{"id":96338,"date":"2019-12-12T18:34:16","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T01:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=96338"},"modified":"2019-12-12T18:34:16","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T01:34:16","slug":"tokyo-goes-it-alone-in-support-of-myanmar-and-cambodia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/12\/12\/tokyo-goes-it-alone-in-support-of-myanmar-and-cambodia\/","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo goes it alone in support of Myanmar and Cambodia"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAKI HAYASHI, Nikkei staff writer Courtesy Nikkei <\/span>Asian Review<\/span>
<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Japan offers economic aid with eye on crucial sea lanes in the region <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n Buddhist monks carry the Cambodian and \nJapanese flags. Japan provided assistance to the Southeast Asian \ncountry after its leading opposition party was dissolved.\n\n   \u00a9 Reuters\n \n \n\n <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TOKYO\n — Japan is digging in deeper in support of Myanmar and Cambodia even \nas the U.S. and Europe ramp up criticism of human rights violations, \nchoosing to preserve its influence in the region by playing an \nalternative to China’s economic might.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japanese Foreign Minister \nTaro Kono was the lone voice advocating assistance for the Myanmar \ngovernment when representatives from the U.S., U.K., France, Japan and \nother countries met on Sept. 24 on the sidelines of the United Nations \nGeneral Assembly in New York. They were there to discuss Myanmar’s human\n rights violations against the Rohingya minority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Myanmar’s \ndemocratization has only just begun,” Kono said. “The international \ncommunity should support the Myanmar government so it does not return to\n military rule.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Widespread\n violence against the Rohingya has drawn condemnation across the world. A\n U.N. fact-finding mission in August said Myanmar’s top generals must be\n prosecuted for genocide, while the U.S. State Department on Sept. 24 \ncriticized its military for a “well-planned and coordinated” campaign \ndesigned to drive the Muslim minority out of its home in Rakhine State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet\n instead of denouncing de facto leader and State Counselor Aung San Suu \nKyi for her failure to address the crisis, Kono has met with her three \ntimes this year. He became the first foreign ministerial official to \nvisit Rakhine in January, and announced about $20 million in \nhumanitarian assistance. Japan is also taking part in an independent \ncommission set up by the Myanmar government to investigate the \nsituation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n