Myanmar’s ruling military has extended a state of emergency for another six months, state media reported on Friday, a day ahead of the four-year anniversary of a coup that plunged the country into chaos after a decade of tentative democracy.
Myanmar has been locked in a civil war triggered by the military’s overthrow of the elected civilian government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The junta plans this year to hold an election, which critics have derided as a sham to keep the generals in power through proxies.
“There are still more tasks to be done to hold the general election successfully. Especially for a free and fair election, stability and peace is still needed,” state-
run MRTV said on its Telegram channel in announcing the extension of emergency rule.
No date has been set for the election but the junta is forging ahead with plans, despite struggling to run the country as it tries to fend off on multiple fronts an armed rebellion with its roots in a youth-led uprising that was put down by the military with deadly force.
Fighting has displaced an estimated three million people, with widespread food insecurity and a third of the population in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations, whose special envoy has urged all sides to seek dialogue and move past their “zero-sum mentality.”
Despite the fighting, an economy in tatters and dozens of political parties banned or refusing to take part, the junta is determined to hold the election.
Opponents of the military government plan to disrupt the ballot and have urged other countries not to recognize the outcome, saying it will be held against the will of the people.
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Myanmar junta extends state of emergency to support election preparations
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Myanmar junta extends state of emergency to support election preparations
- Myanmar has been locked in a civil war triggered by the military’s overthrow of the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi
- Opponents of the military government plan to disrupt the ballot and have urged other countries not to recognize the outcome
China to support ‘reunification forces’ in Taiwan, go after ‘separatists’
BEIJING: China will offer firm support for “patriotic pro-reunification forces” in Taiwan and strike hard against “separatists,” the top Chinese official in charge of policy toward the democratically-governed island said in comments published on Tuesday.
China, which views Taiwan as its own territory despite the objections of the government in Taipei, has ramped up its military and political pressure against the island as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims.
Addressing this year’s annual “Taiwan Work Conference,” the ruling communist party’s fourth-ranked leader Wang Huning said officials must advance the “great cause of national reunification,” the official state-run Xinhua news agency said.
It is necessary to “firmly support the patriotic pro-unification forces on the island, resolutely strike against ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, oppose interference by external forces, and safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Xinhua paraphrased him as saying.
The Beijing meeting was also attended by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, underscoring how China sees Taiwan as an issue it needs to promote on the international stage.
China has long offered Taiwan a Hong Kong-style “one country, two systems” model of autonomy, though no major Taiwanese political party supports that.
Taiwan’s government says Beijing’s rule in the former British colony has only brought repression, with Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Tuesday citing the sentencing of
Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai
to 20 years prison the previous day.
“Jimmy Lai’s sentencing exposes the Hong Kong national security law for what it is — a tool of political persecution under China’s ‘one country, two systems’ that tramples human rights & freedom of press,” Lai wrote on X.
There was no immediate response to Wang Huning’s comments from Taiwan’s government, which says only the island’s people can decide their future.
Beijing has repeatedly warned other countries including the US against meddling in Taiwan issue, which it said is its internal affair.
In a call with US President Donald Trump last week, China’s President Xi Jinping said the Taiwan issue is the most important issue in China-US relations and Washington must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence.
China refuses to speak to Taiwan’s president and has rebuffed his repeated offers of talks, saying he is a “separatist” who must accept that Taiwan is part of China.
Wang was speaking just a week after meeting a delegation from Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), who were in Beijing for a meeting of party think-tanks.
Speaking to reporters earlier on Tuesday in Taipei, KMT Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen, who led the delegation to Beijing, said there had been no discussion of political issues when they met Wang, as the trip there was to discuss topics like tourism and AI.
China, which views Taiwan as its own territory despite the objections of the government in Taipei, has ramped up its military and political pressure against the island as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims.
Addressing this year’s annual “Taiwan Work Conference,” the ruling communist party’s fourth-ranked leader Wang Huning said officials must advance the “great cause of national reunification,” the official state-run Xinhua news agency said.
It is necessary to “firmly support the patriotic pro-unification forces on the island, resolutely strike against ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, oppose interference by external forces, and safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” Xinhua paraphrased him as saying.
The Beijing meeting was also attended by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, underscoring how China sees Taiwan as an issue it needs to promote on the international stage.
China has long offered Taiwan a Hong Kong-style “one country, two systems” model of autonomy, though no major Taiwanese political party supports that.
Taiwan’s government says Beijing’s rule in the former British colony has only brought repression, with Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Tuesday citing the sentencing of
Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai
to 20 years prison the previous day.
“Jimmy Lai’s sentencing exposes the Hong Kong national security law for what it is — a tool of political persecution under China’s ‘one country, two systems’ that tramples human rights & freedom of press,” Lai wrote on X.
There was no immediate response to Wang Huning’s comments from Taiwan’s government, which says only the island’s people can decide their future.
Beijing has repeatedly warned other countries including the US against meddling in Taiwan issue, which it said is its internal affair.
In a call with US President Donald Trump last week, China’s President Xi Jinping said the Taiwan issue is the most important issue in China-US relations and Washington must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence.
China refuses to speak to Taiwan’s president and has rebuffed his repeated offers of talks, saying he is a “separatist” who must accept that Taiwan is part of China.
Wang was speaking just a week after meeting a delegation from Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), who were in Beijing for a meeting of party think-tanks.
Speaking to reporters earlier on Tuesday in Taipei, KMT Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen, who led the delegation to Beijing, said there had been no discussion of political issues when they met Wang, as the trip there was to discuss topics like tourism and AI.
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