US Dismisses Myanmar Election Plan, Urges ASEAN Pressure

The United States said Monday that Myanmar's junta was playing for time with a two-year election timeframe as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken prepared to encourage ASEAN to appoint an envoy. 

Blinken is participating virtually in a week of talks involving foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the latest bid by U.S. President Joe Biden's administration to engage a region at the frontlines of U.S. competition with China.  Ahead of the ASEAN talks, Myanmar's military leader promised to hold elections and lift a state of emergency by August 2023, extending an initial timeline given when the military deposed elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1.  The announcement is "a call for ASEAN to have to step up its effort because it's clear that the Burmese junta is just stalling for time and wants to keep prolonging the calendar to its own advantage," said a senior U.S. official, using Myanmar's former name of Burma.