The Tokyo-based ASEAN-Japan Center for Trade, Investment and Tourism has funded Myanmar junta’s investment and tourism ministries, according to Justice For Myanmar (JFM).
Leaked documents and public sources reveal a grant to the junta-controlled Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations for a capacity-building program, the activist group reported.
The 2022-23 grant financed at least one event held in March opened by EU-sanctioned junta minister Kan Zaw, the group stated on Friday. The center refused to reveal the size of the grant to JFM.
The center, which represents the governments of Japan and each ASEAN member, including Myanmar, is accused of legitimizing the junta, encouraging business engagement and building the capacity of junta staff through several initiatives working with its ministries.
Myanmar is represented on the council by Soe Han, the junta’s ambassador to Japan, it said.
The center also has an active partnership with the junta’s Ministry of Hotels and Tourism and is supporting regime attempts to promote tourism, JFM said. It provides the junta with legitimacy and a source of foreign revenue, the group said.
ASEAN and Japan are celebrating 50 years of friendship and cooperation. JFM spokeswoman Ma Yadanar Maung said the anniversary shows ASEAN and Japan’s friendship with Myanmar is with the illegitimate junta, not the people who are being slaughtered in relentless attacks.
“Without an immediate end to ASEAN and Japan’s support for the junta, the 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Japan relations will be forever tarnished with the blood of Myanmar’s people,” Ma Yadanar Maung added.
“The ASEAN-Japan Center’s activities with the military junta support its illegal and failed attempt to gain control of Myanmar and embolden its ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said Ma Yadanar Maung.
The tourism ministry has organized regular training and seminars supported by the center and with junta minister Htay Aung, aimed at promoting Japanese tourism in Myanmar.
In January 2022, the center supported Japanese culinary skills training, opened by Htay Aung and the center’s secretary general, Kunihiko Hirabayashi.
In late 2022 and early 2023, Htay Aung and center staff opened seminars for service providers for Japanese tourists in Bagan and Kalaw, which were featured in junta propaganda.
The civilian National Unity Government (NUG) has made clear calls against tourism in Myanmar. In November 2021, the NUG’s minister for planning, finance and investment U Tin Tun Naing told Singapore’s Straits Times that the people of Myanmar are being killed and raped and their houses destroyed.
“This is not a time for sightseeing,” U Tin Tun Naing said.
The center has also worked with the junta’s Ministry of Commerce to promote market access to Japan. A workshop was held in January in Naypyitaw and promoted in junta propaganda, said JFM.
The workshop was opened by the ministry’s permanent secretary, Min Min, and Yuka Kubota, a senior executive at the center.
JFM called on the center to remove the junta from its council and end all trade and tourism support.
