Soldiers guard a blocked road near Myanmar’s parliament on Feb. 2.
The seizure of power in Burma in a military coup on Monday (Feb. 1) put the newly installed U.S. Biden administration to the test.
Biden came into office promising absolute U.S. support for human rights, free speech and political openness. On Monday, Biden warned in a statement that sanctions against Burma would be reinstated and that he would stand firm in support of democratic principles.
Burma had long been under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party. The West had struggled to weaken Beijing‘s significant influence over Burma, and the Burmese military’s control of the government gave the Communist Party a greater potential entry point.
Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of Burma’s defense force, who is already facing U.S. and British sanctions for his alleged genocide due to a brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, has been shown respect by Beijing. During a meeting with the 64-year-old general last month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called the two countries “brothers” and praised the Myanmar military for its “national revitalization.
By the end of last year, China was the second-largest investor in Myanmar after Singapore, with $21.5 billion in approved foreign investment, and China-Myanmar trade accounted for one-third of Myanmar’s foreign trade, about 10 times that of the United States.
In response to the Burmese military’s sudden control of the government, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Burma is a friendly neighbor and urged all parties to properly handle their differences.
Derek Mitchell, the first U.S. ambassador to Burma and president of the nonprofit National Democratic Institute (NDI), said the United States no longer enjoys the influence it once did.
Suzanne DiMaggio, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), a U.S. think tank, said the Biden Administration should not immediately impose sanctions and should try diplomacy.
“Burma was an unexpected early test for the Biden administration, which has emphasized human rights and democracy as cornerstones of U.S. foreign policy.” DiMaggio said the appropriate next step should be to quickly send a senior special envoy to Burma with bipartisan support from Congress.
Daniel Russel, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, a U.S. think tank, noted that the coup in Myanmar was a setback for democratic governance in the country and across Asia, and it was certainly an early crisis for the Biden administration.
Murray Hiebert, an expert on Southeast Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. think tank, said it was easy to make a statement, but hard to figure out what to do next. It’s easy to make a statement, but it’s hard to figure out what to do next.
“One of the ironic things is that I think the Chinese Communist Party actually has a much better relationship with Myanmar’s senior minister of state, Aung San Suu Kyi, than they do with the military.” But with the West tightening its grip, Burma’s new military government may have no choice but to rely on the Chinese Communist Party, Hebert said.
Biden has promised to refocus on his allies. Many in Southeast Asia have longed for Washington to be a defense against Beijing, but Hebert said what has happened in Burma has made that instantly more difficult.
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