Washington:The United States stands with the people of Myanmar and support their right to peacefully assemble, including the right to protest peacefully in support of the democratically elected government, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday (local time).
Blinken was speaking to Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. During the call, the Secretary and the Foreign Minister discussed ways to strengthen cooperation with allies and partners to address the military coup in Burma.
However, Secretary Blinken expressed concern over the military coup and the importance of rule of law and the democratic process in Burma.
The conversation between Blinken and Motegi comes after US President Joe Biden signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the leaders of the military coup in Myanmar.
Read:|Myanmar citizens back police who rejected coup
"Today, I am announcing a series of actions that we are taking to begin imposing consequences on the leaders of the coup. The US government is taking steps to prevent the generals from improperly having access to the 1 billion dollars in Burmese (Myanmar) government funds held in the United States and today I have approved a new executive order, enabling us to immediately sanction the military leaders who directed the coup, their business interests and their family members," the US President said at the White House.
Biden further said that Washington will identify the first round of targets this week and will also impose strong export controls, along with freezing US assets that benefit the Myanmar government while maintaining support for healthcare, civil society groups and other areas benefitting the people of Myanmar directly.