China has been questioned as being behind the military coup in Myanmar, and Reuters reported on Thursday that a review of Myanmar government import data revealed that the Singapore branch of PetroChina International had sold a shipment of jet fuel to Myanmar in April, the first such shipment since the country’s military staged a coup in February.
Reuters reported that the import data, which has not been released to the public, showed that CNPC International unloaded 13,300 tons of jet fuel and 4,000 tons of gasoline at Myanmar’s Thilawa port on April 15. Reuters reported that the fuel was delivered by a tanker called MT Yu Dong.
We checked the information, the tanker route focused on Southeast Asia, registered in Hong Kong, the ship’s holding company is “Yu Dong Maritime Ltd”, the same name of the Hong Kong company’s director is Ye Xiaoqing (mainland pinyin), the declared address is Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, mainland China. Online data shows that it was still in Dilawar port in Myanmar on May 15 and returned to Singapore on May 19.
The report cited industry sources as saying that suppliers are generally very wary of selling jet fuel because it can be used in bombers to bomb protesters as well as in civilian aircraft. The shipment may once again raise questions about China’s role in the military coup in Myanmar, where anti-junta protesters have long questioned China’s backing of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, which Beijing has denied.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, CNPC and a spokesman for the Burmese military government have not responded to Reuters’ inquiries.
Western countries, including the United States and Britain, have in the past condemned the killing of civilians by the junta and imposed sanctions, but no international measures have yet been taken to outlaw the shipment of oil products to Burma.
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