WASHINGTON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Thursday asked states with influence over Myanmar to press it to stop using force against protesters, and the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on senior military government officials. At least nine people were killed on Thursday as the junta cleared the streets of central Yangon by giving demonstrators 10 minutes to leave or be shot, tightening a two-day crackdown on the largest uprising in 20 years. China, one of Myanmar's few allies, said it was extremely concerned about the situation, while the European Parliament's vice president, Edward McMillan-Scott, said other countries should tell Beijing to press the Myanmar government to stop. "I call on all nations that have influence with the regime to join us in supporting the aspirations of the Burmese people and to tell the Burmese junta to cease using force on its own people who are peacefully expressing their desire for change," Bush said in a statement using the former name of the country. The White House said Bush had met China's foreign minister and expressed his concerns about the situation. The Treasury's action, following an executive order by Bush authorising new sanctions against the junta, prohibits U.S. financial transactions with 14 officials and seeks to freeze any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction. "The president has made it clear that we will not stand by as the regime tries to silence the voices of the Burmese people through repression and intimidation," said Adam Szubin, director of the Treasury's sanctions arm, the Office of Foreign Assets Control. The United States has been pushing for years for Myanmar to free Nobel laureate and pro-democracy politician Aung San Suu Kyi, and has led a campaign to isolate the junta until it allows political reform, including her release. "REVULSION" As international concern mounted, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations demanded in an unusually strongly worded statement that member Myanmar stop using violence and voiced "revulsion" at the killings in Yangon. A statement from EU President Portugal said the bloc was examining options including targeted and reinforced sanctions. The revolt began more than a month ago and has swelled into the worst unrest to hit the poor Southeast Asian country since a rebellion by students and monks in 1988 that was crushed in a bloodbath in which more than 3,000 people were killed. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu called for restraint. "We hope that all parties in the Myanmar issue will maintain restraint and appropriately handle the problems that have currently arisen so they do not become more complicated or expand, and don't affect Myanmar's stability and even less affect regional peace and stability," she said. Beijing has a deep investment in Myanmar, with concerns about trade, border stability and fighting drugs, and China ruled out sanctions or an official condemnation of the use of force at an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday. McMillan-Scott said persuading China to act was key. "China is the puppet master of Burma," he said. "The Olympics is the only real lever we have to make China act. The civilised world must seriously consider shunning China by using the Beijing Olympics to send the clear message that such abuses of human rights are not acceptable." Singapore's foreign ministry called on Myanmar's leadership and other parties in the country to consider the regional implications of their actions.
