President Biden said Wednesday the U.S. will sanction military leaders in Myanmar who directed the Feb. 1 military coup in the Southeast Asian nation.
The sanctions will also target the generals’ business interests and close family members. It is the first significant use of the sanctions tool in foreign policy under Mr. Biden, after having been used extensively under President Trump.
“We will identify a first round of targets this week,” Mr. Biden said from the White House.
The president said his administration will prevent the coup leaders from accessing $1 billion in Myanmar funds held in the U.S., while making sure health and civil society groups retain support. The military controls two major development corporations that make up a significant slice of the Myanmar economy.
Mr. Biden said he is consulting on punishments with Indo-Pacific allies and congressional members from both parties, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Josep Borrell, the foreign policy chief for the European Union, told the EU parliament Tuesday the bloc was also weighing post-coup sanctions targeting both ”individuals and on business owned by the military,” as well as new trade curbs and cuts in development assistance.
Myanmar, sometimes referred to as Burma, is home to 54 million people and has dealt for decades with ethnic guerrilla wars.
Global attention in recent years focused on a horrific genocide that Myanmar’s military is accused of carrying out against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority.
This month’s coup by that same military led to the detention of several of Myanmar’s most senior civilian politicians, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate and de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Analysts described it as a reversal of progress the country had made toward democracy since a previous five decades of military rule was dissolved in 2011.
“I call on the Burmese military to immediately release the democratic political leaders and activists they are now detaining,” Mr. Biden said. “The military must relinquish power it seized and demonstrate respect for the will of the people,”
Mr. Biden also told military leaders to refrain from violent crackdowns on protesters who have flooded the streets of major cities in Myanmar despite the efforts of security forces to suppress them.
“Violence against those demonstrators and their democratic rights is unacceptable and we will call it out,” he said.
• Guy Taylor contributed to this report.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.