The leader of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic revolutionary group, the Karen National Union (KNU), told a Japanese news outlet that the junta’s army is “clearly weakening,” as part of a coordinated effort by resistance groups to rally international support for the revolution against Myanmar’s faltering military regime.
KNU Chairman Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win made the comment in an interview with The Japan Times during a weeklong visit to Tokyo that began on May 10. Senior officials from ethnic armed groups from Karenni and Chin states as well as the civilian National Unity Government have joined him on the visit.
He and Khu O Reh, chair of the Karenni National Progressive Party, met Japan’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiro Komura on Tuesday.
The visit by resistance leaders to Japan is occurring as skepticism rises internationally about the junta’s ability to hang on to power in Myanmar.
Myanmar’s junta has been at war with its own people since it launched its coup in February 2021. More than three years on, it is struggling to contain armed resistance nationwide. It is fighting ethnic armed groups as well as anti-regime armed groups composed primarily of young people determined to topple the regime. The latter are called People’s Defense Forces (PDFs).
The KNU chair told The Japan News on Wednesday that the goal of anti-regime armed groups in Myanmar is to end military rule and establish a federal system of governance in the country.
“The [regime’s] national army is clearly weakening,” Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win told the news outlet.
His visit to Japan follows sweeping, coordinated offensives launched by EAOs and PDFs against the regime in Myanmar’s northeast, north, west, southeast and south late last year.
The KNU’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, and allied PDFs have been fighting against the regime in Karen State since the coup. In April, they humiliated the junta’s military by temporarily seizing Myawaddy, a major trade town on the border with Thailand.
Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win was joined in his interview with the Japanese news outlet by Salai Thla Hei, the general secretary of the Chin National Front, and Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, the health minister in the parallel National Unity Government, which commands most PDFs.
Dr. Zaw Wai Soe said pro-democracy forces are in control of nearly 65 percent of the country and urged Japan and other countries to increase pressure on the junta.
Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win also called on Tokyo and the people of Japan to provide more aid to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Myanmar, whose numbers have reached 3 million. He said he raised the issue during his Tuesday meeting with Komura.
Myanmar has added 2.7 million 1DPs since the 2021 coup, according to UN figures.
