In the wake of the military coup in Myanmar, a wave of popular protests has been growing, even against China and Russia, which did not support the democratically elected government in the UN condemnation of the Burmese military. Photo shows Burmese people protesting in the streets of Yangon on Feb. 13. (Photo/Twitter @CoraLim18)
China is being criticized by the Burmese people for not condemning the military’s coup at the United Nations, with large numbers of Burmese demonstrating in front of the Chinese Embassy and strikes at some land-funded mines over the past few days, demanding that Beijing stop supporting the Burmese military. Local rumors that the country’s Internet was cut off by the military to prevent people from sending messages online were supported by Internet firewall technology provided by the mainland, but this information has been denied by the Chinese embassy in Myanmar.
According to the BBC, Beijing has not explicitly expressed support for the coup by the Burmese military since it was launched, but China has long maintained friendly relations with the Burmese military, and China’s recent refusal to condemn the military takeover at the UN Security Council has sparked discontent among Burmese people. Beijing has stopped supporting the military.
Thursday’s demonstration was the largest of its kind, according to the newspaper, which said that demonstrations had broken out in front of the Chinese embassy in Yangon, Burma’s largest city, for several days. The crowd blocked the embassy road, with many holding signs and banners of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), to express their discontent.” Support Burma, not the dictator,” read one banner in English and Chinese. Cartoons were also created comparing Burma’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing to a puppet of Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.
China is being criticized by the Burmese public for not condemning the coup, with large numbers of Burmese people gathering in front of the Chinese embassy and strikes at some land-funded mines over the past few days. The picture shows the protest crowd in front of the Chinese Embassy in Yangon. (Photo/Twitter @stanBW2721)
More than 2,000 miners at the Qixingtang copper mine, a joint venture between the military and a Beijing-based state-owned company, have joined the strike in Monywa district, Sagaing Division, central Myanmar. Photo shows the strike protesters in Monywa. (Photo/Twitter @thazin_nyi)
On social media, many Burmese are also sharing widely circulated rumors that Chinese Communist authorities have provided Myanmar with internet firewall technology to block people from using parts of social media, the report said. The Chinese Embassy denied the claims and asked people not to spread the rumors.
The news first came from local media outlet The Irrawaddy, which quoted people as saying that a document circulating on the Internet showed that five cargo planes from Kunming, Yunnan province on the mainland, arrived at Yangon International Airport on Tuesday after Myanmar shut down international flights, believed to be China “sending IT technicians to help the Myanmar military build a firewall. Mainland Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin also said he had not heard of the rumors.
In addition, student unions from 18 Burmese universities sent an open letter to mainland President Xi Jinping, asking China to “respect the will of the Burmese people.
China has developed close ties with Burma’s authoritarian military leaders over the past few decades, coupled with Beijing’s growing influence in Burma in recent years through the Belt and Road Initiative.
Beijing has never publicly expressed support for the coup in Naypyidaw. However, while Western countries strongly opposed the military coup, China was more cautious, stressing only that it hoped all sides would keep the situation stable. Some official Chinese media described the coup as a “cabinet reshuffle”.
In addition to the many Burmese protesting at the Chinese embassy, there have been strikes at some copper mines run by mainland companies in cooperation with the Burmese military. In the Monwya region of Sagaing Division in central Myanmar, more than 2,000 miners at the Kyisintaung copper mine, a joint venture between the military and a Beijing-based state-owned company, joined the strike. Another Sino-Burmese joint venture, the Letpadaung copper mine, has also halted operations due to worker protests. Letpadaung is estimated to be the largest copper mine in Southeast Asia.
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