News Desk :
China has blocked a UN Security Council statement condemning the military coup in Myanmar.
The military took power in the south-east Asian nation on Monday after arresting political leader Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of other lawmakers, reports BBC.
The coup leaders have since formed a new supreme council that will be above the cabinet.
In Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon though, signs of resistance and civil disobedience have been growing.
The United Nations Security Council met on Tuesday but failed to agree on a joint statement after China did not support it.
A joint statement would have needed China’s support which holds veto power as a permanent member of the (UN) Security Council.
Ahead of the talks, the UN’s Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner had strongly condemned the military takeover which came after the army refused to accept the outcome of general elections held in November.
She said it was clear that “the recent outcome of the election was a landslide victory” for Ms Suu Kyi’s party.
‘An internal issue’
“Through this foreign policy equivalent of gaslighting, China seems to be signalling its tacit support, it not emphatic endorsement, for the generals’ actions,” Myanmar expert Elliott Prasse-Freeman of the National University of Singapore told the BBC.
“China seems to be proceeding as if this is Myanmar’s ‘internal issue’ in which what we are observing is a ‘cabinet reshuffle,’ as China’s state media put it.”
While he thinks a UN statement would not have made an immediate difference, it would still serve as “a first step for cohering an international response. That appears to not be forthcoming”.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the now-ousted elected government, has not been seen since she was detained by the military on Monday morning. Dozens of others also remain detained, including the President Win Myint.
Her National League for Democracy (NLD) demanded her immediate release on Tuesday. It has also called upon the military to accept the results of the November election, which saw the NLD win more than 80% of the votes.
Meanwhile, the United States said it had been unsuccessful in contacting the Myanmar military and has formally declared the takeover to be a coup d’etat.
This means the US cannot directly assist the government, though most of its assistance goes to non-governmental entities.
The EU, UK, Australia and others have also condemned the takeover.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, was ruled by the armed forces until 2011, when a nominally civilian government was sworn in.
