China has been trying to maintain a balance among the various parties in Myanmar since the coup, but recent developments in Myanmar suggest that China may be the loser in the coup. On the one hand, anti-Chinese sentiment is running high in Burma, with some threatening to blow up the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline in Burma. On the other hand, lobbyists hired by the Burmese military have revealed that the military is trying to distance itself from China by improving relations with the United States and the West.
Burmese people are dissatisfied with China’s selfish interests 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 pipeline 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 Feb. 23, Chinese Foreign Ministry Director General for Foreign-related Security Affairs Bai Bai and Chinese Ambassador to Burma Chen Hai held an emergency video meeting with Burmese military and foreign ministry officials and police chiefs. During the meeting, the Chinese 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 the meeting materials has now been apprehended by the authorities.
The information also suggests that China wants the Burmese military government to put pressure on the Burmese media to cut down on public skepticism of China. Burmese media have questioned China’s tacit support for the junta’s coup d’état and its help in building an online “firewall. Almost daily protests outside the Chinese Embassy in Burma have forced Chinese Ambassador 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 Chinese officials viewed Burmese casualties as Myanmar’s own internal affairs and that Beijing’s interests were above all else. More than 50,000 people took to social media to call for a boycott of Chinese products.
Many tweeted that the bombing of Chinese oil and gas pipelines in Burma was also an “internal matter” for Burma.
One user, JAONNAY, tweeted, “Hey China, if you still see what’s happening in Burma as an ‘internal matter,’ then blowing up a gas pipeline in Burma is also our ‘internal matter. ‘. Let’s see what you say (when the Time comes).”
Another netizen named Lwin Ohn tweeted in both English and Chinese, “Since it’s all in Burma, the explosion of the Chinese gas pipeline is an internal matter for Burma.”
Still another netizen named Kyaw Myint Thein said, “China, if you use your veto in the UN Security Council, we can make sure you don’t lose Myanmar’s gas pipeline.”
China has been trying to maintain a balance among Burma’s parties after the military’s coup, citing “non-interference in internal affairs. China officially described the coup as a “massive reshuffle of the current Burmese government” by the military, and joined Russia in the UN Security Council to prevent it from taking harsh action against the Burmese military. Only later, when under pressure, did China join other UN Security Council members in calling for Aung San Suu Kyi’s release.
China’s foreign ministry also refrained from condemning the military after the Burmese junta shot protesters and killed nearly 50 people, “hoping that all sides in Myanmar will exercise restraint in the interest of the country’s development and stability.”
Expressing his views on the situation in Myanmar on the sidelines of China’s two sessions on Sunday (March 7), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China is willing to play a constructive role in easing tensions. However, he added that “no matter how the situation in Myanmar changes, China’s determination to promote China-Myanmar relations will not waver, and the direction of promoting friendship and cooperation will not change.”
Foreign analysts say Wang Yi’s remarks indicate that China will not join the United States and the West in sanctioning the Burmese military. Earlier, the U.S. called on China to play a “constructive role” in Myanmar, using its influence on the country’s military to end the coup.
Lobbyist: Military Interested in Improving 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 China. Menashe has also lobbied and defended former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Sudan’s military rulers.
In an interview with Reuters, Menashe defended the Burmese military leader. 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 China, contrary to the wishes of the Burmese military, thus sparking anger and resentment among the Burmese military. Myanmar 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, but materials registered by Menashe and his Canadian-based lobbying firm Dickens & Madison with the U.S. Department of Justice on March 8 under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) show that “While in the United States, the registrant will provide advice and counsel to foreign persons and lobby before the executive and legislative branches of the United States to seek support and humanitarian assistance for the people of the Republic of the Union of Burma and to attempt to lift or modify the current sanctions.”
Registration materials show that Menashe signed an agency contract with Mya Tun Oo, the Burmese junta’s defense minister, on March 4. In addition to the United States, Menashe is required to help Myanmar generals communicate with other countries and agencies, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, the Russian Federation, the United Nations and the African Union. Menashe said those countries have misconceptions about the Burmese military government.
Khin Zaw Win, a political commentator in Yangon, told Voice of America by email that he hopes people don’t believe the lobbyist’s words and that “if it’s true, it’s just a ploy by the generals who want to avoid Western sanctions.”
In the interview, Menashe even said that it was Aung San Suu Kyi as leader, not the military, who committed crimes against the Rohingya, the Muslim minority in Myanmar. Burmese generals also want to repatriate Rohingya Muslims who have fled to neighboring Bangladesh.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been internationally criticized for failing to protect the Rohingya and for defending the military’s persecution of the Rohingya in international courts. However, the international tribunal has blamed the Myanmar military for the genocide of the Rohingya.
Foreign Lobby quoted Menashe as saying that some U.S. officials are “very interested” in the Burmese military’s willingness to redirect “because they [U.S. officials] are concerned about sending the military into Chinese hands “
Joshua Kurlantzick, 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.
Even if they [the military] did want to improve relations with the U.S. and the West,” he said. They have completely destroyed that relationship. They have staged coups, suppressed journalists, seized hospitals and massacred innocent people.”
He said improving relations with the West is impossible as long as the military remains in power and continues its current behavior.
The U.S. has imposed two rounds of sanctions on the Burmese military since the coup. Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden announced sanctions against senior Burmese military generals, including Burma’s defense force chief Min Aung Hlaing, and froze more than $1 billion of Burmese funds in the United States. On March 4, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced trade sanctions against the Burmese government after the junta shot and killed protesters, targeting the Burmese Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Home Affairs and two companies with close ties to the military: Myanmar Economic Corporation and Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd.
In addition to the U.S., Australia, the United Kingdom and the European Union have all adopted sanctions. Germany and New Zealand have also suspended financial assistance.
In contrast, China has been careful to maintain its relationship with the Burmese military. However, the Burmese military has been wary of China’s influence in Myanmar. The Burmese military believes that China has been supporting some ethnic armed insurgent groups along the China-Burma border. In addition, the military’s scrutiny of the China-Burma Economic Corridor, which runs through Burma, has been stricter than that of the Aung San Suu Kyi government. in the 1990s, as Western sanctions intensified and Burma’s economy deteriorated, the military tried to liberalize its economy to get rid of its dependence on Chinese aid.
At the same time, China 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 on cooperation on the feasibility study of the Mandalay-Kyaukpyu railway during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Myanmar on Jan. 10 this year.
However, the Institute for Foreign Relations’ Kolanzik added that it is hard to say that China 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 China.
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