Canada will impose “the toughest sanctions in the world” on Myanmar, also known as Burma, to further isolate its military junta after September’s violent crackdown on protesters, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier announced Wednesday.

“Canada has long had measures against Burma. Now we are going to impose the toughest sanctions in the world,” Mr. Bernier said during a speech to the Economic Club of Toronto.

“Tougher sanctions against Burma are the right thing to do. They are right on moral grounds. The regime in Burma is abhorrent to Canadian values,” he said.

The sanctions include a ban on all imports and exports to and from Burma, except for humanitarian goods, and a ban on new investment by Canadians and Canadian companies.

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier announced new sanctions against Myanmar on Wednesday.

The strongest message has to be sent. Sanctions are the means by which we, not just Canada, but the international community, can best exert pressures against the military junta,” Mr. Bernier said.
In September, the junta ordered thousands of soldiers to crush protests by Buddhist monks in the streets of Rangoon. At least 10 people were killed. Hundreds more were held in detention.

The new Canadian sanctions, which follow similar announcements in recent weeks by the European Union and Japan, coincide with a warning by China, which is concerned international penalties could make Myanmar “another Iraq,” a senior diplomat said Wednesday.

Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei said Myanmar was now headed in the right direction in the aftermath of mass protests demanding democracy and then a harsh wave of arrests.

Noting recent visits to Myanmar by U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari and contacts between the imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling generals, He said now was the time for “encouragement”, not sanctions.

“We should be patient,” the Chinese diplomat told a news conference about a summit of Asian leaders in Singapore next week. “We especially disapprove of sanctions. Sanctions cannot solve the problem, and will only make matters worse.”

Meanwhile, a senior junta official said Myanmar rejects “interferences” in its domestic affairs, citing the need to protect its sovereignty.

Deputy Defence Minister Aye Myint told a news conference at the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting in Singapore that the former Burma was “stable”, and that its “home-grown principle is viable for the long-term operation of our political process”.

“We will not accept the interferences that will harm our sovereignty,” he said.

The 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is one of the few international groups to accept Myanmar as a member. It has been criticized for failing to bring the country into the fold despite its 10-year-old policy of engaging the nation through dialogue.