US Dismisses Myanmar Election Plan, Urges ASEAN Pressure
Voice of America
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.This handout photo released on June 2, 2024 shows South Korean military officers check unidentified objects believed to be North Korean trash from balloons that crossed the inter-Korea border, on a street in Seoul. In this photo provided by Jeonbuk Fire Headquarters, balloons with trash presumably sent by North Korea, hang on electric wires as South Korean army soldiers stand guard in Muju, South Korea, May 29, 2024.
A man takes a photograph of the election results at the National Results Operation Centre of the IEC in Midrand, South Africa, June 2, 2024. African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, briefs the media on results of the elections at the Results Operation Centre in Midland, Johannesburg, June 2, 2024.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, June 2, 2024. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, shakes hand with Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin, left, and Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen at the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, June 2, 2024.
Supporters of the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) hold cutouts of India's Prime Minister and their leader, Narendra Modi, as they shout slogans during an election campaign rally in Amritsar on May 30, 2024. A man watching television waits for the release of exit polls published after voting concludes during its seventh and final phase amid India's general election, at an appliance store in Ajmer on June 1, 2024.
FILE - In this photo provided by Jeonbuk Fire Headquarters, balloons with trash presumably sent by North Korea hang on electric wires as South Korean army soldiers stand guard in Muju, South Korea, May 29, 2024. This photo provided by Incheon Fire Headquarters shows balloons with trash presumably sent by North Korea, in Incheon, South Korea, June 2, 2024.