Myanmar has canceled the accreditation of two diplomats in Japan and ordered them to return home. Japan foreign ministry officials say the two diplomats used social media to protest the Feb. 1 military coup.
Representative Kato Katsunobu said Thursday the foreign ministry was considering how to deal with the matter given the current situation in Myanmar.
Meanwhile, the United Nations said an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 refugees from Myanmar had sought safety in India. A representative for the U.N. said it was worried about the rising displacement of people since the coup.
The United Nations Refugee Agency said as of last week, approximately 60,700 women, children and men had been internally displaced.
More than 1,700 refugees crossed into Thailand in March and April and an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 had sought safety in India, a representative for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Stephane Dujarric, said.
People displaced by fighting are headed to the border with India. An India government official said more than 15,000 had sought refuge since the Feb. 1 coup.
In other news, PetroChina International Singapore Pte. Ltd. sold a cargo of jet fuel to Myanmar in April, according to government import data seen by Reuters.
Industry sources say suppliers have been particularly wary of selling jet fuel because it could be used in planes to bomb ethnic armed groups that have been supporting anti-junta protesters, as well as in civilian airliners, Reuters reported Thursday.
The shipment might raise new questions over China's role in Myanmar at a time when it has been accused by the junta's opponents of backing coup leader Min Aung Hlaing - an accusation rejected by Beijing.
China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PetroChina, a listed company controlled by state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., did not respond to requests for comment about the fuel shipment.
The import data, which hasn't been published, shows PetroChina International shipped 13,300 metric tons of jet fuel and 4,000 tons of gasoline on a tanker to Myanmar's Thilawa terminal April 15.
Western nations including the U.S. and the UK have condemned the junta for killing hundreds of civilians and have applied limited sanctions, but there are currently no international measures outlawing oil product shipments.
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