Myanmar plays diplomatic card with ‘friend’ China to avert UN censure over Rohingya crisis

UN chief warns of ethnic cleansing and regional destabilisation

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A Myanmar policeman stands guard in Maungdaw township, Rakhine State. Photo: EPA

Published: 1:05pm, 7 Sep 2017Updated: 10:30pm, 7 Sep 2017

Myanmar said it was negotiating with China and Russia to ensure they blocked any UN Security Council censure over the violence that could force an exodus of 300,000 Rohingya Muslims to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi blamed “terrorists” for “a huge iceberg of misinformation” on the strife in the northwestern state of Rakhine but, in a statement, she made no mention of the Rohingya who have fled.

In a rare letter to the UN Security Council, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern the violence could spiral into a “humanitarian catastrophe”.

He warned on Tuesday that there was a risk of ethnic cleansing in Myanmar that could destabilise the region.

Myanmar National Security Adviser Thaung Tun told a Wednesday news conference in the capital, Naypyidaw, that Myanmar was counting on China and Russia, both permanent members of the Security Council, to block a UN resolution on the crisis.

A Rohingya Muslim child sheds tears after crossing into Bangladesh. Photo: EPA

“We are negotiating with some friendly countries not to take it to the Security Council,” he said. “China is our friend and we have a similar friendly relationship with Russia, so it will not be possible for that issue to go forward.”