Burmese people protest outside the Chinese Communist Embassy in Burma
For several days, pro-democracy protesters in Burma have gathered almost daily outside the gates of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) embassy in Yangon to express their protest against the CCP government. The protesters held up placards written in English denouncing what they alleged was the Chinese Communist Party’s support for the military coup in Burma earlier this month.
People gather outside the Chinese Communist Embassy in Yangon to protest the military coup and demand the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. (Feb. 11, 2021)
The placards carried slogans such as “Shame on you, Chinese Communist Party,” “Burma’s military dictatorship is made in China,” and “Save Burma, don’t support the dictator.
In January, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with a number of Burmese officials, including Senior General Ang Aung Hlaing, who seized power in the Feb. 1 coup d’état. During that meeting in Naypyidaw, Min Aung Hlaing, who wants to become president, allegedly repeatedly pointed to widespread fraud in last November’s election that brought Aung San Suu Kyi to power.
Responding to pressure, the Chinese ambassador to Myanmar, Chen Hai, said Beijing “did not know in advance that there would be a political change in Myanmar” and said rumors that the Communist Party had flown in technicians and troops to help the military consolidate its rule were “absurd.
“The Myanmar Chamber of Commerce for Chinese Enterprises also issued a public statement denying that Chinese planes had “recently arrived in Myanmar, mainly to transport technicians,” saying that those flights between China and Myanmar “were normal cargo flights, carrying seafood and other import and export goods. They are normal cargo flights carrying seafood and other imported and exported goods, and the information on the Internet is pure rumor.”
Speculation about Beijing’s support for Burma’s military forces began after the Chinese Communist Party allegedly refused to condemn the coup.
Burmese people rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Yangon on Feb. 16, 2021 to protest the military coup in Burma
At a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on February 12, both the Chinese Communist Party and Russia said they “oppose the convening of this meeting.” Chinese Ambassador Chen Xu said the international community should “respect Myanmar’s sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity and national unity,” and so on.
On February 3, the Communist Party and Russia prevented the UN Security Council from issuing a statement condemning the Burmese military, and after the February 1 coup, official media called it a “major cabinet reshuffle.
A protestor’s slogan said, “Why are you helping the military?”
The relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and the Burmese military regime has a long history. Because of international sanctions, the previous Burmese military regime has been dependent on the Chinese Communist Party to buy weapons from China that are embargoed by other countries, Deutsche Welle said.
Edith Mirante, director of the Information Project on Human Rights and the Environment in Burma, told Al Jazeera that the Chinese Communist Party was the seller of weapons purchased by the Burmese military when both Europe and the United States imposed arms embargoes on Burma starting in the 1960s, when Burma was one of the world’s poorest countries and “obviously the Chinese Communist Party could do whatever it wanted there “
At the Time, Mirant said, the military government was “so desperate for foreign currency” that they opened Burma’s closed economy to foreign investment and gave Chinese companies logging concessions that led to the destruction of large swaths of forest in northern Burma. “It was a terrible scramble for resources,” she said.
Now, U.S. President Joe Biden has signed an executive order on the 10th of this month announcing sanctions against senior Burmese military generals, including Myanmar Defense Force chief Min Aung Hlaing, and freezing more than $1 billion of Burmese assets in the United States.
File photo of Aung San Suu Kyi (Nov. 13, 2017)
The UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, condemned the arrests and multiple disappearances of Myanmar’s Senior Minister of State Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and more than 350 officials, activists, journalists, monks and students.
The special session of the UN Human Rights Council adopted by consensus a resolution co-authored by the UK and the EU calling for the “immediate and unconditional release of all arbitrarily detained persons.
This military coup has brought the country’s recent 10-year experiment in democracy to a halt; whether Myanmar will return to the harsh military rule that once lasted nearly 50 years has become a global Southeast Asian mystery.
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