China under US pressure to condemn Myanmar military coup
- State Department calls on Beijing to play constructive role as Chinese envoy denies his country is giving help to junta
- Ambassador to Myanmar Chen Hai describes claims as ‘laughable’ in interview with local media
The United States will continue to press China for a clear condemnation of the military coup in Myanmar, as Beijing tries to distance itself from the chaos in the Southeast Asian nation.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Wednesday that China should play a “constructive role” in Myanmar, which was experiencing what he described as an assault on the country’s transition to democracy.
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“When it comes to China, we have been clear that we would like to see China play a constructive role in this. And that is a message that we have sent both publicly and privately to Beijing, and it’s a message that we’ll continue to send until China is clear in its condemnation of this coup,” he said.
Price’s remarks came as China’s ambassador to Myanmar Chen Hai dismissed claims that Beijing was aiding a military coup in the nation, days after hundreds of pro-democracy protesters demonstrated outside the Chinese embassy.
Chen said Beijing had no “prior knowledge” of the coup and insisted rumours it was helping the military junta set up a firewall to prevent protesters from organising online were “laughable”.
“We have friendly relations with both the National League for Democracy and the military. The current situation is absolutely not what China wants to see,” Chen said, according to the transcript of a group interview with Myanmar media, which was posted to the embassy’s website on Tuesday.
On February 1, Myanmar’s military invalidated the results of the country’s November election – which saw a large victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD) party – and placed key officials, including de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and president Win Myint, under house arrest. A year-long state of emergency was also declared.