YANGON, (Reuters) – China urged the world yesterday to respect Myanmar’s judicial sovereignty, suggesting  Beijing would not back any U.N. action against the junta for  returning opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi into detention.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said it was  time for dialogue with Myanmar, not criticism, as outraged  Western nations pressed for a U.N. statement denouncing the  sentence imposed on the Nobel Peace laureate on Tuesday.

“This not only accords with Myanmar’s interests, it is also  beneficial to regional stability,” she said in a statement.  “International society should fully respect Myanmar’s judicial  sovereignty.”

China is one of the few nations that stands by the military  government, which has been condemned internationally since it  sentenced Suu Kyi, 64, to three years detention for violating  an internal security law.

The junta, which has ruled the country with an iron fist  for almost five decades, said immediately it would halve the  sentence and allow her to serve it at her Yangon home.

Analysts said the move may have been an attempt to appease  China, India, Thailand and others whose trade has propped up a  state crippled by international sanctions. The European Union  said it was preparing further sanctions.

At the United Nations, major powers haggled yesterday  over the text of a statement on the sentence. “We’ve made some  further progress,” British Ambassador John Sawers, current  Security Council president, told reporters after meeting fellow  envoys from the United States, France, Russia and China.

“We’ve still got some more work to do. We believe we’re  moving in the right direction.”
The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), which  includes Myanmar, on Wednesday expressed “deep disappointment”  about Suu Kyi’s sentence. It followed similar statements by  member nations that stopped short of criticizing the regime.

ASEAN maintains a policy of quiet diplomacy and  non-interference in the internal affairs of its members, but  the junta’s refusal to improve its human rights record has been  the main source of tension within the 10-member bloc.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party  condemned the ruling because it was based on a law from  Myanmar’s 1974 constitution, which is no longer in use.