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.
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 —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat