Ahead of the UNSC meet on the Myanmar coup, China, which shares close ties both with the Myanmar military and de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, on Tuesday said that all actions of the international community should contribute to political stability, peace and reconciliation in that country.
The UN Security Council on Tuesday will discuss the situation in Myanmar after the coup and look at a “range of measures” with an idea of respecting the people’s will expressed in the November general election.
Myanmar’s military on Monday staged a coup and detained Suu Kyi and other top members of her governing party. The announcement on military-controlled Myawaddy TV came after an earlier declaration that since national stability was in jeopardy, all government functions would be transferred to military chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
It was also announced that the military had taken control of the country for one year.
“All actions by the international community should contribute to Myanmar’s political-social stability and peace and reconciliation in Myanmar so as to avoid escalation of tensions, complication of matters,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing when asked about China’s stand at the UNSC meet on the coup in Myanmar.
China is one among the five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council that shares close relations with the military junta when it ruled the country for over two decades and later with Suu Kyi after she swept into power in 2016 after long years of incarceration.
During President Xi Jinping’s visit to Myanmar last year, China and Myanmar signed 33 deals covering areas such as politics, trade, investment and people-to-people communications.
The main focus of the agreements appeared to be on the implementation of the $9 billion China Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), which provided access to China for the first time to the Indian Ocean.