Myanmar leader rebuffs Pence
U.S. vice president goads her to do more for Rohingya
SINGAPORE — Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi rebuffed criticism from U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and other leaders Wednesday over her government’s treatment of its ethnic Rohingya Muslims.
In a meeting on the sidelines of a regional summit in Singapore, Pence told Suu Kyi he was anxious to hear about progress in resolving the crisis, which stems from a violent military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state that the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing.
“The violence and persecution by military and vigilantes that resulted in driving 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh is without excuse,” Pence said.
Pence also said Myanmar’s arrest and conviction of two Reuters journalists was “deeply troubling” to millions of Americans.
Pence and Suu
Kyi met during the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore. Pence is attending that and the Asia-pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Papua New Guinea later this week in President Donald Trump’s stead.
A day earlier Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed made an unusually harsh public criticism of Suu Kyi, saying that as a former political prisoner she should better understand suffering.
Suu Kyi became an icon for democracy after spending about 15 years under house arrest for opposing Myanmar’s earlier military dictatorship.
Though she has been the de facto head of Myanmar’s civilian government since her party swept elections in 2015, she is limited in her control of the country by a constitution written under the former military junta. The military is in charge of security operations, including those in Rakhine.
Responding to Pence, Suu Kyi said that “we understand our country better than any other country does. I’m sure you will say the same of yours, that you understand your own country better than anybody else.”
“So we are in a better position to explain to you what is happening, how we see things panning out,” she said.
After the meeting, senior U.S. administration officials said Pence and Suu Kyi had discussed the importance of having Rohingya return home, but only on a voluntary basis, with safety and dignity.