WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden threatened new sanctions on Myanmar on Monday after his military staged a coup and arrested the civilian leaders of his government, including Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Biden attacked the country’s army for the coup, calling it a “direct assault on the country’s transition to democracy and the rule of law.” The coup in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has also been condemned internationally.
“The United States removed sanctions on Burma over the past decade on the basis of progress toward democracy,” Biden said in a statement. “Reversing this progress will require an immediate review of our laws and sanctioning authorities, followed by appropriate action. The United States will defend democracy wherever it is attacked.”
Myanmar has been a project to promote Western democracy for decades and had been a symbol of some success. But in recent years, there have been growing concerns about his retreat into authoritarianism. Disappointment with Suu Kyi, the former opposition leader, has risen to the occasion, mainly because of his resistance to curbing the repression of Rohingya Muslims in the west of the country.
Myanmar had been emerging from decades of strict military rule and international isolation that began in 1962, and Monday’s events saw a shocking fall to power for Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her task of promoting democracy and human rights.
He had been under house arrest for years as he tried to push his country towards democracy and became its de facto leader after the National League for Democracy won the 2015 elections.