Myanmar–United Kingdom relations are the bilateral and diplomatic relations between

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(formerly Burma) and the United Kingdom. Myanmar has an embassy in

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

, London, whilst the United Kingdom operates an embassy in Yangon.

History

Myanmar was ruled by the British Empire from 1824 to 1948 and several wars were fought between the colonial power and Burmese rebels seeking independence. Myanmar eventually achieved independence from British rule on 4 January 1948, which is celebrated annually as

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

in Myanmar.

Recent history

The UK has raised concerns with Myanmar about the Rohingya genocide with then British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt raising the issue with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi during a state-visit in 2018. The UK has supported United Nations fact finding missions to Myanmar to investigate

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

, and has drafted a United Nations Security Council resolution to put a timeline on Myanmar allowing the return of more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees from neighbouring Bangladesh.

Military junta (2021—present)

Relations between Myanmar and the UK have greatly deteriorated since the coup d'état on 1 February 2021, when democratically elected leaders, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi were overthrown and detained by the Tatmadaw. The UK government strongly condemned the coup and called for a swift return to civilian rule. The UK placed

sanctions A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym. Examples of sanctions include: Government and law * Sanctions (law), penalties imposed by courts * Economic sanctions, typically a b ...

on several Myanmar junta officials, including Defence Minister General Mya Tun Oo, in response to the coup. Myanmar recalled its Ambassador to the United Kingdom Kyaw Zwar Minn on 9 March 2021, after he publicly called for the release of jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. He refused to return to Myanmar citing safety concerns. On 7 April 2021, Minn was locked out of the Embassy in London by a

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...

and was forced to sleep in his car overnight. He was replaced by his deputy, Chit Win. The British government acknowledged the dismissal of Minn, however they condemned the "bullying military regime" in response. On 31 January 2022, the UK government imposed sanctions on Myanmar justice officials, including Thida Oo. The UK announced a further round of sanctions on 25 August 2022 against military-affiliated businesses in Myanmar, coinciding with the five-year anniversary of the Rohingya genocide. That same day, former British ambassador to Myanmar Vicky Bowman and her husband

Htein Lin Htein Lin ( my, ထိန်လင်း, ; born 31 December 1966) is a Burmese painter, performance artist, and activist.Cur ...

were arrested in Yangon, and were sentenced to a year in prison for "breaching immigration laws" on 2 September 2022. Myanmar was excluded from invitations by the UK government for the

state funeral of Elizabeth II On 8 September 2022, at 15:10 BST, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-reigning British monarch, died of old age at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. The Queen's death wa ...

on 19 September 2022.

Diplomatic missions

The current Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Myanmar is Dan Chugg, who has been in that role since 2018, while the current Ambassador of Myanmar to the United Kingdom is Chit Win, who was appointed by the

State Administration Council The State Administration Council ( my, နိုင်ငံတော်စီမံအုပ်ချုပ်ရေးကောင်စီ; abbreviated SAC or နစက) is the military junta currently governing Myanmar, established by Com ...

in April 2021.

References

External links