Myanmar Resistance Official Asks Japan to Put Pressure on Junta

By Chikako Minami / Japan News Staff Writer

18:22 JST, September 2, 2024

A senior official of Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), set up in opposition to the military junta, stressed that the resistance has been gaining the upper hand on the battlefield and asked Japan to put pressure on the junta, at a meeting with Japanese media outlets on Friday in Tokyo.

The NUG calls itself the country’s only and legitimate government. Tin Tun Naing, 53, the NUG’s union minister of planning, finance and investment, was visiting Japan to seek assistance in overthrowing the junta.

‘70% of country under control’

He claimed that 70% of the country is under the control of resistance forces, including areas they partially control.

The NUG and its allied ethnic groups believe there is a strong possibility of the junta collapsing soon, he said, as motivation to fight among its soldiers has fallen as more and more troops surrender. The nation has also seen economic turmoil since the military’s coup.

Myanmar’s military has been in power since the coup in February 2021. From last autumn, however, rebel groups such as ethnic groups opposed to the military regime and the People’s Defense Forces (PDF), the armed wing of the NUG, have ratcheted up their attacks, and there are reports that the regime has been pushed back.

‘Victory bonds’ to be issued

Tin Tun Naing said the NUG is working closely with some of the country’s ethnic minority groups to share funds and supplies. The NUG has issued bonds to raise funds, and together with the ethnic groups it will issue “victory bonds.”

Tin Tun Naing, reelected in 2020 as a lawmaker of the National League for Democracy party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, also said that junta officials have often visited Suu Kyi, who is being detained, to persuade her to stop the PDF’s resistance. They have offered to appoint her to a post in an interim government that will be set up by the military regime, he added.

“We have confirmed that she has not responded to the military regime’s persuasion,” he said.

According to him, the resistance has the support of the people, as demonstrated in protests and boycotts of products made by military-controlled companies.

“What is happening in Myanmar is not a civil war. People in Myanmar are pushing for revolution. I’d like Japan to understand this and cooperate with the revolution,” he said. “The revolution will soon achieve its goal.”

Specifically, he called on Japan to encourage the Financial Action Task Force, an international organization that evaluates countermeasures against money laundering and terrorist financing, to push for financial sanctions on Myanmar’s military regime in a meeting in October. The task force announced in October 2022 that it had placed Myanmar on its “blacklist” due to the country’s inadequate countermeasures.

Tin Tun Naing declined to say whether he had met with Japanese government officials during his visit to Japan.