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Myanmar
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Exclusive | Myanmar’s NUG Foreign Minister Zin Mar Aung wants China to pressure junta generals to prevent prolonged armed conflict

  • Myanmar’s parallel civilian government is encouraging Beijing and other regional players to step up pressure on military junta
  • The National Unity Government’s Foreign Minister Zin Mar Aung is urging the international community to intervene to prevent escalating military violence

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Police arrest a man in Taunggyi, Myanmar on February 28, 2021, as security forces continue to crackdown on demonstrations by protesters against the military coup. (Photo by AFP)
Bhavan Jaipragas
China’s current lukewarm approach towards Myanmar’s junta is encouraging but Beijing and other major regional players must urgently step up their pressure on the generals to prevent a prolonged armed conflict, the coup-ravaged country’s parallel civilian government has said.
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In a wide-ranging interview with the Post, the National Unity Government’s (NUG) Foreign Minister Zin Mar Aung said the administration was eager to engage with all foreign governments openly, and was not taking an antagonistic stance towards any particular external party.

National Unity Government’s (NUG) Foreign Minister Zin Mar Aung. Photo: Twitter
National Unity Government’s (NUG) Foreign Minister Zin Mar Aung. Photo: Twitter

Since its formation shortly after the coup, the NUG – comprising ousted leaders who are either currently in exile or hiding – has engaged with a range of Western and Asian governments.

While talks with the United States and European nations have taken place in the open, some of Myanmar’s immediate Asian neighbours have only engaged the shadow administration in private.

Some observers say open talks with the NUG is an important step that the international community should consider amid increasing signs that the junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has no intention of abiding by a peace road map he agreed to last year.

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The NUG sees itself as the de jure and de facto government of the country.

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