Myanmar: US wants puppet regime

The paper said on Thursday that this had the effect of “destabilising tranquillity and peace and stirring up mass protests and destructive acts in synchronisation in Myanmar”.

 

The paper added: “The most powerful neo-colonialist country, for self-interest, is now organising and encouraging its cohorts and lackey groups and resorting to all possible means to install a puppet government in Myanmar that will dance to its tune.”

 

John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the UN, had said Myanmar’s policies – including human rights violations and political repression – contributed to instability in the region.

 

He had lobbied hard to put the Myanmar issue on the agenda of the 15-member council.

 

Russia and China opposed the measure and cast a rare double veto this month that blocked the passage of the resolution that called on Myanmar’s military government to release all political prisoners and speed up progress towards democracy.

 

Syed Hamid Albar, Malaysia’s foreign minister, said on Wednesday that the US effort appeared to have backfired, because Myanmar was now unlikely to see any urgency to engage the international community.

 

“I believe Myanmar will be hardened,” he said.

 

The Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean), rather than the UN Security Council was in a better position to handle the Myanmar issue, he added.

 

He said Asean, with its proposed charter which would allow member countries to censure each other, would be able to engage with Myanmar effectively, adding that “engagement even slow and frustrating is the best way forward”.

 

“The process will be hardened if external forces try to shape the country,” he said.