Advertisement

US President Joe Biden warned of re-imposing sanctions on Myanmar following the military coup there, calling the development a “direct assault” on the Southeast Asian county’s transition to democracy. Noting that Washington removed sanctions on Myanmar over the past decade during the Obama administratron based on progress toward democracy, the new US president said the reversal of the democratic transition will “necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action.”

“The United States removed sanctions on Burma over the past decade based on progress toward democracy,” Biden said in a statement. “The reversal of that progress will necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action. The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack.”

The military takeover is a sharp reversal in the progress that Myanmar has made toward democracy in recent years. Before recent changes, the country had decades of military rule.

Myanmar had been emerging from decades of strict military rule and international isolation that began in 1962, and Monday’s events were a shocking fall from power for Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her work promoting democracy and human rights. She had lived under house arrest for years as she tried to push her country toward democracy and then became its de facto leader after her National League for Democracy won elections in 2015.

“The United States removed sanctions on Burma over the past decade based on progress toward democracy,” Biden said in a statement. “The reversal of that progress will necessitate an immediate review of our sanction laws and authorities, followed by appropriate action. The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack.”

The military takeover is a sharp reversal in the progress that Myanmar has made toward democracy in recent years. Before recent changes, the country had decades of military rule.

Myanmar had been emerging from decades of strict military rule and international isolation that began in 1962, and Monday’s events were a shocking fall from power for Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her work promoting democracy and human rights. She had lived under house arrest for years as she tried to push her country toward democracy and then became its de facto leader after her National League for Democracy won elections in 2015.