“I believe Japanese people who have passed
through similar difficult times will have compassion and understanding for the
Myanmar people,” said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is also the foreign affairs
minister.
She said
she believes and understands Japan’s willingness to help Myanmar solve its
issues in Rakhine State, which have attracted global attention.
“The goal
of our government is to ensure the safety, stability, progress and development
of all citizens,” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said.
She
expressed her deep appreciation for the assistance being provided by friends in
Japan to help her in her efforts to improve the country’s social, economic and
political arenas.
As a
historic partner, Japan will assist Myanmar as it encounters tough challenges,
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said. It is his third time visiting
Myanmar.
“Needless
to say, peace and stability are essential for building a democratic state,” the
Japanese minister said, reaffirming Japan’s continued support for the State
Counsellor and the Myanmar government.
Kono said
the two sides held fruitful discussions that included an exchange of views on
the situation in Rakhine State.
He said
he valued efforts made by the Myanmar government to bring back displaced
persons now living in Bangladesh but
urged it to make a more strenuous attempt to resettle them back in their homes.
Before
visiting Myanmar, Kono had travelled to Bangladesh to visit Rohingya refugee
camps in Cox’s Bazar.
Political
analyst U Maung Maung Soe said the failed repatriation talks between Myanmar
and Bangladesh, Rohingya demands for recognition as a native ethnic group of
Myanmar, US intervention and plans from Voice of America to launch a Rohingya
radio program are all signs that international pressure is mounting.
“On the
ground, repatriation is still impossible with ongoing clashes in Rakhine. It is
fair to say that there is tremendous pressure over the Rakhine issue,” he said.
The
Myanmar military’s counterinsurgency response to Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army
attacks on border police outposts in northern Rakhine State in 2017 caused more
than 700,000 Rohingya to flee into Bangladesh, according to the UN, though the
Myanmar government denies these figures.
Myanmar
and Bangladesh signed a repatriation agreement in November 2017 but the process
has stalled, with both sides blaming each other for delays.
International
pressures over human rights violations are nothing new for Myanmar. However,
the Rakhine situation has been
particularly stark in part because of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s
pre-government position as a Nobel-laureated champion of human rights.
In July,
the US imposed sanctions on Myanmar military Commander-in-Chief Min Aung
Hlaing, his deputy Vice Senior General Soe Win and two other senior commanders
it said were responsible for the extrajudicial killings of Rohingya in northern
Rakhine State, barring them from entering the United States.
Analysts
suggest that US and other Western sanctions against Myanmar military leaders
will further worsen ties between the military and the Suu Kyi-led civilian
government.
By The
Irrawaddy