China said yesterday that it would support further international efforts to promote dialogue between Myanmar's ruling junta and its opposition, but insisted it was fundamentally an internal matter.
The comments were Beijing's first reaction to the release on Thursday of a statement by the 15 members of the UN Security Council, which "strongly deplored" Myanmar's violent suppression of protests.
"The Myanmar issue should be fundamentally and properly resolved with the efforts of Myanmar's government and people themselves and through consultation," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (劉建超) said in a statement released by Xinhua news agency.
"China is ready to continue to actively promote the proper settlement of the Myanmar issue together with the international community," Liu said.
The council statement urged the Myanmar government and all parties "to work together towards a de-escalation of the situation and a peaceful solution."
The statement also called on the junta to "create the necessary conditions, for a genuine dialogue" with Aung San Suu Kyi, "in order to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation with the direct support of the United Nations."
The Security Council's statement was watered down from its original draft to win the consent of China and Russia, which have previously vetoed resolutions.
The UN said its special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, would fly back to the region next week for consultations with key governments on efforts to promote talks between Myanmar's junta and the opposition.
Gambari will begin his consultations in Thailand on Monday and then travel to Malaysia, Indonesia, India, China and Japan, "with a view to returning to Myanmar shortly thereafter," UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. She gave no date.
Meanwhile, Myanmar's national airline said yesterday it was halting most of its flights amid a dramatic downturn in visitors.
Myanmar Airways International has suspended flights to Thailand and Malaysia after its London-based insurer halted coverage "due to the recent crisis in Myanmar," the airline said.
Myanmar's junta has said 10 people have been killed and nearly 2,100 arrested, with 700 later released. Diplomats and dissidents say the death toll is likely much higher and up to 6,000 people have been seized.
At least a dozen freed prisoners described brutal treatment at detention centers, including one who said "dozens" of detainees had been killed, the Democratic Voice of Burma, a Norway-based short-wave radio station and Web site run by dissident journalists, said in a report on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Myanmar Prime Minister General Soe Win died yesterday in a military hospital after a long illness, relatives and state media said. He was 59.
The fourth-ranking member of the junta, he had been ailing for months with what relatives said was acute leukemia.
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