14 April 1953
U Myint Thein’s stellar performance at the United Nations
room Switzerland
people Justice U Myint Thein James Barrington General Li Mi
On 14 April 1953 at the United Nations, Justice U Myint Thein brilliantly laid out the Burmese government's charge against Kuomintang aggression.
Over the past several years, more than 10,000 Nationalist troops under KMT General Li Mi had crossed into Burma. With active US intelligence support ("Operation Paper"), they were pushing west across the Salween River and threatening all the Shan states. The KMT was also building up a massive trade in opium. The Burma Army, then facing communist and other insurrections, were unable to fully contain the KMT invasion, and it was crippling the young democracy with consequences are still evident today.
By all accounts, U Myint Thein gave a stellar performance - it should be remembered in Myanmar. This photograph shows both him and, just behind him, one of Burma's other star diplomats, James Barrington, then ambassador to the UN and later foreign secretary.