Myanmar slams Taiwan's move to join UN

"The Union of Myanmar is of the view that Taiwan's push for referendum on joining UN would raise tension in Taiwan cross-Straits relations and jeopardize the peace and stability in the region," said the foreign ministry in a statement published in The New Light of Myanmar, a government mouthpiece.

"Myanmar, therefore, opposes the Taiwan's UN membership bid under any appellation," it added.

Myanmar's reiteration of its firm support for the "One China Policy," which denies Taiwan's separate sovereignty, follows in the footsteps of Beijing's recent backing for the military-run regime in the face of growing pressures from the United Nations to introduce political reforms to the country.

China on Tuesday told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Adviser on Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, who was on a visit to Beijing, that Myanmar's "issues" should be solved by the Myanmar people themselves.

Gambari was reportedly hoping to persuade Beijing, deemed Myanmar's most powerful ally, to "promote positive changes" in the country.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962, and under the equivalent of martial law since 1988 in the aftermath of a brutal crackdown on a pro-democracy movement that surpassed China's "Tiananmin" incident in terms of bloodshed.

The ruling junta has kept opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest since May 2003.

//Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA)