WASHINGTON _ Myanmar's treatment of its Rohingya Muslim population has been formally described as "ethnic cleansing," U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday.
The decision will raise pressure on the Trump administration to slap new sanctions on Myanmar just as it was beginning to recover from decades of economic isolation under the former military junta and could stem the flow of foreign investment into the country.
"After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya," Tillerson said in a statement.
Tillerson said the U.S. would work through the United Nations and also "pursue accountability through U.S. law, including possible targeted sanctions."
The decision to adopt the term "ethnic cleansing" as official U.S. policy followed a recommendation made by senior State Department officials.
"My bosses have said it appears to be ethnic cleansing. I'm of that view as well," Patrick Murphy, a senior U.S. diplomat for Southeast Asia, was reported as saying last month. Murphy said the final decision was not his to make.
On a visit to Myanmar earlier this month, Tillerson said events in Rakhine state had the "characteristics of crimes against humanity," but he stopped short of describing the events as ethnic cleansing.
Tillerson added that he did not believe broad-based economic sanctions against Myanmar would help resolve a crisis that has seen more than 600,000 minority Muslim Rohingya refugees flee to neighboring Bangladesh.
The current crisis was sparked in August when militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked 25 police and army posts, killing a dozen security officials in Rakhine state.
The military responded with what it calls "clearance operations." Multiple reports have since accused security forces and Buddhist vigilantes of indiscriminately attacking Muslims in the state and burning their villages, with the United Nations describing the campaign as "ethnic cleansing."
China, which backed Myanmar's military junta for over two decades as the West put sanctions on the regime and is now seeking to build an economic corridor stretching from landlocked Yunnan province to the Bay of Bengal, is also trying to resolve the crisis.
At a joint news conference on Sunday with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi outlined a three-point solution that would allow Myanmar and Bangladesh to resolve the situation. The steps included a cease-fire, repatriation of refugees and talks on a long-term solution.
