JAKARTA - Myanmar's coup on Monday (Feb 1) and the subsequent detention of State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi risks upending years of painstaking work to open up the country to foreign investment that only recently began to bear fruit.

In November, the nascent Yangon Stock Exchange was opened to foreign traders. That same month, Asean, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand completed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, giving an inside track to poorer countries like Myanmar to snap up labour intensive businesses including clothing manufacturers forced to exit increasingly expensive and politically touchy China.