of more than USD 1.5 billion, and designed to transport 22 million tons of crude oil annually.
In the China-Myanmar gas pipeline project, Myanmar Oil and Natural Gas Enterprise (MOGE) owns 7.36 per cent of the shares, and in the oil pipeline project, it owns up to 49.1 per cent of the shares, reported BNI.
According to the report, Myanmar is among the countries that export the most gas to China and is the third largest exporter of natural gas after Turkmenistan and Russia.
For the junta, “that access to foreign currency is vital,” said Ben Hardman, Myanmar policy and legal adviser for EarthRights International, a US-based pressure group that studies the country’s energy sector.
“If you want to purchase weapons, aviation fuel, these essential items to continue waging war against the Myanmar people, it [the junta] needs access to US dollars or international currencies,” he said.
Since the coup, the United States and other Western countries have imposed repeated rounds of sanctions on Myanmar’s top generals and arms brokers and some of the state-owned companies believed to be earning money for the military, reported Voice of America.
To date, though, they have left the most lucrative of those companies, the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, largely untouched. (ANI)
Regarding the election, the junta chief said that the country was still not ready for that as they don’t have an ‘accurate’ voter list and ‘free’ polls…reports Asian Lite News
Myanmar’s National Defence and Security Council (NDSC), on Tuesday, decided to extend the country’s state of emergency, to delay the election Myanmar Now reported.
According to Myanmar’s News Agency, military junta chief Min Aung Hlaing submitted a report to council members reflecting on two years of military rule as required by the army-drafted 2008 Constitution, which he used to rationalise his claim to power on February 1, 2021, when he staged a coup. Military-governed Myanmar declared a state of emergency for a year when it took power and has since extended it twice for six months each time. The most recent one expires on Wednesday.
In the notice, Section 425 states that “if the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services submits the extension of the prescribed duration by giving reasons why he has not been able to accomplish the assigned duties,” the NDSC can “normally permit two extensions of the prescribed duration for a term of six months for each extension,” according to Myanmar Now.
In the official announcement, Min Aung Hlaing repeated his justification for the coup, citing unfounded allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 general elections in which the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory.
Regarding the election, the junta chief said that the country was still not ready for that as they don’t have an ‘accurate’ voter list and ‘free’ polls, since nearly half of the more than 300 townships in Myanmar lack security and stability.
“We need to hold a general election in all states and regions simultaneously and we can’t do it in one place after another,” Min Aung Hlaing said, adding, “It is not enough to [hold it] only in urban areas,” Myanmar Now quoted the military junta chief as saying.
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Kyaw Moe Tun said that the military regime has no legal authority, and its plans to seek legitimacy by having a national election is likely ‘a sham’. (ANI)
The military has “no kind of legal authority”, said Mr Kyaw Moe Tun in an interview with CNA.
“They are illegal. They are illegitimate,” he said, adding, “So whatever the election they are going to organise, the people will definitely not accept it. So that is why we always say that this election they are going to organise is a sham election.”
Cabinet reshuffle
Myanmar’s State Administration Council (SAC) announced a cabinet reshuffle after the country’s state of emergency was extended for six more months on Wednesday.
Under the cabinet reshuffle, a new chairman for the Union Civil Services Board, a new chairman for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and four new Chief Ministers of region and states were appointed, Xinhua news agency reported.
A Deputy Minister and a member of the Union Election Commission (UEC) were transferred, while the State Chief Minister, three members of the UEC, a Deputy Minister and a member of the ACC were relieved of duties.
The newly-reshuffled cabinet, which includes most of the former cabinet members, will be led by Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
A central advisory body of the State Administration Council, which includes a leader and eight members, was also formed by the SAC on Wednesday. (ANI/IANS)
The newly-reshuffled cabinet, which includes most of the former cabinet members, will be led by Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services…reports Asian Lite News
Myanmar’s State Administration Council (SAC) announced a cabinet reshuffle after the country’s state of emergency was extended for six more months on Wednesday.
Under the cabinet reshuffle, a new chairman for the Union Civil Services Board, a new chairman for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and four new Chief Ministers of region and states were appointed, Xinhua news agency reported.
A Deputy Minister and a member of the Union Election Commission (UEC) were transferred, while the State Chief Minister, three members of the UEC, a Deputy Minister and a member of the ACC were relieved of duties.
The newly-reshuffled cabinet, which includes most of the former cabinet members, will be led by Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
A central advisory body of the State Administration Council, which includes a leader and eight members, was also formed by the SAC on Wednesday.
Myanmar’s National Defence and Security Council on Wednesday extended the state of emergency for six more months, and then the state power was handed over to General Min Aung Hlaing.
