Nobody in Asia Supports Sanctions Against Myanmar: Singapore PM

Source: Channel News Asia

Nobody in Asia supports sanctions against Myanmar, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an interview with CNBC Asia ahead of the ASEAN summit.

He also revealed that Myanmar's Prime Minister Thein Sein agreed to have UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari brief the East Asian Summit leaders about his discussions with Myanmar's leaders.

Mr Lee, who opposed sanctions against Myanmar, said, "Even if you do cause pain in Myanmar through sanctions, you're only causing that to the population, to (the) poor and helpless who are already suffering and miserable. You're not going to succeed in causing pain to the leadership or causing the leadership to seriously sit down and talk about reconciliation and work out arrangements which is going to work for Myanmar because regime change sounds good as a slogan but I don't think it's that good as a policy. It's been tried in Iraq and nobody wants to have an Iraq in Southeast Asia."

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