US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday vowed not to let up on pressuring Myanmar’s junta, saying that China should be in agreement as he met democracy activists on a visit to neighboring Thailand.
Blinken also met with Thailand’s leadership and hailed the kingdom’s role in a renewed US push in Southeast Asia, a key area of competition with China.
In a meeting held off-camera to protect family members, the top US diplomat heard from young democracy activists from Myanmar, whose military in February last year ousted out the civilian government, slamming the door on a decade-long transition to democracy nurtured by Washington.
Photo: AFP
Blinken said that the US strategy of sanctions on the junta has not borne fruit.
“It’s unfortunately safe to say that we’ve seen no positive movement, and, on the contrary, we continue to see the repression of the Burmese people,” Blinken told reporters. “We will continue to look for ways that we can, and other countries can, effectively put pressure on them to move back to the democratic path.”
Blinken refused to criticize a recent visit to Myanmar by Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅), but called on Beijing to support international calls for democracy there.
Blinken was visiting Thailand days after a stop by Wang, who has embarked on a more extensive tour of Southeast Asia in which he has highlighted Beijing’s lavish infrastructure spending.
Thailand is the US’ oldest ally in Asia, famously offering elephants to Abraham Lincoln during the US Civil War, but has also increasingly worked with China.
Signing an agreement pledging to keep expanding ties, Blinken pointed to Thailand’s embrace of a new US-led economic plan for Asia, as well as its efforts on climate change.
In Thailand, “we have an ally and partner in the Indo-Pacific of such importance to us in a region that is shaping the trajectory of the 21st century, and it is doing that every single day,” he said.
In Bangkok, he met with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who called the trip a “happy occasion.”
In a joint statement signed by Blinken and Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Don Pramudwinai, the US and Thailand called democracy “essential” to the two countries’ idea of Asia.
Blinken is today to make a previously unscheduled stop in Tokyo to offer condolences to Japan after the killing of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, the US Department of State said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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