People take to the streets to protest last month’s military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, March 8, 2021.
Several labor unions in Myanmar have called a nationwide strike, and people have taken to the streets in several cities to protest last month’s military coup. In the northern town of Myitkyina, at least two people were killed after police reportedly opened fire on protesters. Gunfire was also heard in Yangon, the largest city. A local Chinese chamber of commerce leader said the political turmoil has hit some Chinese capital firms hard, fearing that an economic shutdown would add to the woes of these private companies.
As anti-military sentiment heats up, nine of Myanmar’s most influential unions launched a nationwide strike on Monday, hoping to cause a full and prolonged paralysis of the country’s economy in an attempt to stop the military’s continued seizure of power, and to demand the restoration of democracy and the release of senior state minister Aung San Suu Kyi.
People also responded to the strike in Yangon, the largest city, and took to the streets to demonstrate. The military opened fire and fired flashbangs in residential areas.
Tu Guoding, president of the Myanmar Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce, told the station on Monday that shopping malls, factories and banks in Yangon are currently suspended. The atmosphere in the city is tense.
The president of Myanmar Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce Tu Guoding (photo) said that the prospects of local Chinese private enterprises are not optimistic under the economic shutdown.
Tu Guoding: “Yesterday (Sunday) was a whole night of shooting. Just now I went around and there were road blocks everywhere, and the authorities closed off the roads because of the march. I heard that there might be larger scale clashes this week. It’s very simple, the government asked the banks to go to work, but some trade union organizations prevented the workers from going to work, one said go to work, one said no, there will definitely be a conflict. The banks (employees) go to work in buses and (the protesters) stop them from going to work, and the army is said to be escorting them to work.”
Chinese businessmen: private enterprises will soon be unable to hold out
The nationwide general strike has brought Myanmar’s economy to a sustained halt. The union that initiated the strike issued a statement saying that continued business and economic activity would only benefit the military, which is repressing the Burmese people.
Tu Guoding said many Chinese capital businesses are semi-paralyzed as demonstrations against the military’s power grab escalate. If the political turmoil continues, he said, he expects these private companies will soon be unable to hold up.
Tu Guoding: “The private sector has been hit hard. How can people go to work when they are in trouble every day? Some of those who don’t go to work go to the march. Clothing and footwear (enterprises) exports are greatly affected. Without normal work, there is no normal export. Some (enterprises) originally had one factory, two factories and three factories, but now they have been reduced to only one factory, not to reduce, can not do ah. I estimate that many businesses will be closed this month.”
Demonstrators hold a picture of Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest against the military coup in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.
Young Chinese in Myanmar overwhelmingly support Aung San Suu Kyi
Some analysts believe that the Burmese Chinese community is showing major divisions in the face of the coup. While the older generation of Chinese who experienced the Chinese exclusion riots in the 1960s tend to stay away, the younger generation of Chinese who grew up in Myanmar and joined the mainstream society overwhelmingly support the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi, and many of them actively participate in the anti-junta demonstrations.
The Burmese military has been cracking down on demonstrations for days. Official media reported that security forces have been stationed in hospitals and universities in several cities.
Li Mingjiang, an associate professor at the School of International Relations at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, estimated that the military government would choose to respond with forceful violence in the face of escalating demonstrations.
Li Mingjiang; “(The military) to tough and even violent means to solve, is certainly the hope that as soon as possible to calm the domestic political situation in Myanmar, do not want to see the protest movement more and more intense, the past two weeks the military violence to increase the intensity, in an effort to achieve the deterrent effect.”
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