President Joe Biden threatens new sanctions against Myanmar after its military launched a coup and detained its government's civilian leaders, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Joe Biden attacked the country's army for the coup, calling it a "direct assault on the transition of the country to democracy and rule of law." Even globally, the coup in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been roundly condemned.
"The United States removed sanctions on Burma over the past decade based on progress toward democracy," Biden said in a statement. "The reversal of that progress will necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action. The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack.
Myanmar has been a project for advancing Western democracy for decades and has been a sign of some success. But there have been increasing worries about its backsliding into authoritarianism over the past few years. Disappointment with Suu Kyi, the former leader of the opposition, has run high, mostly because of her opposition to Rohingya Muslims' persecution in the west of the country.
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Myanmar emerged from decades of rigid military rule and international isolation that started in 1962. On Monday, the events were a stunning fall from power for Suu Kyi, who, for her work promoting democracy and human rights, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
For years, as she sought to drive her country towards democracy, she had lived under house arrest and then became its de facto leader after her National League for Democracy won elections in 2015.
After the military began loosening its hold, former President Barack Obama started relaxing sanctions on Myanmar in 2011 and lifted several remaining restrictions in 2016. The Trump administration placed targeted sanctions on four military officers in 2019 over reports of abuses against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities, including coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing.
The National League for Democracy Party of Suu Kyi won a landslide 83 percent in an election on Nov. 8. The military called its seizure a reaction to electoral fraud.
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Consults for decision in Myanmar threat
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington had had "intensive" talks with allies during a routine news briefing. She refused to say what other actions, apart from sanctions, were under consideration.
Biden's observation that the United States was "taking note" of how other nations reacted was "a message to all countries in the region," Psaki said.
Robert Menendez, the senior Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that Washington and other countries should impose strict economic sanctions, including additional measures on its armies. And military leadership of Myanmar if they did not free the elected leaders and withdraw from the government.
The events in Myanmar are a big blow to Biden's administration and its attempt to forge a robust Asia Pacific strategy to stand up to China.
Many of the Asia policy team of Biden, including its head, Kurt Campbell, are veterans of the Obama administration, which praised its work to end decades of military rule in Myanmar as a significant achievement of foreign policy upon leaving office 2016. As Obama's vice president, Biden served.
