TOKYO
Japan has canceled a multimillion-dollar grant for a business education center in Myanmar following the death of a Japanese journalist during a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Yangon, officials said Tuesday.
The Japanese government earlier had said it would suspend some of its assistance to Myanmar in response to the death of Kenji Nagai during the Sept. 26-27 crackdown by Myanmar’s military rulers.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Tokyo has decided to cancel a grant worth 552 million yen (US$4.7 million; euro3.3 million) for the center, slated for the Yangon University campus.
Machimura said the decision was made in response to the violent crackdown on protesters and followed a U.N. statement condemning the violence.
“We sent a signal to the Myanmar government that our thinking is the same as that of the international community. Now it’s up to the Myanmar government to respond,” Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told reporters.
The center was supposed to offer economics, management and Japanese language courses, to promote bilateral ties and economic reform in Myanmar, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry.
