Johnson talks Rohingya with Thais
U.K. foreign secretary also discusses elections
BANGKOK — British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson met Monday with Prime Minister Prayuth Chanocha and other Thai officials and discussed neighboring Myanmar’s persecution of ethnic Rohingya Muslims and plans for elections in Thailand to end military rule.
A statement from Britain’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office said their discussions also covered “cooperation on education, the digital economy, science and innovation, financial technology, and trade and investment, as well as further co-operation to tackle the Illegal Wildlife Trade.”
Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told reporters that the British government is especially concerned about the plight of the Rohingya. About 700,000 members of the Muslim minority have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence by Myanmar security forces.
Johnson is in Thailand after visiting Bangladesh, where he met Rohingya refugees, and Myanmar, where he held talks on the Rohingya situation with the country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Plans to repatriate the Rohingya have been made by Bangladesh and Myanmar but are a major concern of the international community. Human rights advocates insist that any repatriation be carried out under verifiably safe conditions.
“Shocked at what I saw during tour of northern #Rakhine,” Johnson wrote on Twitter. “The devastation of hundreds of villages torched. UK already a major donor to crisis and will continue to use our influence to provide a better future for the #Rohingya community.”
“In the eyes of the British government right now, they are putting an emphasis on fixing the issue of Rohingya in Rakhine state, first and foremost,” Don said.
Thailand’s military seized power from an elected government in 2014. Johnson’s visit Monday follows a European Union decision last December to ease sanctions imposed after the coup.
Don said Johnson was not concerned by the ruling junta’s most recent election date postponement, after several earlier promised deadlines for a return to an elected government passed.
“They are not pressuring Thailand to hold elections because they do not see it as having any impact on England,” Don said.