A senior US official has urged China to do more to rein in Myanmar’s military after its execution of four people, saying that “it cannot be business as usual with the junta”, as the killings drew widespread international condemnation.
State department spokesperson Ned Price told a briefing: “Arguably, no country has the potential to influence the trajectory of Burma’s next steps more so than the PRC [People’s Republic of China]”, noting that the junta “has not faced the level of economic and in some cases diplomatic pressure that we would like to see”.
Price said China could influence Myanmar more than any other country.
"We are calling on countries around the world to do more. We will be doing more as well," he said.
But a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said China did not interfere in other countries' internal affairs.
In China, a longtime ally of Myanmar’s military, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian refused to comment on the executions, saying Beijing “always upholds the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs.”
Earlier, the European Union, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States issued a joint statement condemning the executions.
“The Myanmar military regime’s executions of pro-democracy and opposition leaders are reprehensible acts of violence that further exemplify the regime’s disregard for human rights and the rule of law,” they said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the executions, which mark “a further deterioration of the already dire human rights environment in Myanmar,” U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said, stressing the U.N. chief’s opposition to the death penalty.
“The secretary-general reiterates his call for the immediate release of all arbitrarily detained prisoners, including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi,” Haq said.
U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said she was dismayed by “this cruel and regressive step.” She added: “For the military to widen its killing will only deepen its entanglement in the crisis it has itself created.”
