US in touch with Japan, India in the aftermath of Myanmar coup

In the aftermath of the coup in Myanmar, United States has been in touch with Japan and India and sees both countries having "better contact" with the military of that country.  A senior state department official briefing the reporters on the issue said, "We have certainly been in frequent contact with our like-minded allies and partners in the region."

Pointing out in response to a specific question on the 2 countries, official said, "You mentioned Japan and India. Those are – we’re having daily ongoing conversations with them, and we certainly appreciate that some other countries have better contact with Burmese military than we do. So we’re continuing those conversations. "

Last year saw high profile visit of the Indian foreign secretary Harsh Shringla and Indian Army Chief MM Naravane to the country. India also handed over INS Sindhuvir to the country. It was commissioned as UMS Minye Theinkhathu and inducted on the 73rs anniversary of the Myanmar Navy in 2020.

This is the first time India has given a submarine to any country and shows growing defence cooperation between the 2 neighbouring countries. The Indian side has been training Myanmese Naval personnel. Last year, Indian and Myanmar naval undertook joint exercises IMNEX 2019 in Bay of Bengal.

Asked if US is in touch with "members of the NLD party or Aung San Suu Kyi herself", the official of the state department said, "No we’ve not been able to do that.  Our understanding is that most of the senior officials are under house arrest in the NLD leadership as well as some of the regional government figures and civil society figures." Explaining, "But we’ve not been able to reach them.  We’ll obviously continue to try to do that."

Monday saw a bloodless coup in the country, with the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi being overthrown. The development raised widespread concern, with strong reactions from Washington, Delhi and Tokyo, among others.