FACTBOX: Global reaction to Myanmar protests
(Reuters) - Nine protesters were killed and 11 wounded in Myanmar's main city on Thursday in a crackdown on the biggest anti-junta demonstrations in nearly 20 years, state television said
Following is some of the reaction around the world to the protests in Myanmar and the junta's crackdown.
WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN TONY FRATTO:
"The world is watching. We also need the world acting," he said, calling it "an outrageous situation".
JAPAN'S CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY NOBUTAKA MACHIMURA:
"What Myanmar is doing is wrong."
After 50-year-old Japanese photographer Kenji Nagai found dead in Yangon: "We will protest to the Myanmar government and seek clarification of the truth."
CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN JIANG YU:
"As a neighbor, China is extremely concerned about the situation in Myanmar."
"We hope that all parties in the Myanmar issue will maintain restraint and appropriately handle the problems that have currently arisen so they do not become more complicated or expand, and don't affect Myanmar's stability and even less affect regional peace and stability."
OFFICIAL XINHUA NEWS AGENCY REPORT CARRIED IN CHINESE
NEWSPAPERS:
"Myanmar authorities have been using restraint in handling the demonstrating monks and have not used force to disperse the demonstrators."
U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE CHRISTOPHER HILL:
"I think all countries need to use all the influence that they have. I think every country has some influence with Burma, and I think China is certainly one of those," he told reporters.
VICE PRESIDENT OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT EDWARD MCMILLAN-SCOTT:
"China is the puppet master of Burma," he told Reuters.
"The Olympics is the only real lever we have to make China act. The civilized world must seriously consider shunning China by using the Beijing Olympics to send the clear message that such abuses of human rights are not acceptable."
PORTUGUESE EU PRESIDENCY STATEMENT:
EU ambassadors have instructed experts to "swiftly examine options", including "targeted, reinforced sanctions" and diplomatic representations to key regional players.
WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN GORDON JOHNDROE:
"The Burmese government should not stand in the way of its people's desire for freedom."
"They must stop this violence against peaceful protesters now."
MYANMAR DISSIDENT SOE MYINT, EDITOR IN CHIEF OF
INTERNET-BASED MIZZIMA NEWS AGENCY, TO REUTERS:
"The window of information is closing."
"Many blogging sites are now blocked and opposition activists have had their mobile phones cut."
SINGAPORE FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT:
"We hope that the Myanmar authorities and all other parties in Myanmar will appreciate the broader implications of their actions on the region as a whole and act accordingly."
TOM GREEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PACIFIC STRATEGIES AND
ASSESSMENTS, QUESTIONING EFFECTIVENESS OF SANCTIONS:
"If the regime is really repressive, it kind of bolsters them."
"North Korea is an example. It certainly hasn't shaken Fidel Castro, and Burma falls in that category."
POLISH DEMOCRACY LEADER LECH WALESA AND FORMER ARCH-FOE
WOJCIECH JARUZELSKI WHO NEGOTIATED A PEACEFUL END TO COMMUNISM
IN 1989:
"In Myanmar, as in Poland, only a bloodless transition to democracy is in the interest of all," they said in a statement published in Polish newspapers.
CHUMPORN POLRAK, GOVERNOR OF NORTHERN THAI BORDER PROVINCE
OF TAK:
"If they come, we will have to give them food and shelter, just on a humanitarian basis," he told a Bangkok radio station.
