Derek Chollet, counselor of the US Department of State, who was in Southeast Asia this week to work with regional countries to help restore democracy in Myanmar, had a meeting with the Monetary Authority of Singapore on Wednesday to discuss ways to limit the Myanmar military regime’s access to overseas financial assets. The counselor tweeted on 21 October 2021 that the meeting was productive.
He said on Thursday that the city state has significant financial leverage over the regime, and this has to be a very important part of efforts to try to bring about greater pressure on the junta.
“We had very good discussions with our partners there about the way ahead and the way that we’re going to continue to work together as we seek to wield whatever leverage we can over the regime to put Burma back on the course of democracy,” he said during a telephone press briefing from Jakarta.
Chollet did not provide details when asked about the outcomes of his meeting with the Monetary Authority of Singapore on how to limit the junta’s access to overseas assets but he said, “Singapore has a very, very important role to play”, adding that they had very good discussions there on how to wield whatever leverage they could over the regime.
News (2)
Singapore a preferred destination for Myanmar Junta and their associates
Singapore is the largest foreign investor in Myanmar and has become a preferred destination for Myanmar’s military rulers and their associates, who make periodic visits for medical trips, recreation or to squirrel their money away in various accounts under different names. Furthermore, some companies there have commercial ties with the Myanmar military junta and its conglomerates.
Since the coup in February, the Myanmar regime has been under international sanctions for overthrowing the country’s democratically elected government, killing more than 1,000 people and arresting thousands for opposing military rule in the country.
The US and other Western democracies have pressured the regime by singling out certain key individuals as well as entities to make it harder for them to transact business in the international community, forcing the regime to struggle with a hard currency shortage.
News (3)
Some Singaporean companies a money lifeline for Myanmar Junta
As a result, some Singaporean companies have become a lifeline for the junta by channeling money to it.
In February, for example, Justice For Myanmar reported that Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX)-listed Emerging Towns & Cities Singapore (ETC) made payments worth millions of dollars to the regime as the developer of the Golden City complex in Yangon. The land is owned by the military and ETC has a build-operate-transfer agreement with the Myanmar Army’s Quartermaster General’s Office.
According to ETC’s 2017 annual report, the Golden City deal with the military involves a “land use premium” payment of US$6.3 million, plus annual payments of $2.8 million, with exemptions on lease payments from 2013-16.
The total in payments to the military over the maximum 70-year term amounts to US$191.1 million.
As of 31 December 2019, ETC had accrued US$32.185 million for land lease payments to the Myanmar army, the report says.
News (4)
Justice For Myanmar: Possible liability on MAS and Singapore government on doing business with Myanmar military
On Wednesday, Justice For Myanmar said a legal memorandum has found that international law and guidance places due diligence obligations on the SGX, and possible liability on the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Singapore government, in relation to companies like ETC doing business with the Myanmar military.
The legal memo also raised the possibility of reputational and sanctions risks for the SGX, its regulator the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and by extension, the Singapore government, should it not prevent continued payments from ETC to the Myanmar army.
Refs: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/us-singapore-discuss-ways-to-cut-myanmar-juntas-overseas-financial-lifelines.html, https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=416248519868832&set=a.384400469720304
News (5)
US vows to work with ASEAN partners to support people of Myanmar
The United States said it has reached a turning point in reaching its objectives to handle the crisis resulting from the Myanmar military’s Feb. 1 coup and pledged its continuous support to the Myanmar people through cooperation with regional countries.
During a trip this week to Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet, who led an interagency delegation, said Myanmar’s deteriorating situation has been the main focus of the team’s meetings with ASEAN partners at each stop.
The trip followed ASEAN’s decision last week not to invite the junta leader to its summit next week—a decision the US counselor said was “an example of how international pressure can make a difference.”
The counselor said the US and ASEAN countries agreed on the overall objectives of pushing the regime to put Myanmar back on the path to democracy, to cease the violence, and to release all those unjustly detained, and to adhere to ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus set out in April.
Weighing the potential leverage offered by an array of economic, political and diplomatic tools, the counselor said, “We are at an inflection point on how to reach these objectives in Burma,” referring to the country by its former name.
“We are committed to the Burmese people for the long haul, both because it’s the right thing to do and because it is in our strategic interest. Working with our partners in ASEAN and the region must be at the center of our strategy,” he added.
“We do need to be realistic about the limited tools we have to influence the regime, but there are tools we have at our disposal, especially diplomatic pressure, that have helped us make some progress.”
The US is also “committed to staying deeply engaged” in resolving the Myanmar crisis as best it can and as long as it persists, Chollet told The Irrawaddy during a telephone press conference on Thursday.
The US is “in lockstep with our ASEAN partners” to provide humanitarian assistance to Myanmar’s people, as the humanitarian situation in Myanmar “is deteriorating rapidly,” he said.
The US and Thailand on Tuesday discussed providing critical humanitarian aid to the Myanmar people though the Thai-Myanmar border, while the US and Singapore discussed finding ways to limit the regime’s overseas financial assets on Wednesday.
See also : https://staygate.blogspot.com/2021/10/ridiculous-laws-for-fresh-workers.html
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