New US envoy urges ramped up strain on Myanmar navy

The new US ambassador to the United Nations urged the worldwide group on Monday to “ramp up pressure” on Myanmar’s navy to revive democracy at a wide-ranging press convention the place she additionally mentioned she hopes to work with Russia and China on some key points.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who arrived on the UN final Thursday, strongly reiterated President Joe Biden’s dedication to re-engage with the world and make the United States once more a nation that leads.
Speaking on the primary day of the US presidency of the Security Council in March, she touched on quite a few different world hotspots, saying the Biden administration was “disappointed” that Iran began proscribing worldwide inspections of its nuclear amenities final week.
“We think it’s an opportunity that they have really lost and we hope that they will reconsider that,” she mentioned.
Thomas-Greenfield mentioned Biden has made clear “that Iran will never attain a nuclear weapon,” and has additionally made clear that if Iran resumes “full compliance” with the 2015 nuclear settlement that former President Donald Trump pulled out of, “the US is prepared to do the same.”
Tehran has rejected a European Union invitation to affix a gathering with the US and the opposite authentic contributors within the settlement. As for North Korea, which confronted more and more harder Security Council sanctions earlier than Trump’s failed efforts to get the nation’s chief, Kim Jong Un, to decide to specifics on ridding the nation of nuclear weapons, Thomas-Greenfield mentioned the North stays a worldwide menace to worldwide peace and safety.
The United States has “a vital interest to try to deter North Korea toward that goal,” to defend in opposition to its provocations or use of pressure, and above all “to keep the American people and our allies safe,” she mentioned. The Biden administration is reviewing US coverage towards North Korea and can proceed to press for denuclearizing the nation, she mentioned.
In the Middle East, Thomas-Greenfield known as the humanitarian state of affairs in conflict-torn Yemen “gut-wrenching” and mentioned the US signature occasion throughout its council presidency will likely be on “conflict-induced starvation and hunger in Yemen and Ethiopia” on March 11.
On the February 1 coup in Myanmar, and the present navy crackdown on protesters, Thomas-Greenfield reiterated US assist to the folks of Myanmar, saying “We stand strongly with them.”
“We do have to ramp up the pressure,” she mentioned, not solely in New York however internationally to press the navy to reverse the coup and restore the democratically elected authorities.
The Security Council adopted a press assertion on February 4 strongly backing a return to democracy in Myanmar and calling for the quick launch of detainees together with Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose occasion overwhelmingly received the nation’s November election.
Thomas-Greenfield mentioned the council plans to carry discussions on Myanmar this month, “sooner rather than later,” and she or he hopes “to push for more intense discussions.”
“It is clear the world is watching the situation in Burma,” she mentioned, utilizing the nation’s former title, “and it’s clear that we can’t sit still and watch people continue to be brutalized and their human rights to be destroyed.”
Last week, Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky mentioned “the red carpet” will likely be rolled out for Thomas-Greenfield and Moscow is able to work with Biden’s administration — however “it takes two to tango.”
Thomas-Greenfield mentioned Monday she met Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia final Friday and appears ahead to working with him.
“We have our differences,” she mentioned. “But we also have areas where we hope to cooperate with the Russians, particularly as we work together on the Security Council to bring peace, prosperity and security to the world. It’s incumbent that we find ways to find common ground.”
At the US Senate listening to on her nomination, Thomas-Greenfield described China as “a strategic adversary” that threatens the world, and known as a speech she gave in 2019 that praised China’s initiatives in Africa however made no point out of its human rights abuses a mistake. That speech drew sharp criticism from some Republicans who voted in opposition to her saying they feared she could be mushy on China.
Asked Monday concerning the US-China relationship, she mentioned she had additionally met Beijing’s Ambassador Zhang Jun and known as it “very complex.”
“There will be areas where we will significantly disagree, in particular as it relates to human rights,” Thomas-Greenfield mentioned, “but there are some areas where … we hope to work with the Chinese in a cooperative way” together with on local weather change.
“But as we look at our relationship moving forward … we will never give up on diplomacy in trying to achieve what are our ultimate goals and that is to put values and transparency into how the United Nations works, and we hope to be able to work with the Chinese on improving that,” she mentioned.