The Burmese regime on Wednesday turned the tables on the US attempt to achieve UN Security Council action on Burma, maintaining that Washington, not the Naypyidaw junta, threatened regional peace and security.

The regime’s sharp reaction followed news that the US is preparing a draft Security Council resolution that would show Burma’s policies were a “threat to international peace and security.”

Speaking at a press conference in Naypyidaw on Wednesday, Burma’s police chief, Brig-Gen Khin Yi, said the threat came from the US, not Burma. “The use of the Security Council to interfere in the internal affairs of Myanmar [Burma] can destroy its peace and stability,” he said.

The resolution being drafted by the US, said Washington’s UN ambassador, John Bolton, would seek to make Burma comply with “its obligations to reduce the downward spiral of its performance that constitutes a threat to international peace and security.”

Washington maintains that Burma threatens regional peace and stability by failing to curb the trafficking of people and of narcotics, hinder the cross-border spread of such highly contagious disease as HIV/AIDS and malaria, and by policies leading to one million Burmese citizens fleeing to neighboring countries.

The US lobbied hard to put Burma on the agenda of the 15-member council over the opposition of China and Russia, who maintained the regime represented no danger to peace and stability in the region.

Khin Yi said at the Naypyidaw press conference that Burma was being unfairly tarnished with “unsubstantiated” allegations and that the US and other critics were “turning a blind eye” to the country’s many welfare achievements. Citing this year World Drug Report, he said that although Burma remains the second largest producer of opium, it accounts for only 7 percent of worldwide production.

“The situation in Myanmar is something that does not need to be handled by the Security Council,” he said. “Only then will it become a threat to peace and security of the region as well as to the international community as a whole.”

Burma’s Health Minister, Dr Kyaw Myint, and Education Minister Dr Chan Nyein told the Naypyidaw press conference that progress was being achieved in the areas of health and social welfare.