Burma’s military coup puts an early critical test for the Biden administration on how it will respond to the crisis amid its promise to coordinate with international allies and to consult more closely with Congress on foreign policy issues.
President Biden hastened to denounce the military takeover and arrest of democratically elected government officials, including the Nobel laureate and the majority leader who governs the National Democracy League for Aung San Suu Kyi.
The State Department announced on Tuesday that it officially considered the crisis a coup, triggering certain sanctions and a review of US assistance to the country.
There is strong bipartisan support from parliamentarians for the administration to take significant action in response to the military coup in Burma, which is also called Myanmar.
Congress assistants on both sides of the aisle welcomed the quick communication from State Department officials to inform them of the fast-paced events in the country.
Republican lawmakers and Democrats are united in condemning Burma’s democratic rejection and are deeply invested in ensuring the protection of vulnerable minority communities, such as the Rohingya, who have suffered at the hands of the Burmese military in what the UN has called genocide. Suu Kyi is a complicated partner for the West. She enjoys popular democratic support at home, but has been criticized internationally for not supporting Rohingya rights.
“The administration has made the right decision to stage a coup in Myanmar,” said in a statement Senator James Risch (R-Idaho), the outgoing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “This decision will ensure that US taxpayers’ dollars will not benefit the military junta that erroneously took power from the civilian-led government.”
The Burmese army, Tatmadaw, staged its coup early Monday morning, issuing a national emergency statement in response to what it said was the government’s failure to address its allegations of fraud during the November elections. challenged by local authorities. and international election observers.
They arrested Burmese President U Win Myint, dozens of other political leaders, their family members and civil society activists, according to the United Nations. Human rights groups have reported internet shutdowns, telephone outages and bank closures.
Tatmadaw handed over control of the country for a year to military chief of staff Min Aung Hlaing, who was sanctioned by the US in 2019 for his role in human rights abuses and corruption related to the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya.
A congressman said the Biden administration’s assessment was that things seemed somewhat peaceful in the country at the moment and that Americans on the ground were safe. The assistant said the United States was trying to impose additional sanctions on Tatmadaw.
US influence through sanctions is limited. The Trump administration has severely restricted the amount of US foreign assistance to the Burmese government. The vast majority of the $ 135 million in US aid goes to civil society and humanitarian projects.
“The Trump administration has not influenced human rights in Myanmar in any other way,” said Joshua Kurlantzick, senior senior for South Asia at the Foreign Relations Council.
More telling will be how Biden can use diplomacy to influence the Burmese army to reverse course.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said U.S. officials in Washington and around the world are “burning their phones” to connect with allies who share the same ideas in Europe, the Indo-Pacific and Southeast Asia. on efforts to restore democracy.
“This really comes down to our approach to foreign policy in general,” Price said. “We understand that in every challenge, the United States will be the strongest country in the world, but bringing these allies, those partners, are multipliers.”
The international community’s response has been somewhat divided, with Western democracies strongly condemning the coup, while regional countries and Myanmar’s neighbors are seen as taking a more cautious approach.
A key nation is Japan, which regional experts consider to have close economic ties with Myanmar and the ability to exercise strategic leverage, but may not be willing to do so.
“They are reluctant to take a tougher approach to Myanmar because it is a place of strategic and economic importance to them,” said Kurlantzick of the Foreign Relations Council.
While initially calling the events in Myanmar a “serious concern,” Japan on Wednesday joined G7 countries in explicitly condemning the coup, joining with European and North American allies, including the United States.
Regional experts also note the response of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has so far offered disabled concern. A statement from the intergovernmental organization, chaired by Brunei, did not address the military’s role in overthrowing the democratic government.
A congressional adviser said the ASEAN statement signaled that it was unlikely to take action, given the organization’s requirement to rule by consensus among its members, including Burma.
“ASEAN is unlikely to do anything about it, which is unfortunate, but it is certainly something to watch out for if individual ASEAN member states promote something, even if it is not successful.”
The Philippines has reported a problem in Myanmar, with a spokesman for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who called the military takeover “an internal affair,” a statement referring to a Thai government official.
Thailand suffered its own military coup in 2014. Its current civilian government is widely seen as a mandate for military rule, with a former army chief serving as prime minister.
China, for its part, has distanced itself from criticizing the situation in Myanmar, with the Foreign Ministry saying that Beijing is a friendly neighbor of Rangoon and expresses “hope that all parts of Myanmar will properly manage their differences in the constitutional and legal framework.” they will maintain political and social stability. “
State Department spokesman Price said Burma’s instability “is not in the Chinese interest,” an echo of Kurlantzick.
“China has built a close relationship with Aung San Suu Kyi. The military in Myanmar and China do not have good relations, “he said. “The idea that this is somewhat beneficial for China is wrong.”
Chris Ankersen, a professor at the Global Business Center of the NYU School of Vocational Studies, said the rare alignment between Washington and Beijing could be an opportunity for cooperation.
“National security adviser Jake Sullivan
Jake Sullivan Xi Jinping intensifies pressure on Biden – will Kim Jong Un join the fight? Recalibrating US peace strategy in Afghanistan Biden’s task is to build a better national security policy MORE recently signaled that it wants to add a dimension of China to all foreign policy issues. This is a clear opening to see how this intention unfolds, “he said in an email to The Hill.
Such cooperation did not take place during an emergency meeting in Myanmar at the United Nations Security Council, of which the United States and China are permanent members.
Tuesday’s meeting ended without a joint statement, despite UN Special Envoy for Burma Christine Schraner Burgener, who called on the body to “collectively send a clear signal in support of democracy in Myanmar.”
“I call on this Council, in particular any member who has influence over the military, to exercise its preventive and human rights obligations in order to ensure the protection of lives and civil liberties,” said Schraner Burgener.