“Silent Diplomacy” toward Myanmar (2)
(Continued from “Silent Diplomacy” toward Myanmar (1) )
In Myanmar, the government and the military have been engaged in fighting Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) on and off for more than seven decades. There are many conflicts around the world, but I don’t know of any other nation where the fighting has continued for as long as in Myanmar.
The Japanese government appointed me, a civilian, as its Special Envoy for National Reconciliation in Myanmar, in recognition of years of my humanitarian and other activities in the Southeast Asian country. For example, The Nippon Foundation has built hundreds of schools mainly for children of ethnic minorities, helped the nation in its fight against leprosy, or Hansen’s disease, since the 1970s, and provided vocational training, hygiene guidance and food assistance. The position of special envoy has no fixed term.
With about 135 ethnic groups, Myanmar is not a straightforward “country” in the way that people in Japan and other nations might think. EAOs have undergone repeated alignment and realignment. Buddhist monks have a strong say on politics, while peoples in Karen and Kachin states are mostly Christians. Besides, there are Muslims in some parts of the country as well.
My job is to interact and listen to each one of these groups to encourage them to sit down at the negotiating table with the government and the military. Above all, it is to win the trust of all those stakeholders.
In a country such as Myanmar where people value saving face, I make a point of being extra careful about what I say as my remarks receive a lot of attention.
I am determined to keep working to the best of my ability to complete my mission as the Special Envoy of the Government of Japan in order to attain the ultimate goal of creating a democratic Federal Republic that will emerge in the future for national reconciliation and Union peace. This is exactly what General Aung San, father of deposed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, dreamed of.
Whatever criticisms and smears I might face, I will keep working every day in an effort to help resolve the current situation in which Myanmar finds itself. To complete my mission, I will stick firmly to “silent diplomacy.”
In 2020, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi commissioned The Nippon Foundation to help restore a Japanese sword her father had been presented with by the Imperial Japanese Army during the war, before he became the founding father of the modern-day Myanmar. There has been steady progress in the restoration work being undertaken by sword-polishers in Okayama Prefecture, western Japan. I believe a time will come when I can return her father’s sword to her in person.
Numerous news outlets, both foreign and domestic, have asked to interview me on Myanmar, but I have turned all of them down. For this, I would like to offer my sincere apologies.
If you are interested, please read the following:
(1) Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu’s statement on ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting issued on April 27, 2021:
ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting (Statement by Minister for Foreign Affairs MOTEGI Toshimitsu) | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (mofa.go.jp)
(2) An AP story on the May 14 release of a Japanese journalist who was detained in Myanmar:
https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-tokyo-japan-journalists-7e90e258489afe0609798a621b5b776d
(3) A report titled “From Elections to Ceasefire in Myanmar’s Rakhine State” published on December 23, 2020, by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, focusing on my activities in the wake of the country’s general elections in November.
https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-east-asia/myanmar/b164-elections-ceasefire-myanmars-rakhine-state