Via Canada.com -
YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta said on Friday it "deeply regrets" a U.N. Security Council statement deploring the regime's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters last month.
State-owned MRTV said the Council's statement -- which also called for the release of political prisoners and detained protesters and a "genuine dialogue" with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- did not reflect the peoples' desire.
"We deeply regret that the chairman of the U.N. Security Council has issued a statement on Myanmar although Myanmar's situation does not affect regional and international peace and security," the state-owned broadcaster said.
It said Myanmar, under military rule since 1962, would follow its own seven-step "roadmap to democracy," although the junta had set no timetable. Western critics call the roadmap a sham to entrench military rule.
Thursday's statement was the first time the Council has taken official action on Myanmar -- also known by its former name, Burma -- and marked a shift by China, a neighbor and key trading partner of Myanmar that had previously used its Council veto to block criticism of the country's rulers.
But on Friday, China's Foreign Ministry was quick to signal the move did not mean that it would support harsher action against the Southeast Asian nation.
In a statement, it said the Security Council's move was meant to support mediation efforts by the U.N. secretary general and his special adviser and "provide constructive help to all parties in Myanmar to realize domestic reconciliation through dialogue and promote democracy and development."
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