Former diplomat blasted for meeting with Myanmar’s military leaders

Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson received criticism over his recent trip to Myanmar, seemingly legitimizing the country’s junta leaders. 

The former diplomat said that his meeting with Myanmar’s Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing was to discuss humanitarian aid efforts including getting COVID-19 vaccines to Myanmar, according to The New York Times. 

“On the whole, our discussions were positive and they were productive,” Mr. Richardson said in a phone interview with the Times.

Meanwhile, activists criticized Richardson’s meeting claiming it validated Myanmar’s leaders that staged a coup against the country’s elected government in February. 

In a tweet, Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said the former New Mexico governor’s meetings “did zilch, zero nothing for human rights in Myanmar while giving a propaganda win to Burma’s nasty, rights abusing military junta.”

Looks like Gov Bill Richardson’s @GovRichardson did zilch, zero nothing for human rights in #Myanmar while giving a propaganda win to #Burma’s nasty, rights abusing military junta. Pathetic

— Phil Robertson (@Reaproy) November 5, 2021

While Richardson told the Times it was possible his meeting could have given Myanmar’s leaders some sense of legitimacy, he added that his focus was on the country’s people.

“My philosophy in diplomacy is, I don’t believe 55 million people should suffer because of the political crisis of the military takeover,” he said to the Times. “Somebody has to help the people who are suffering and dying.”

“I think the problem has been a lack of engagement on all sides,” he added. “My theory is that if you improve the humanitarian situation and vaccine access, that could lead to some political reconciliation among the parties.”

Richardson’s meetings last week made him the most prominent Western figure to meet with Myanmar’s military leaders since they overthrew the elected government in February, the Times reported. 

While Myanmar released one of Richardson’s former Richardson Center for Global Engagement employees from prison, the former diplomat did not obtain the release of other prisoners, including Danny Fenster, an American journalist who has been detained in Myanmar for months and was denied bail last week. Fenster faces misdemeanor charges of allegedly spreading false or inflammatory information which could carry up to three years in prison.

Richardson, who was in touch with the State Department and the United Nations prior to his visit, said he did not bring Fenster’s case up because the State Department didn’t ask him to do so, according to the Times. 

A U.N. report last month said the junta is responsible for the deaths of almost 1,200 people since the coup, and opposition in the country has become more militarized as peaceful protests efforts were seemingly futile. 

The Hill has reached out to the State Department and to Richardson for comment.