Calls for protests against the military coup appear on social media in Myanmar’s capital Yangon on Feb. 5, 2021, as some people begin to take to the streets shouting slogans in protest.
Myanmar society has been shrouded in tension after the military coup staged by the Burmese military. The news that the Chinese Communist Party‘s representative to the United Nations has defended the Burmese military has led to a sudden increase in Burmese anti-Chinese sentiment. Dozens of Chinese organizations in Burma have issued statements to defend themselves, condemning the Chinese Communist government’s position of condoning the Burmese military, much to the embarrassment of Beijing.
In the wake of the military coup in Burma, the Chinese Communist government has not issued a clear condemnation, and Beijing appears to be taking a supportive or tacit position towards the actions of the Burmese military, according to outsiders. After the Burmese military filed a complaint against Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 3, the UN Security Council members began consultations to issue a statement that would formally respond to the coup by the Burmese military.
According to Deutsche Welle, a preliminary draft proposed by the United Kingdom condemned the military coup and called on the military to respect the rule of law and human rights and to release the detainees immediately. However, Chinese and Russian representatives to the UN have taken a supportive stance toward the Burmese military, making the proposed joint statement to the Security Council difficult to produce.
Diplomats involved in the Security Council consultations told Reuters that the wording of the joint statement would likely need to be softened in order to gain support from the Chinese and Russian sides, the report added.
News of the Chinese Communist government’s defense of the Burmese military at the UN Security Council spread in Myanmar on the evening of April, prompting a fierce backlash from the country’s population. A wave of criticism of the Chinese Communist government emerged on the country’s online social media, and quickly evolved into abuse and attacks on ethnic Burmese Chinese.
According to Radio Free Asia, Chinese in Myanmar are worried that the situation will turn into a new wave of bloody Chinese exclusion, and many of them are staying at Home in fear, watching the situation unfold, as anti-Chinese sentiment in Myanmar is rapidly rising.
According to the report, hundreds of thousands of Chinese in Myanmar are now in a “great panic”. In order to protect themselves, dozens of Chinese organizations, including the “Shan State Kokang Nation”, issued a statement in the name of all Chinese in Burma, saying they would stand on the side of justice and “live and die” with the Burmese people.
The statement also pointed out that in the 1960s and 1970s, the Chinese Communist Party exported its revolutionary support to the Communist Party of Burma, which led to massive Chinese exclusion and the killing of numerous Chinese. Now the Chinese Communist Party’s official actions may again provoke a wave of Chinese exclusion in Burma. For this reason, the Burmese Chinese condemn the Chinese Communist government’s support of the Burmese military coup and stand with all Burmese people in support of State Senior Minister Aung San Suu Kyi and democratically elected President Win Myint.
This statement by Burmese Chinese organizations was a major embarrassment to the Chinese Communist government, and Chinese Communist Party officials quickly pressured these organizations to delete the content from their Twitter accounts.
At the same Time, the Chinese Communist Party mobilized some pro-Communist micro-media outlets to retweet the message, accusing the Chinese community’s statement of “further irritating the Burmese people” and leading to “more serious consequences. However, even these media outlets, which publish the news at the official behest of the Communist Party, acknowledge in their articles that it would be difficult for the Communist government to effectively protect the Chinese in Burma in the event of a Chinese exclusion tragedy.
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