A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is urging Donald Trump’s administration to reject Myanmar’s “sham” elections next month, days after the administration cited the country’s electoral progress as grounds to remove legal protections for Myanmar nationals in the US.
“Burma’s planned elections this December are proving to be a sham,” said Representatives Brian Mast and Gregory Meeks and Senators Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen on Wednesday, using the former name for the war-torn country.
“Orchestrated by the military junta to deceive the international community, these elections are designed to manufacture legitimacy for the China-backed junta after its 2021 coup and ongoing campaign of violence against the Burmese people,” the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee said in a joint statement.
On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it was ending “Temporary Protected Status” (TPS) for Myanmar citizens, asserting that conditions in the country – including the junta’s planned “free and fair” elections – now allow them to return safely.
“Burma has made notable progress in governance and stability, including the end of its state of emergency, plans for free and fair elections, successful ceasefire agreements, and improved local governance contributing to enhanced public service delivery and national reconciliation,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.
The status will expire for the some 4,000 Myanmar nationals benefiting from it on January 26, her agency said – a move that the Burmese junta called a “positive” development.
TPS for Myanmar had been extended for 18 months, ending on November 25, under the administration of Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.
International actors, including the United Nations, have said elections the junta is planning for December and January cannot be free and fair while some opposition parties remain banned and the country’s former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is held in jail.
The military’s seizure of power in 2021 ousted Suu Kyi’s civilian government and sparked a nationwide armed resistance.
Support from Beijing towards the junta has been a consistent source of contention for rights groups.
On Saturday, demonstrators stretched around the Chinese Embassy in Washington to protest any backing from Beijing for the upcoming elections, holding signs that read “Boycott illegal sham elections in Myanmar”.
Last year, senior Chinese officials expressed support for elections in the country.
After a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Burmese junta leader Min Aung Hlaing earlier this year, China’s foreign ministry said that it “supports Myanmar in unifying all domestic political forces as much as possible and restoring stability and development”.
The issue also surfaced at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing last Wednesday, where the panel heard pleas for the US and other countries to reject the election results and curb China’s influence.
“The other important thing to do is to recognise the decisive enabler role that China … is playing with the elections,” said Kelly Curie, a fellow at the Atlantic Council and former US diplomat.
“They are not only publicly backing the elections and the regime in this role, but they are putting pressure on other [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries to have Asean recognise and participate in these elections.”
The US State Department’s most recent annual human rights report on Myanmar, published in August, paints a different picture from DHS’s characterisation of the country.
“The human rights crisis in Myanmar deteriorated during the year as the conflict between the military regime and opposition forces [including ethnic armed organisations] intensified, marked by increased regime air strikes and artillery attacks on or near civilian sites,” the report said.
“The regime’s arbitrary detentions claimed more lives, including those of senior opposition leaders Zaw Myint Maung and U Win Khine,” it continued, referencing events that happened the previous year.