Locsin blames the West for 'destroying' Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi
MANILA, Philippines — Western countries are responsible for "tearing down" the reputation of Myanmar's toppled leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Thursday.
Suu Kyi, a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was arrested with other senior officials after Myanmar's military declared a one-year state of emergency last Monday.
"I pour scorn on the Western world for destroying Aung San Suu Kyi and making her a victim of the military," Locsin told the Senate foreign affairs committee.
Also cleared up: wait and see attitude on Myanmar is my call not Duterte's who'd otherwise blow his top for a personal friend, Suu Kyi. You got a problem with that, see me. Meanwhile I will not join the West which destroyed Suu Kyi and left her defenseless before the Army. https://t.co/XcVcBApCxO
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) February 4, 2021
The Philippines' top diplomat stressed that he will not listen to any opinion of a white man on the issue.
Myanmar's leader has lost Western support as she had stayed silent on the atrocities against Rohingya Muslims.
Working with powers
"My job is to try to put her back... the last people I would listen to is a white face on this issue," Locsin said.
To put Suu Kyi back in power, Locsin said he would work with other powers, such as China and India.
"Forget the United States. We talk to China, we talk to India, we say we can go back to the status quo and we can go back and put the mother of Burmese democracy back there," the secretary said, reiterating that he will not work with Western countries on this issue.
"I am angry because I met that woman," he added.
Locsin also recalled how he advised Suu Kyi to work with the army and warned her to be careful of Western countries.
"The West destroyed Syria, the West destroyed Libya because they are hungry for oil. The West is hungry for the gas and oil of Burma (Myanmar)," Locsin said.
Earlier this week, Locsin told presidential spokesperson Harry Roque to "lay off foreign affairs" after saying that the the Myanmar coup was “an internal matter that we will not meddle with."
The Department of Foreign Affairs later on released a statement saying that the government is "especially concerned" with the safety of Suu Kyi.
"Myanmar has made substantial and important strides toward democratization in recent years," the DFA said.
Meanwhile, the Associated of Southeast Asian Nations called for "dialogue, reconciliation and the return to normalcy" in Myanmar as other member states closely follow the developments in the country.
"We recall the purposes and the principles enshrined in the ASEAN Charter, including, the adherence to the principles of democracy, the rule of law and good governance, respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms," the ASEAN said in a statement.
Follow this thread for updates on the situation in Myanmar, where a coup may be happening after de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other officials have reportedly been detained by the military.
Photo: Military officers wearing facemasks who serve as members of Myanmar's parliament leave after a session at the Assembly of the Union (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw) in Naypyidaw on March 10, 2020. AFP/Ye Aung Thu
Myanmar's junta is endangering the life of jailed democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, her political party says on Thursday, accusing the military of depriving her of medical care and food.
Suu Kyi has been detained since the generals seized power in February 2021, ending a 10-year democratic experiment and plunging the Southeast Asian country into bloody turmoil.
In recent days, local media have reported the Nobel laureate, 78, was suffering dizzy spells, vomiting and unable to eat because of a tooth infection. — AFP
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi will be pardoned, state media says.
The United States is "deeply concerned" by the decision from Myanmar's ruling junta to extend the country's state of emergency for six months, a State Department spokesman says.
The extension, announced earlier in the day, spelled a delay for elections the military had pledged to hold in August as it battles anti-coup fighters across the country.
"The United States is deeply concerned by the Burma military regime's extension of the state of emergency, which comes as the regime plunges the country deeper into violence and instability," says spokesman Matthew Miller, using an alternate name for the country. — AFP
The United States is "deeply concerned" by the decision from Myanmar's ruling junta to extend the country's state of emergency for six months, a State Department spokesman says.
The extension, announced earlier in the day, spelled a delay for elections the military had pledged to hold in August as it battles anti-coup fighters across the country.
"The United States is deeply concerned by the Burma military regime's extension of the state of emergency, which comes as the regime plunges the country deeper into violence and instability," says spokesman Matthew Miller, using an alternate name for the country. — AFP
Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan says that conditions were not yet right for ASEAN to open high-level talks with Myanmar on the country's political situation.
"We believe it would be premature to re-engage with the junta at a summit level or even at a foreign minister level," Balakrishnan says when asked about a news report that Thailand had proposed talks.
Speaking in a joint press conference in Washington with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Balakrishnan said the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations had recently reaffirmed their stance. — AFP
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