Anti-coup protesters in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 5, 2021
Burmese people are unhappy with the Chinese Communist Party‘s focus on self-interest and threaten to blow up the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline
On March 8, Myanmar’s The Irrawaddy newspaper reported that a leak from Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry revealed that China had expressed great concern about the safety of the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipelines in Myanmar after the coup. Burmese people reacted sharply when they learned of the incident, saying that whether the two pipelines would explode was an “internal matter” for Burma.
According to leaked information obtained by VOA, on February 23, the director general of the Foreign Security Affairs Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Chinese Ambassador to Burma Chen Hai held an emergency video meeting with Burmese military and foreign ministry officials and police officials. During the meeting, the Communist Party officials expressed concern about the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline, the safety of Chinese companies and Chinese workers, and possible actions by armed groups in northern Burma in response to the crisis.
Burmese officials said the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline is too long, some 800 kilometers, to be foolproof, but that Burmese authorities would provide as much security as possible. Currently, Burmese government and local security officials check the safety of the pipeline every two days.
The latest report on March 9 said that the Burmese diplomatic official who leaked materials from the meeting has now been arrested by authorities.
The information also indicates that the Chinese Communist Party wants the Burmese military government to put pressure on the Burmese media to cut down on public skepticism of the Chinese Communist Party. The Burmese media have questioned the Communist Party’s tacit approval of the junta’s coup d’état and its help in creating an online “firewall. Almost daily protests outside the Chinese Embassy in Burma have forced the Chinese ambassador to Burma, Chen Hai, to state that the situation in Burma is “totally unwanted by the Chinese side.
The Irrawaddy said that after information about the meeting was leaked, about a million Burmese took to Facebook and Twitter to leave messages in Burmese, Chinese and English saying that Beijing‘s pursuit of its own interests showed that Communist officials viewed Burmese casualties as Myanmar’s own internal affairs and Beijing’s interests above all else. More than 50,000 people took to social media to call for a boycott of Chinese Communist Party products.
Many tweeted that the bombing of a Chinese oil and gas pipeline in Myanmar was also an “internal matter” for the country.
Lobbyist: Military Intends to Improve Relations with U.S. and West
Meanwhile, Reuters reported on March 6 that Ari Ben-Menashe, a dual Israeli-Canadian lobbyist and former Mossad officer, said Burma’s military leaders want to leave politics after the coup, seek better relations with the United States and work to distance themselves from the Chinese Communist Party. Menashe has also lobbied and defended former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Sudan’s military rulers.
Menashe defended the Burmese military leader in an interview with Reuters. He said the government of democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was overthrown by the Burmese military on Feb. 1, has tried to move closer to the Chinese Communist Party, contrary to the wishes of the Burmese military, thus sparking anger and resentment among the Burmese military. Burma wants to be close to the West and the United States, not China,” he said. They don’t want to be a puppet of China.” The Burmese military has not yet responded to Menashe’s claims.
Foreign Lobby quoted Menashe as saying that some U.S. officials are “very interested” in the Burmese military’s willingness to reorient itself “because they [U.S. officials] are concerned about sending the military into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” .
Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Institute for Foreign Relations, told VOA that one lobbyist or a few lobbyists will not change the Burmese military’s relationship with the U.S. and the West, especially while the military is still engaged in a bloody crackdown on the population.
Since the coup, the U.S. has imposed two rounds of sanctions on the Burmese military. In addition to the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and the European Union have all adopted sanctions. Germany and New Zealand have also suspended financial aid.
In contrast, the Chinese Communist Party has been careful to maintain relations with the Burmese military. However, the Burmese military has been wary of the CCP’s influence in Myanmar. The Burmese military believes that the CCP has been supporting a number of ethnic armed insurgent groups along the Burma-China border. In addition, the military’s scrutiny of the China-Burma Economic Corridor, which runs through Burma, has exceeded that of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government. In the 1990s, as Western sanctions intensified and Burma’s economy deteriorated, the military sought to liberalize its economy to move away from its dependence on Chinese communist aid.
At the same Time, the Chinese Communist Party had friendly relations with the democratically elected government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Under Aung San Suu Kyi’s leadership, in September 2018, China and Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly build the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor. The two countries also signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on the feasibility study of the Mandalay-Kyaukpyu railroad during a visit to Myanmar by Chinese Communist Party Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Jan. 10 this year.
However, Kolanzik of the Council on Foreign Relations added that it is hard to say that the CCP has necessarily lost Myanmar just yet, because no matter who is in power, the military or Aung San Suu Kyi, no one can ignore the relationship with the CCP.
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