YANGON: Myanmar’s military leader lauded Donald Trump and asked him to lift sanctions, the junta said on Friday (Jul 11) after a tariff letter from the United States president believed to be Washington’s first public recognition of its rule.
Min Aung Hlaing endorsed Trump’s false claim that the 2020 US election was stolen, and thanked him for shutting down funding to US-backed media providing independent coverage of conflict-wracked Myanmar.
The military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected civilian government in 2021, plunging the country into civil war.
The US State Department sanctioned the junta chief and others for using “violence and terror to oppress” the Burmese people and “denying them the ability to freely choose their own leaders”.
US diplomats do not formally engage with the junta, but Trump sent a letter to Min Aung Hlaing by name on Monday telling him the US would impose a 40 per cent tariff from Aug 1, down from a threatened 44 per cent.
“It’s certainly the first public indication I’ve seen of US acknowledgement of MAH (Min Aung Hlaing) and the junta,” said Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group.
Any earlier private communications “would almost certainly not have been from Trump, of course”, he told AFP.
Min Aung Hlaing seized the opportunity to respond with a multi-page letter released in both Burmese and English by the junta information team on Friday.
In it, he expressed his “sincere appreciation” for Trump’s letter and praised the US president’s “strong leadership in guiding your country toward national prosperity”.
He sought to justify the military’s seizure of power, saying: “Similar to the challenges you encountered during the 2020 election of the United States, Myanmar also experienced major electoral fraud and significant irregularities”.