NEWS FLASH

EU CONDEMNS MILITARY’S SEIZURE OF POWER IN MYANMAR

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT AND THE EU’S TOP DIPLOMAT, ON MONDAY, CONDEMNED THE MILITARY’S SEIZURE OF POWER IN MYANMAR. THEY, THEREFORE, DEMANDED THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ALL THOSE THE MILITARY HAD DETAINED IN RAIDS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. THE EU IS MYANMAR’S THIRD-BIGGEST TRADING PARTNER AND HAS GIVEN THE COUNTRY SPECIAL TRADE PREFERENCES, WHICH COULD POTENTIALLY BE REMOVED, ALTHOUGH SUCH A PROCESS WOULD LIKELY NOT BE IMMEDIATE. “I STRONGLY CONDEMN THE COUP IN MYANMAR,’’ THE COMMISSION’S CHIEF, URSULA VON DER LEYEN, WROTE ON TWITTER AND CALLED FOR THE “IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE’’ OF ALL THOSE DETAINED. EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF, JOSEP BORRELL, RELEASED A STATEMENT ALSO CONDEMNING THE COUP, SAYING “DEMOCRACY MUST PREVAIL’’.