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February 3rd, 2021 
Awake Goy 
China has so far stopped short of criticising the coup in Myanmar that threw out a democratically elected government, and has now blocked the UN Security Council from formally condemning it.
The UN’s special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, briefed the Security Council on the events of Monday morning, when the military rounded up political leaders and seized control of the country. She urged the council to “collectively send a clear signal in support of democracy in Myanmar”.
The council was reported to be negotiating the release of a joint statement to condemn the coup on Tuesday, which would also call for the immediate release of those unlawfully detained and ask the military to respect the law.
Such a statement from the Security Council would require consensus among the 15 members, but permanent member China is reportedly vetoing any action as a diplomat with China’s UN mission said any response should avoid “escalating the tension or further complicating the situation”.
On Monday, Myanmar’s military detained the top leaders of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party including the country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, declaring emergency rule for a period of one year while it investigated fraud in a November general election where the military-backed party performed badly.
The military regime has made public a new governing council which includes eight generals and is led by its army chief General Min Aung Hlaing -a structure similar to what Myanmar had for about 50 years until 2011.
The coup came within three weeks of the 12 January 2021 meeting of Min Aung Hlaing with China’s foreign minister Wang Yi. China is one of few world powers yet to openly criticise the coup, with its state media downplaying it as a “cabinet reshuffle”.
Volkan Bozkir, who is president of the diamond jubilee session of the UN’s general assembly, expressed his deep concern.
“I am deeply concerned that the military coup in #Myanmar could further exacerbate the problems of the most vulnerable, including #Rohingya Muslims. I condemn the coup once again and call for unrestricted humanitarian access to #Rakhine State and other parts of the country,” tweeted Mr Bozkir.
Just before the coup, the International Monetary Fund had transferred $350m (£260m) as aid to help Myanmar in battling Covid-19, but it now has little hope of recovering that money.
The US, which has strongly condemned the military’s actions and formally designated it a coup, said on Tuesday it would immediately suspend any financial assistance programme that goes through the government or military of Myanmar – though State Department officials said this made up “very little” of the US aid to the country which is mostly dispersed directly to NGOs.
Additional reporting by agencies
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