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Rohingya Muslims
Opinion

Carrie Lam’s visit to Myanmar was bad timing, to say the least

Alice Wu says the Hong Kong chief executive’s trip to talk business while the Rohingya crisis escalated in the background displayed gross insensitivity to an issue that even Beijing recognises and the UN has labelled textbook ethnic cleansing

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Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi (right) greets visiting Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam at the Presidential Palace in Naypyidaw on September 15. Photo: AP
Alice Wu
As in many things in life, timing is everything in politics. Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s official visit to Myanmar, the first ever by a Hong Kong chief executive, could not have been timed worse. This is her first mistake as chief executive.
In Myanmar to promote bilateral trade and the Belt and Road Initiative to Asean countries, Lam met State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, First Vice-President Myint Swe, Commerce Minister Than Myint and Minister for Planning and Finance Kyaw Win. This was done as the world watched in horror the growing Rohingya crisis in Myanmar.
Talking about bilateral trade and the belt and road while the Rohingya humanitarian crisis continues and escalates is a show of, at the very least, gross insensitivity; no matter how complex and long-standing the Rohingya issue, talking business at this time is deliberately ignoring the plight of people being dislocated, harmed or killed, and at risk of hunger and disease.

Who are the Rohingya?

Myanmar’s Rohingya: stateless, persecuted and a new cause for religious extremism

The international community has been speaking out against the military’s violent response in Rakhine. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has branded the actions of Myanmar authorities “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.
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We can appreciate the tight spot Lam found herself in. After all, China has not joined the chorus of condemnation against the Myanmar government. For Hong Kong, foreign affairs and defence are matters of sovereignty, and hence fall solely under Beijing’s responsibilities. That is the reality of “one country, two systems”.

But that reality need not translate into Lam going to Myanmar at the worst possible time.
She said during the trip that “Hong Kong attaches great importance in promoting its external affairs”.

Carrie Lam marks a first as Hong Kong’s chief executive

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