Myanmar state of emergency tests Biden democracy push but with few options

US President Joe Biden. Photo: EPA

AFP

Myanmar's state of emergency marks an early test case of President Joe Biden's determination to advocate democracy but, unlike a decade ago when the United States nurtured a transition there, he has limited options.

The rise of democracy in Myanmar had initially been hailed as a key achievement of former president Barack Obama, under whom Biden served as number two, representing an opening of a long-closed nation that had been in rival China's orbit.

But Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's civilian leader who was detained with others Monday, had been rapidly losing Western support as the Nobel laureate stayed reticent -- some argue so as not to antagonize the military -- about the Rohingya.

Biden in a forceful statement Monday warned of a return of sanctions and steadfastly backed the principle of democracy -- in line with his campaign promises as he vowed to turn the page from his predecessor Donald Trump, who praised autocrats and unsuccessfully tried to overturn his own election defeat.

"The United States will stand up for democracy wherever it is under attack," Biden said, demanding that the military in the nation also known as Burma "immediately relinquish the power they have seized."

- Less US leverage -

Derek Mitchell, the first US ambassador to Myanmar after the opening, said the United States no longer enjoyed the same leverage.

Mitchell, now president of the National Democratic Institute, urged coordination with US allies and said that the world needed to respect the overwhelming victory of Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy in last year's elections.

The West "may have considered her this global icon of democracy and that lustre is off. But if you care about democracy in the world, then you must respect the democratic choice and she is clearly that."

"It's not about the person; it's about the process," he said.

In a growing rarity in Washington, Myanmar policy has wide bipartisan consensus with Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican, long a vocal supporter of Suu Kyi.

Suzanne DiMaggio, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the Biden administration should resist immediately imposing sanctions -- a nearly daily tool of the United States under Trump -- and try diplomacy.

"Myanmar is an unexpected early test for the Biden administration, which has emphasized human rights and democracy as cornerstones of US foreign policy," she said.

"Quickly dispatching a senior envoy to Naypyidaw carrying rare bipartisan congressional backing would be an appropriate next step," she said, referring to Myanmar's 15-year-old capital.

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