China’s Cruel Interference
“…. We own our future… What we want to convey to the Chinese government from this protest is: don’t come to oppress and bully. If you don’t want to help, at least don’t interfere.”
China has been a persistent thorn in Myanmar people’s movements to topple the military tyranny—past and present. Its intrusive approach, especially in this time of nationwide resistance against the illegal junta—ranging from supporting the Myanmar military, pressuring resistance forces, and exerting regional influence to ushering in the junta’s sham election plan—is an overt assault on the Myanmar people and their federal democracy movement. This malicious approach only emboldens the junta to continue its atrocious terror campaign against civilians, exacerbating and prolonging their suffering and deepening the humanitarian crisis. By backing the junta, China not only stalls any meaningful progress toward sustainable peace and justice in Myanmar, but is also complicit in the junta’s ongoing terror campaign against the people.
Following the military junta’s failed coup in February 2021, China has continued to back the junta with repeated engagements through multiple high-level state visits, voiced support to delay or falter efforts from the international community to halt the junta’s ever intensifying violence, and continued funneling money through the junta’s disastrous economic dealings. One of the latest examples is when the Chinese Foreign Minister met with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing in mid-August. Instead of convincing the junta to stop its nationwide violence, China stated its support for the junta’s sham election, an unmistakable ploy to build up the return to “normalcy” and business as usual.
China’s approach remains extremely self-serving, ignoring its international obligations to protect civilian lives while taking sides with the military that is committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. China’s shameless actions continue to embolden the junta to commit further mass atrocity crimes with total impunity, as proven by the junta’s recent attacks.
According to Blood Money Campaign, a Myanmar campaign group, the junta carried out a total of 196 airstrikes between 15 and 31 August, killing at least 31 civilians across Chin, Kachin, northern Shan, and Rakhine States, as well as in Magwe, Mandalay, Sagaing, and Tanintharyi Regions. Additionally, on 5 September, the junta bombed and killed at least nine people at the Bangkok camp in La Ei Village, Pekhon Township, southern Shan State, which was housing over 600 internally displaced persons. Prior to the latest airstrike, this camp had already been attacked six times this year alone. Another devastating attack occurred on the same night in Namkham, northern Shan State. As people were asleep, a junta jet fighter bombed the town, slaying 11 civilians including a pregnant woman. Between 5 and 6 September, the Myanmar military had launched attacks in seven towns across Chin, Karenni, and Shan States, as well as in Magwe and Mandalay Regions.
Despite ongoing airstrikes, China has continued business activities with and consistent supply of fighter jets, missiles, and other munitions to the military junta. China has been making money on the fact that the Myanmar military is using these financial and military resources to further its terror campaign.
Furthermore, driven by its own agenda and national interest, China has prioritized the “stability” of its border with Myanmar, blatantly neglecting the Myanmar’s people’s significant need for humanitarian aid and civilian protection along border areas. As the junta faced imminent defeat in northern Shan State, with resistance forces advancing, China restricted its border and cut off the flow of consumer goods and medicine to resistance-controlled areas starting in early July. This action came after the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, a member of the Three Brotherhood Alliance (3BHA), attacked and ultimately took control of the junta’s Northeastern Regional Command in Lashio, northern Shan State. In the face of the junta’s retaliatory attacks, the 3BHA urged China to halt these attacks in the interest of civilian protection. However, China has pressured resistance groups into one-off ceasefires, repeating its approach to peacemaking in Myanmar that has ultimately proven destructive and ineffective.
In another instance of damaging interference, after Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit, the security committee in the Chinese border town of Ruili sent a warning letter to the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), another member of the 3BHA. The letter stated that if the TNLA does not comply, China would “teach them a lesson,” and the group would be “responsible for the consequences.” This is ironic, given China’s non-interference policy, which has repeatedly stated that no external forces should interfere in Myanmar. China being a permanent member of the UN Security Council which has the mandate to maintain international peace and security is even more ironic.
The people of Myanmar fiercely reject China’s threats. On 5 September, 276 Myanmar civil society organizations issued a statement urging China to end its support for the illegitimate Myanmar military junta and cease any actions that undermine the progress of the Myanmar people’s revolution. On the same morning, strike groups based in Yangon protested against China, holding a banner read, “China: Back off from Myanmar.”
The voices of the Myanmar people—who are making immense sacrifices and efforts in the fight for their freedom and future—are crystal clear. As one strike member powerfully stated, “….We own our future… What we want to convey to the Chinese government from this protest is: Don’t come in to oppress and bully us. If you don’t want to help, at least don’t interfere.”
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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
Interim Government of Bangladesh Must Adopt Human Rights-Based Measures for Rohingya Refugees
By Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
By FORUM-ASIA
The UN Security Council’s Astonishing Silence on Myanmar Atrocities
By Human Rights Watch
တရားဥပဒေစိုးမိုးရေးနှင့် စပ်လျဉ်း၍ အများပြည်သူသို့ အရေးပေါ် အသိပေးကြေညာချက်
By Interim Executive Council of Karenni State
Emergency Notice to the public regarding Rule of Law Action Plan
By Interim Executive Council of Karenni State
By Interim Executive Council of Karenni State
By Interim Executive Council of Karenni State
Webinar Series: Listening to Voices from Myanmar
By Mekong Watch, ayus:Network of Buddhists Volunteers on International Cooperation, Friends of the Earth Japan, Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC), Network Against Japan Arms Trade (NAJAT)) and Progressive Voice
By National Unity Government
Statement On Military Council’s Attempt to Exploit The Population As Human Shields
By National Unity Government
By National Unity Government
By National Unity Government
By National Unity Government
Reports
Women’s Information Factsheet August 2024
By Burmese Women’s Union
မြန်မာ့အမျိုးသမီးသမဂ္ဂ၏ ၂၀၂၄ ခုနှစ် ဩဂုတ်လအတွင်း အမျိုးသမီးများဆိုင်ရာအချက်အလက်
By Burmese Women’s Union
India for Myanmar
India for Myanmar
Myanmar: Operational Facts and Figures (January to June 2024)
By International Committee of the Red Cross
By Mayu Region Human Rights Documentation Centre
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.”
