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.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS