The Myanmar military junta continues its airstrikes unabated, relentlessly bombing civilians day and night across the country over the past three years since its attempted coup in 2021. Despite the overwhelming number of junta airstrikes, China—and other countries doing business with certain Chinese companies—are aiding and abetting the military junta with supply of weapons and aircrafts that enable and embolden the latter to continue its international crimes.

This week, the junta has conducted airstrikes targeting Lashio Town in northern Shan State, which has been under the control of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance since the second phase of its 1027 Operation in August, forcing residents to flee the town and destroying several religious buildings and homes. At another town in northern Shan State, Hsipaw, junta’s airstrikes killed at least four people, including a seven-year-old child, and injured 11.

In Mindat Township, Chin State, the junta resumed and increased arson attacks, burning hundreds of houses since July after the resistance forces attempted to capture the town. These attacks are often compounded by ground raids and airstrikes. Most residents have been displaced due to the junta’s recent assaults on the town. Along the border with Chin State, in Magwe Region, the junta targeted villages near Gangaw, Saw, and Tilin Townships with airstrikes, shelling, and drone attacks, resulting in the deaths of eight people.

According to Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica, from February 2021 to August 2024, the junta conducted a total of 3,292 airstrikes, killed 1,749 civilians, and injured 2,453, as well as destroyed countless homes, schools, hospitals, and religious buildings. The data highlights a sharp uptick in airstrikes year over year: In 2021, there were 85 airstrikes; this surged to 339 in 2022 and escalated dramatically to 1,228 in 2023. Tragically, 2024 has become a year of bloodshed with the junta committing 1,639 airstrikes as of August.

Each time the junta suffers defeat on the military front, it retaliates with relentless airstrikes, mercilessly wielding bombs against civilians as a form of collective punishment. The junta has nothing but its arsenal of weapons, which it solely relies on to survive, having rapidly lost over 60% of its territorial control.

Against this bloody backdrop, China is blatantly supporting the junta with weapons, diplomacy, and finance through disastrous economic dealings. China and its international partners persist in engaging in dirty business deals with the junta, brazenly handing the junta the tools to continue its war of terror against civilians. In August, China delivered six additional FTC-2000G midrange fighter jets—advance combat aircrafts—to the Myanmar military, fueling its brutal scorched earth campaign. This added to the junta’s arsenal of aircrafts imported from China in November 2022. The transaction was supervised by China’s state-owned firm, Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), a key supplier of aircrafts to the Myanmar military.

Meanwhile, countries such as France, Germany, and Spain continue to do business with this Chinese company and remain silent on these unethical business arrangements for their own profit. Justice For Myanmar (JFM) reported that French aerospace giant Airbus—Europe’s largest aeronautics and space company, owned by shareholders that include the governments of France, Germany, and Spain—continues its partnership with AVIC fully aware that their business relationship significantly contributes to the junta’s terror campaign in Myanmar, violating international obligations and despite having denounced the junta’s coup attempt in the past. JFM stated, “Airbus believes the world is a beautiful place—yet one of its key business partners is helping a brutal junta carry out war crimes in Myanmar. That’s why #Airbus is #Airbusted.”

Amidst the urgent and repeated calls for coordinated actions to end reckless arm and aviation fuel trade with the murderous junta, China turned a blind eye to Myanmar people’s demand and committed a serious assault by sending more aircrafts to the junta—essentially providing them with killing machines. With the approaching dry season, these new aircrafts are resupplying the junta’s weaponry in preparation for even more intensifying airstrikes.

As highlighted in the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, in June 2024, the Myanmar military has purchased USD 630 million in weapons, dual-use technologies, manufacturing equipment, and raw materials through the international finance system, in which state-owned China Construction Bank remains one of the banks facilitating these transactions.

By providing a full package of support to the junta—equipping arms and facilitating transactions—China is actively aiding and abetting the junta to continue to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity against the people of Myanmar, violating its international obligations. Particularly as a member of the UN Security Council, China should be ensuring human security, peace, and stability of the world rather than the opposite. China must be held accountable under international law for its contribution to and complicity in the junta’s atrocities.

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[1] One year following the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the former military junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar overnight. Progressive Voice uses the term ‘Myanmar’ in acknowledgement that most people of the country use this term. However, the deception of inclusiveness and the historical process of coercion by the former State Peace and Development Council military regime into usage of ‘Myanmar’ rather than ‘Burma’ without the consent of the people is recognized and not forgotten. Thus, under certain circumstances, ‘Burma’ is used.

Resources from the past week

Statements and Press Releases

Open Letter from 237 civil society organizations to exclude Myanmar military representatives from upcoming ASEAN summit and related meetings

By 237 Civil Society Organizations

Urgent Statement on the Rohingya Crisis and the Need for Regional Protection

By Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network

Statement on the integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the Human Rights Council and that of its mechanisms (57th session of the Human Rights Council)

By Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar

UN expert on Myanmar to visit Australia

By Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Reports

Junta’s Disarmament Offer: A Test Of Resistance’s Stance – Issue 154

By Burma News International and Myanmar Peace Monitor

၂၀၂၄ခုနှစ် စက်တင်ဘာလအတွင်း အမျိုးသမီးများဆိုင်ရာအချက်အလက်

By Burmese Women’s Union

Humanitarian Monthly Briefer (September)

By Coordination Team for Emergency Relief

September 2024: Floods Devastate Communities Across Southeastern Burma, Displacing Thousands

By Human Rights Foundation of Monland

Resilience and Resistance : Challenges and threats faced by Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in Southeast Burma since the 2021 coup

By Karen Human Rights Group

Attack on Healthcare in Myanmar (18 September – 01 October 2024)

By Insecurity Insight

လူမျိုးရေးပဋိပက္ခများ_စစ်အာဏာတည်မြဲရေးအတွက် မောင်းနှင်အားတရပ်

By Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica

Exploiting Ethnic Conflicts in Attempt to Consolidate Military Control                                    

By Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica

စစ်အုပ်စု၏ အစုလိုက်အပြုံလိုက်သတ်ဖြတ်မှုများ (မေလ ၂၀၂၄ – သြဂုတ်လ၂၀၂၄)

By Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica

Massacre Carried Out by the Military (May 2024 – August 2024)

By Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica

Progressive Voice is a participatory, rights-based policy research and advocacy organization that was born out of Burma Partnership. Burma Partnership officially ended its work on October 10, 2016 transitioning to a rights-based policy research and advocacy organization called Progressive Voice. For further information, please see our press release “Burma Partnership Celebrates Continuing Regional Solidarity for Burma and Embraces the Work Ahead for Progressive Voice.”