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WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is condemning the reported atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and says those responsible – possibly the country’s military – will be held accountable.
Tillerson says the accounts of Rohingya suffering are “heartbreaking” – and that if those reports are true, then “someone will be held to account for that.”
Tillerson – who is due to visit South Asia next week – is urging Myanmar’s government to improve humanitarian access to the population in western Rakhine state.
Amnesty International has accused Myanmar’s security forces of killing hundreds of men, women and children during a systematic campaign to expel the Rohingya. More than 580,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since the end of August.
“We really hold the military leadership accountable for what’s going on,” Tillerson told the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “What is most important for us is that the world cannot just stand by and be a witness to the atrocities that are being reported in that area.”
He also called on Wednesday for the United States and India to expand strategic ties. He pointedly criticized China, which he accused of defying international norms necessary for global stability.
He said that the world needed the United States and India to have a strong partnership. The two nations share the goal of security, free navigation, free trade and the fight against terrorism in the Indo-Pacific, and serve as “the Eastern and Western beacons” for an international order based on the rules that is increasingly subject, he said.
Both India and China had benefited from this order, but Tillerson said India had done so in compliance with rules and norms, while China had “at times” undermined it. To make his point, he alluded to China’s island-building and expansive territorial claims in seas where Beijing has long disputed with its Southeast Asian neighbors.
“China’s provocative actions in the South China Sea directly challenge international law and norms that the United States and India both support,” Tillerson said.
He added that the United States seeks constructive relations with China, but “does not shy away” from the challenges they pose when they “subvert the sovereignty of neighboring countries, and disadvantage the United States and our friends.”
US-India relations have generally prospered over the past decade, in part because of their shared concerns about the rise of China. While President Donald Trump has sought to deepen cooperation with China to address the nuclear threat from North Korea, he has also sought a closer relationship with India, which shares US concerns about Islamic extremism.
“In this period of uncertainty and anxiety, India needs a reliable partner on the world stage. I want to be clear: with our shared values and vision for global stability, peace and prosperity, the United States is that partner,” Tillerson said.
Tillerson said the US wants to help improve India’s military capabilities, as well as improve security cooperation between the region’s major democracies, which include Japan and Australia.
Tillerson said the United States and India are leading regional efforts to counter terrorism. He called on India’s arch-rival Pakistan “to take decisive action against terrorist groups based within its borders that threaten its own people and the wider region.”