MYANMAR – The National Unity Government (NUG) expressed its wish for the Chinese government to stop supplying weapons to the junta council, saying that the junta council is using the weapons supplied by China to torture and murder civilians.
At an interview in Brussels, Belgium, NUG Minister of Foreign Affairs Zin Mar Aung urged all neighbouring countries to not support the junta council financially, or by means of providing military weapons.
China, a global superpower and a neighbour of Myanmar, is one of the main suppliers of weapons to the military council. According to a report published by the UN last year, the junta council purchased over one billion USD worth of weapons after the coup, with most of them exported from individuals and organisations based in Russia, China, and Singapore.
Minister Zin Mar Aung said that revolutionary forces are sure to carry out more attacks similar to the drone attacks in early April that targeted Nay Pyi Taw, the junta council’s headquarters, adding that such attacks are just part of the strategic plan of NUG to pressure the junta council on the military front.
Ms. Zin Mar Aung also commented that the international community including ASEAN nations need to isolate the junta council more, that there is a need for stronger isolation measures than just political restrictions, that ASEAN is still cooperating as usual with the junta council in certain bureaucratic mechanisms despite not allowing political representatives of the junta council to attend the ASEAN meetings and said that all invitations acknowledging the junta council have to stop.
Meanwhile, China has maintained diplomatic relations with the junta regime but is avoiding treating it as an official government. The Minister remarked that China is reluctant to pick a clear side in Myanmar and that its continued interactions with the junta council is aimed at protecting its investments and interests in the country.