Myanmar‘s National Unity Government (NUG) Foreign Minister Zin Mar Aung together with representatives of the Karen National Union (KNU) and Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) recently paid a visit to Lithuania to highlight the Myanmar crisis.

The visit took place in the context of the Future of Democracy Forum, held on 9-10 November, where NUG Minister Zin Mar Aung also delivered a key-note speech on the second day of the event.

On the margins of the conference, the delegation met with the Deputy Chair of the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania Radvile Morkūnaite-Mikulėniene and chair of the Group for Inter-Parliamentary Relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), MP Vilius Semeška as well as other MPs of the group including Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius, Andrius Vyšniauskas, Matas Maldeikis.

A separate meeting was organized with the MP Emanuelis Zingeris. NUG FM and other delegates also met the vice-minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania Egidijus Meilūnas, and head of the Communication and Cultural Diplomacy Department Viktorija Urbonavičiūtė. Two separate meetings were held with representatives of Democratic Belarus, and round-table discussions took place at the Eastern Europe Studies Centre.

Lithuania reiterated its support for the Myanmar people‘s democratic aspirations and readiness to continue political dialogue. The visiting delegation communicated its calls for political and practical support and shared their assessment of the situation in Myanmar, including on developments on the ground, ASEAN mediation efforts, the role of China, and the growing influence of Russia. Discussions were held also on the challenges that the democratic resistance forces are facing, particularly in terms of communication, political dialogue and consultations.

The following is the text of NUG Minister Zin Mar Aung’s speech at the Future of Democracy Forum under the title, “Resilience and democracy – Myanmar is being made new”:

I am honoured to be invited to address you today, and to add the voice of the people of Myanmar to this forum. I want to talk to you today about how Myanmar is being made new, by the resilience of the people, and for a democratic future.

I start with resilience. This is the defining feature of the revolution of the people of Myanmar against the unlawful coup that took place in February 2021.

In the early weeks after the coup, the people of our cities, our villages and the countryside – with one voice, they said no. This rejection was and still is a nationwide rejection coming from all social and professional groups. Civil servants, medical workers, teachers, female textile factory workers and railway workers took to the streets to protest the attempted military coup.

The rejection of coup was also a generational uprising of our teenagers and students, of our Gen Z. Half of Myanmar’s population is under the age of 30. They have seen a promising future for themselves during our democratic transition and they have been – and still are – determined not to let the military take that future away from them.

This rejection also united the many ethnic groups across my country in a unifying vision of the federal democratic state. This rejection and this vision unites us still.

While we are acutely aware of the many areas needing for improvements, we are also constantly reminded that ours is a gradual process and that achieving consensus in our large, diverse and inclusive coalition requires genuine consultation. We acknowledge that inclusion and representation of women and minorities remain a major challenge, calling for our seriousness about democratic participation and equal representation. Despite our own shortcomings, our commitment to bringing about democratic change and establishing a federal union should not be doubted.

I am here to tell you that ignoring and overlooking the Burma or Myanmar struggle for federal democracy is hurting not only the people of Burma or Myanmar but also all of us in this room who cherish and value democracy. And I will tell you why.

Myanmar or Burma might look like a far-away country about which democratic countries know little and have no national interests there. However, we are big nation of 55 million people. We are a country with gas, oil and abundance of rare materials. We are a huge fertile land which used to be one of rice baskets of the world. We are placed between India and China, as the only corridor for China to the Indian Ocean.

The Military junta is getting support from Russia. Putin and Lavrov have no qualms in dealing with Myanmar generals. Russia is providing fighter jets and helicopters to the junta. The junta is sending shells from its own stockpiles to Russia to be used against Ukraine. On November 6th, three Russian Pacific Fleet destroyers with around 800 crew docked in Yangon for the first bilateral maritime exercise.

Also, recently, the regime in Belarus has expressed their interest in creating a trilateral partnership with Russia and North Korea. And Belarus has long had traditional ties with Myanmar Military and has been closely working with Myanmar Military since the outset of the coup. Myanmar has seemingly become a ground for authoritarian regimes to assemble. This, my friends, is a threat to democracy.

If our country will become pariah military dictatorship which has been resituated to live by the authoritarian alliance of Russia, it will become obvious how big a loss we are for the other democratic countries.

We will continue our struggle with or without the support we receive and how ever little we receive. However, I would like you to consider the price we will have to pay when we ignore the people’s struggle for democracy in a country like Burma or Myanmar, where the world’s common enemy of democracy is finding refuge and building alliances like never before.

Today, I ask you friends of democracy across the world to recognize our resilience and hear our genuine intention to build a new Myanmar.

We need help in this work. This is not the time to let an authoritarian alliance help one more crumbling murderous dictatorship prevail.

We do not ask a lot and we do not ask anything which is not possible.

The junta has just a few remaining sources of revenues. Gas sold to Thailand through the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise is the main one. We welcome the new sanctions that the United States of America has imposed on the MOGE. We need European and Western partners to persuade Thailand to put gas revenues in an escrow account for only next six months’ period. That will be enough for the junta to collapse and for us to end violence and to bring the country back to a path of normal economic relations with neighbours and all others.

In Burma or Myanmar, we believe that the only chance to end violence and to build a new future is for the current junta to be removed. And they are ready to fall. The only question is how long it will take for this to happen, and how much more damage and suffering the junta will be able to inflict through the passivity and inaction of Asian and democratic countries.

There will be no room for the Myanmar military in the future political leadership. We will accept nothing except the rule of law under a “democratic” civilian leadership. But we are not only saying “no”. We are also saying “yes” to a new future for Myanmar.

We are pushing the military back from places where the people give no consent to their dominance. And at the same time, we are creating the foundations for a new state.

The future of Myanmar will be federal, and it will be democratic. It is a future in which the rights of all are respected, in which the curse of ethnic discrimination is lifted from our lands.

This is the work that our National Unity Government is undertaking already now in partnership with our ethnic allies, and with community and civil society groups in a shared process.

Our resilience is strong. We will be victorious in defeating the tyranny. We will build a federal democracy in which all people will be safe and with equal rights.

For our native land, Burma, democracy is particularly essential, because Burma is still a country struggling to overcome the burning fires of decades long civil war, not only to survive but also to rise like never before.

Having learned from our own mistakes and failures as a country that mistreated and marginalised the minorities in the past, our Revolution is now about our desire and commitment to democracy in which we have now come to embrace diversity, equality, and freedom for all of the people of Burma.

To be true to who we really are, a multi-ethnic nation, our Revolution sets out to struggle through this difficult time to establish a federal democratic state where our peoples and our respective cultures will

be celebrated, human rights are respected, and all forms of discrimination against women and minorities are eliminated.

Through the strength of the people and hard work we will achieve this. But we do need the help of the European and worlds democracies. I would like to reaffirm that our struggle and victory will truly bridge the divided world by promoting democracy, peace, and development to the region and to the world.

I hope the Vilnius Forum will help our voice be heard.