28 sent to jail for torching two factories in Myanmar

THE FACTORIES, MAINLY FINANCED BY CHINA, WERE SET ON FIRE AS A REJECTION OF WHAT IS SEEN AS BEIJING’S SUPPORT FOR THE MILITARY AND THE COUP

YANGON/JAKARTA: A Myanmar military tribunal has sentenced 28 people to 20 years in jail with hard labour for arson attacks on two factories, state media reported, after a string of mainly Chinese-financed factories were torched during unrest in Yangon in March.

The army-run Myawady news portal said the offenders had targeted a shoe plant and a garment factory in the industrial Hlaing Tharyar suburb of Myanmar’s biggest city.

Martial law was imposed in the suburb after the blazes, with dozens killed or wounded when security forces opened fire on anti-military protesters, media and an activist group said.

The Chinese embassy in Myanmar said at the time that many Chinese staff were injured and trapped in the arson attacks and called on Myanmar to protect Chinese property and citizens. A total of 32 Chinese-invested factories were vandalised in the attacks, with property losses reaching 240 million yuan ($36.9 million), China’s state-controlled tabloid Global Times said in March. China is viewed as being supportive of the military junta that overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1.

Military leader General Min Aung Hlaing has reassured Beijing that his regime will protect foreign-funded enterprises in the country, including Chinese investment.

“We will protect all foreignfunded enterprises [in the country],” he told Hong Kong media, adding that Myanmar citizens are not anti-china, reported The Irrawaddy.

No group claimed responsibility for burning the factories.

Southeast Asian nations oppose arms embargo

Nine Southeast Asian countries have urged the United Nations not to endorse a freeze on arms sales to Myanmar, according to a report from Benar News.

The report by the affiliate of the Us-funded Radio Free Asia, quoted a Liechtenstein diplomat as saying the nine states wrote a letter to nations sponsoring a draft UN general assembly resolution on Myanmar.

The letter was sent on behalf of nine of the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping but did not include bloc member Myanmar, Benar News reported.