Myanmar junta criticises US, Japan for UN move

Yangon, Sept 19: Myanmar's military junta today singled out the United States and Japan for criticism over a United Nations decision to put it on the list of countries deemed a threat to international peace and security.

''The USA has been interfering in the internal affairs of Myanmar constantly,'' the official New Light of Myanmar said in a 4,000-word commentary on Friday's UN Security Council vote.

''Now it has attempted to put pressure on Myanmar by utilising the UN'' and Japan had had its arm twisted into abandoning a ''traditionally friendly'' stance towards the former Burma, it said.

''It is regrettable.'' Ten nations, including the United States, voted in favour of adding Myanmar to the Security Council agenda, while China, Russia, Qatar and the Democratic Republic of Congo voted against it.

Tanzania abstained.

The vote cleared the way for Washington to follow through on a promised push for a human rights resolution against the isolated Southeast Asian nation, even though US Ambassador John Bolton told reporters none was planned immediately.

The party of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi welcomed the move, but some Myanmar analysts see little concrete action as China is almost certain to veto any resolution that would upset its commercial relationship with Myanmar's generals.

After the vote, China's UN Ambassador, Wang Guangya, said it was ''preposterous'' to argue any nation threatened international peace and security simply because of its drugs trade, high HIV infection rate and poor human rights record.

REUTERS