Sanctions will block Myanmar reform and invite China in

“The United States and the International community should have a different approach and work with the government instead of imposing new sanctions on a transitioning democracy,” said Bishop Pyone Cho of Pyay, whose diocese covers Rakhine State of Myanmar.

Bishop Pyone Cho  along with other Catholic leaders, feels that the  US announcement of new sanctions against Myanmar (after those imposed in 1997 and were lifted in October 2016 by Barack Obama) because of the Rohingya persecution could prove a stumbling block to leader Aung San Suu Kyi's reform agenda and harm millions of impoverished people in the country after decades of military rule.   At least 600,000 Rohingyas  are now in refugee camps at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

According to Father Mariano Soe Naing, director of social communications at the Myanmar Bishops' Conference, sanctions can be counterproductive and could drive Myanmar  back into the arms of China.

On October 24, the army issued a 10-point statement denying that it acted beyond the limits imposed by law and that unilateral allegations against Myanmar and security  members over the terror attacks of extremist Bengalis in the west of Rakhine state are totally.(UCAN/REI)