July 6, 2022

For Further Information Contact: James Shwe, jshwe@marokoshwe.com

The Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301

RE: Statement on barring Myanmar military members attending Japan’s National Defense Academy from visiting U.S. facilities and interacting with U.S. military personnel

Dear Secretary Austin,

In May, President Biden concluded a critical series of meetings with our allies in Asia to bolster and strengthen regional security interests and demonstrate the U.S. commitment to an Indo-Pacific that is open, connected, prosperous, resilient, and secure. We welcome greater U.S. involvement and applaud President Biden’s leadership to reinvigorate alliances with countries that share our core values: democracy, rule-of-law, and human rights.

It is significant to note that Leadership Statements following meetings with President of South Korea Yoon Suk-yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and the grouping known as “The Quad”, the coup in Myanmar was highlighted and statements urged an end to the violence, opening of humanitarian corridors, a return to a democratic path and dialogue between the illegal military junta and the democratic opposition. This represents a tangible demonstration of concern between countries where democratic governance is cherished and a regional understanding that the spread of democracy can help fulfill the goals of our Indo-Pacific strategy.

In light of this, it is disturbing that the Japanese government continues to invite and host members of the Myanmar military for education and training programs. This was confirmed by Japan’s minister of defense during a parliamentary session on April 26th who, reports state, acknowledged that Japan would accept four members from Myanmar’s military for training and education. As of December 10, 2021, up to eight additional members were in Japan for training.

Japan’s National Defense Academy (NDA), one of the premier military training and education facilities in Asia, will be directing the Tatmadaw members’ education program that will include arms and combat training.

The Myanmar military has a long history of human rights abuses that shock the conscience. Its senior leadership, led by General Min Aung Hlaing, is directly responsible for actions, beginning in 2016, that murdered thousands of Rohingya and forced more than 700.000 others into Bangladesh. Such was the scale of this slaughter that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken determined it a “genocide” in remarks at the U.S. Holocaust Museum last March and confirmed those responsible committed war crimes.

Following the coup on February 1, 2021, the junta unleashed its military and security services on the people of Myanmar and have murdered more than 1,800 according to the UN, arrested more than 10,700 according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, and tens of thousands more have fled to border areas. On May 31st, the United Nations Officer of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) released a report documenting the massive amount of humanitarian aid Myanmar’s people will need in the coming months—of which the country’s Humanitarian Response Plan is only 10% funded by donors. The junta’s brutal, scorched-earth attacks have displaced more than 1 million people—an unprecedented number–and more than 12,000 civilian properties have been burned or destroyed by the military since Feb 1, 2021. Last March, 337 homes were torched by the miliary in Myanmar’s Sagaing region.

The military uses its weapons of war to launch air and artillery strikes against civilian targets and uses rape, murder, torture, and fear in an attempt to pacify areas under the control of democratic forces. The brutality of these actions, organized and sanctioned by Myanmar’s military leadership, is so widespread the UN has determined they rise to the level of war crimes. An Amnesty International report states that the military’s actions are so egregious they amount to collective punishment of the Myanmar people. A recent report documented the execution and beheadings of unarmed civilians by the Myanmar military.

Accepting Myanmar military personnel into the NDA training and education program serves to legitimize an illegal coup and provides the military with skilled personnel that will be used to continue and fine-tune a brutal war on freedom-loving people. One must ask: Would Japan offer similar training and educational opportunities to Russian military officers now overseeing soldiers rampaging through Ukraine or the Syrian military guilty of war crimes? Clearly, the answer is no. Moreover, there is evidence that former Myanmar participants in this program are committing atrocities and human rights abuses. For example, Myanmar Air Force Lt. Col. Hlwan Moe received training at Japan’s Air Command and Staff College from August 2016 to March 2017, according to the All Japan Defense Association. He has been implicated in airstrikes in the Magway region of Myanmar according to Human Rights Watch. Japan’s involvement in training Myanmar military personnel makes it complicit directly and/or indirectly in human rights abuses committed by the military.

Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) represents the democratically elected parliament of the November, 2020 national elections. If Japan’s government wants to build bridges and educate next-generation military leaders, the NUG should be consulted for promising cadets who would become the foundation on which to build a new military establishment under civilian control, adhering to a strict code of conduct, and be a defender of the people not a brutal oppressor.

The U.S. and Japan have a deep, intertwined defense relationship that includes bases, training facilities and educational institutions. As part of the NDA program, it is possible that Myanmar military personnel could visit U.S. bases and/or interact with U.S. military stationed in Japan. Any such meeting(s) would not only be inappropriate, but we believe breaks with President Biden’s efforts to sanction and isolate the junta. We ask you to pre-empt this possibility and make clear to our Japanese ally that Myanmar military personal attending the NDA are barred from U.S. facilities and interacting with U.S. forces in Japan through a public statement and through diplomatic mechanisms in place between the U.S. and Japan.

Sincerely,

LA2m – Los Angeles Myanmar Movement
Save Myanmar San Francisco
Cambodian Americans and Friends for Democracy and Human Rights Advocate, CA
Foundation of Khmer Samaki, CA
Global Campaign for Myanmar
Campaign for a New Myanmar
International Campaign for the Rohingya
Free Myanmar

C.C.

The Honorable Anthony Blinken
Secretary of State
Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, D.C.

• The Honorable Adam Smith
  Chairman, HASC
  RHOB 2216
  Washington, D.C. 20515
• The Honorable Mike Rogers
  Ranking, HASC
  RHOB 2216
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  Chairman, HFAC
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• The Honorable Chris Coons
  Co-Chair, Senate Human Rights Caucus
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• The Honorable Thom Tillis
  Co-Chair, Senate Human Rights Caucus
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  Co-Chair, Lantos Human Rights Commission
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• The Honorable Christopher Smith
  Co-Chair, Lantos Human Rights Commission
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