Articles by "Aung San Suu Kyi"
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Hello Jammu News at 6:42:00 PM 0
China and Myanmar 'stand together' despite Rohingya backlash


Naypyidaw, Jan 18 :  China and Myanmar are set to ink mammoth infrastructure deals following a meeting on Saturday between President Xi Jinping and fallen rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who pledged to stand with Beijing "till the end of the world".

The Chinese leader's two-day state visit to Myanmar's purpose-built capital comes as Western investors cast a wide berth around the country due to the Rohingya crisis.

A 2017 military crackdown on the mainly Muslim minority, which UN investigators have called genocide, forced some 740,000 Rohingya over the border into Bangladesh.

Beijing has stood strong with Myanmar despite the condemnation.

After arriving Friday Xi called the visit a "historical moment" for relations between the two neighbours, according to state-run newspaper the Global New Light of Myanmar.

He also touched on the "unfairness and inequality in international relations" in what could be seen as a slight against the United States, which has sanctioned Myanmar army chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Myanmar leader Suu Kyi -- whose reputation lays in tatters in the West's eyes due to her defence of the army over the Rohingya crackdown -- said the country will always be at China's side.

"It goes without saying that a neighbouring country has no other choice, but to stand together till the end of the world," she said during a celebration late Friday.

The Asian giant is now Myanmar's largest investor, and the headline deals include a deep-sea port, several economic zones and a high-speed rail link criss-crossing the country.

The so-called "China-Myanmar Economic Corridor" will carve a path of infrastructure from China's landlocked south to Myanmar's western Rakhine state -- Beijing's long-awaited gateway to the Indian Ocean.

The multi-billion-dollar agreements will be on the table Saturday, in between sit-down meetings with Suu Kyi and the army chief, who stands accused of masterminding the Rohingya crackdown.

China remains an indispensable ally for its Southeast Asian neighbour, wielding a protective veto vote at the UN Security Council.

But widespread mistrust of Beijing's ambitions persists among those who are sceptical the economic benefits will trickle down to the masses.

In commercial capital Yangon, protesters are expected to rally against any reinstatement of a controversial Chinese-backed mega-dam.

The 3.6 billion 6,000 megawatt Myitsone project was suspended in 2011 in the face of vociferous criticism across the country.

This is believed to have been a personal affront to Xi, who signed the deal with Myanmar's then-military junta as vice president in 2009.
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Hello Jammu News at 11:54:00 AM 0

Hanoi, Sep 13: Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Thursday that two Reuters journalists jailed for investigating a massacre in Rakhine state were not convicted because they were journalists but because they broke the law.

Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were each imprisoned for seven years last week for breaching the country's hardline Official Secrets Act while reporting atrocities committed during the military crackdown in Rakhine.

The sentence prompted a storm of global outcry as an assault on freedom of speech, while erstwhile rights champion Suu Kyi came under intense pressure for failing to speak up for the pair.

She broke her silence on the issue on Thursday during a discussion at the World Economic Forum, robustly defending the court's decision to jail the duo.

"They were not jailed because they were journalists" but because "the court has decided that they had broken the Official Secrets Act", she said in her first direct comments on the issue.

Challenging critics of the verdict -- including the United Nations, rights groups who once lionised her and the US Vice President -- to "point out" where there has been a miscarriage of justice, Suu Kyi said the case upheld the rule of law.

"The case was held in open court... I don't think anybody has bothered to read the summary of the judge," she added.

Army-led "clearance operations" last August drove 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh, carrying with them widespread accounts of atrocities -- rape, murder and arson -- by Myanmar police and troops.

The Reuters reporters had denied the charges, insisting they were set up while exposing the extrajudicial killing of 10 Rohingya Muslims in the village of Inn Din in September last year.

This week, the UN rights office accused Myanmar of "waging a campaign against journalists".

It decried "the instrumentalisation of the law and of the courts by the government and military in what constitutes a political campaign against independent journalism".

Suu Kyi, who has so far bristled at foreign criticism of her country and defended the crackdown against "terrorists" from the Muslim minority, also addressed the army's handling of the crisis.

"There are of course ways (in) which, in hindsight, the situation could have been handled better," she said in rare comments on the crackdown.

Myanmar has come under intense diplomatic pressure in recent weeks, with the UN rights office singling out its powerful military chief for his role forcing the Rohingya from the country. (AFP)
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Hello Jammu News at 11:34:00 AM 0

Manila, Nov 13: The Southeast Asian leaders during their summit meeting here on Monday could skip major deliberations of South China Sea dispute, but are expected to raise the Rohingya refugee crisis that hit its member nation Myanmar in a big way.
"It will be taken up by our leaders, but it is always good start when the state which is dealing with the internal problem brings it up and opens up the topic," Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano told reporters here on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit and other related high-profile meetings. Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said that even Prime Minister Najib Razak was very concerned about what was happening in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. 'And in all probability it will be one of the agendas, but it also depends on the circumstances. Maybe there is a closed door meeting, that could be more effective," he told the Malaysian media covering the summits. For her part, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday steered clear of the Rohingya crisis and in her address at the Business Investment Summit instead said that countries must continue to pursue reforms that will empower women.
Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi said, 'The empowerment of women toward economic and social development can be significant not only in my country but throughout our region'. More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have been displaced from their homes and have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh since August 25, when an army crackdown against the Rohingya intensified. Leaders from the 10 Asean member countries and its dialogue partners, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, United States, Canada, the European Union are here in Manila for the important summits. The Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy (CENTHRA) urged ASEAN to appoint a special envoy to the Rakhine state for resolving the Rohingya crisis. Its chief executive Azril Mohd Amin said the appointment of a special envoy would be the best immediate plan for the regional bloc in dealing with crisis of the ethnic minority. ASEAN, he said, must use all possible diplomatic channels in stopping the systematic persecution of the Rohingya Muslims. The Philippines Foreign Secretary, however, said while discussing and debating the Rohingya crisis, the ASEAN leaders would keep balance between the "relevance" of the bloc and also the cherished principle of non-interference in domestic affairs. The regional bloc would probably not discuss much about South China Sea dispute as the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday suggested that, "The South China Sea is better left untouched. Nobody can afford to go to war". Mr Duterte told the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Business Investment Summit that Chinese authorities have agreed with his stance to pursue diplomatic channels and cooperation to deal with the maritime row. The investment meet will continue on Monday as well, and among others Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also address it. According to experts, a major challenge for the regional bloc will be to set aside purely national concerns and to be able to unify for a wider front in confronting the terror threat. National Defense College professor Chester Cabalza said here that addressing terrorism within the region will have to contend with the ASEAN principle of non-interference as a vital principle. Mr Cabalza said that such stance often can make coordinated action difficult despite the clear and present threat of terrorism in the region.
The Philippines forces lately were credited for ending the siege of Marawi city decisively even as the IS employed resources and launched a call for its followers to launch a jihad.  UNI
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