Myanmar role in Rohingya crisis not okay, Pence tells Suu Kyi in Singapore

Singapore, Nov 14: US Vice President Mike Pence who is on a tour of Asia in place of President Donald Trump expressed his disappointment in front of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday, November 14, saying the persecution carried out by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya Muslims who fled the country to the neighbouring in countless numbers was inexcusable.

According to a Reuters report, Pence told Suu Kyi in a brief meeting with the media that the US was worried to hear of the progress in holding people responsible for the crisis. They then proceeded to private talks on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific meeting.

Suu Kyi, the state councillor of Myanmar was recently stripped of Amnesty International's highest honour for "shameful betrayal of values she once stood for", told Pence that people had conflicting views on the matter.

The American vice president also said that the US wanted to see a free media in Myanmar and that the imprisonment of two journalists last year was "deeply disturbing". Two journalists of the Reuters were arrested in Yangon in December last year.