The U.S. on Tuesday asked the United Nations Security Council to press Myanmar’s military government to free political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and move toward democracy.
China and Russia, permanent members of the Security Council who could veto the draft resolution, said they would oppose the measure.
China has “major difficulties” with the U.S. draft and believes the Security Council isn’t the “proper place” to deal with the issue because Myanmar doesn’t pose a threat to international peace and security, said Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin reminded reporters that his government opposed the initial U.S. move last year to formally put the subject of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, on the Security Council agenda.
Security Council members Indonesia, Qatar and South Africa also have expressed concerns about the U.S. initiative.
The military government that has ruled the country since 1962 has driven 1 million people to neighboring countries and is hindering international aid workers trying to help 300,000 people with HIV-AIDS, according to the U.S.
The junta is one of the most repressive governments in the world, according to a recent ranking by the Economist magazine.
Suu Kyi, a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been in confinement for 10 of the past 17 years.
The draft resolution also tells Myanmar’s military government to cease attacks on ethnic minorities, stop the “systematic rape of women and girls as an instrument of armed conflict,” cooperate with the International Labor Organization to end forced labor and permit humanitarian aid groups to move freely.
