India, Russia, China oppose sanctions on Myanmar

Herbin, China, Oct 24 (UNI) India, Russia and China today strongly opposed any sanctions against Myanmar as a measure to pressurise the country in view of the current turmoil in the junta-ruled nation.

Addressing a joint press conference after their trilateral meeting here External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Russian and Chinese counterpart Sergei Lavrov and Yang Jeichi respectively said the efforts of UN special envoy Ebrahim Gambari in Myanmar were yielding results and should be encouraged further to reach a logical conclusion.

All the three ministers were opposed to any kind of proposal to impose sanctions on Myanmar and said such a move will further deteriorate the situation.

To a related question, Mr Mukherjee said the issue of Myanmar and its current situation was on the agenda of the trilateral talks. He said they believed that the efforts of UN to resolve the matter through talks must be provided a fillip.

There was need for political reforms and national consensus to answer the crisis in the troubled nation, he added, and was. His views were endorsed by Mr Jeichi.

While all the nations considered terrorism a threat to world peace and stability, Mr Mukherjee expressed concern over the activities of Taliban in Afghanistan and said an international mechanism was required to contain the menace.

Both China and Russia also said world peace was threatened by the proposed US missile defence system in Europe, with Mr Lavrov saying the project would affect friendly relations between the two nations.

India, however, maintained that since it was not a part of any military alliance, it was not related to the same.

All the nations decided to extend cooperation in the economic field and also stressed the need to address environmental issues facing the world.

UNI