China holding back from taking relations further with Myanmar’s junta: Report

Naypyidaw [Myanmar], January 27 (ANI): Continuing international isolation of the Myanmar’s military regime including its inability to reduce armed opposition to its rule domestically and secure legitimacy worldwide is holding back China from taking its relations further with Myanmar’s junta, Myanmar-based Mizzima news reported.

Notably, after the February 2021 coup in Myanmar, China has stepped up its engagement with the junta. Myanmar was expected to hold a summit of the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) towards the end of 2022, but it was not held as China’s Premier Li Keqiang did not respond to the junta’s invitation for the summit.

This meant that there was no chance of Army Chief Min Aung Hlaing (MAH) meeting with a senior Chinese official in person. MAH has not yet been able to meet a senior Chinese leader or official since the coup on 1 February 2021, Mizzima news reported.
A lack of response by Beijing could be due to the fact that Myanmar’s ministers have been barred from ASEAN meetings after the Myanmar junta failed to make progress in implementing the five-point peace plan drawn up by ASEAN in April 2021.

China by denying the invitation appears to say that the country will not prioritize its relationship with the Myanmar military regime above its relationship with other ASEAN countries.

According to Mizzima news, Beijing’s concerns with Myanmar may not just be diplomatic as the growing conflict in the country is undermining the investment environment, with Chinese projects facing growing risks as the anti-coup conflicts escalate across the country.

The Myanmar people view China as a supporter of the military junta in their country and there have been many attacks on Chinese properties and investments in Myanmar since the coup in 2021

A total of 7,800 clashes have been recorded across Myanmar since the coup. Of these, 300 have taken place in areas where major Chinese project sites are located, with 100 in 19 townships where China’s oil and natural gas pipeline projects are located.

Resistance by Myanmar’s pro-democracy resistance forces, known as People’s Defence Forces (PDFs), is also affecting China.

More than 250 of Myanmar’s 330 townships have witnessed attacks on police and military by PDFs and EAOs. All these developments raise questions as to whether the Myanmar junta might be gradually falling out of favour with Beijing, according to Mizzima news.

The media recently reported that the Myanmar people doubt China’s capability to expedite peace process in the country, as Beijing repeatedly chooses silence over the Myanmar military takeover, and suppression of its own people, especially democratic activists and protesters against the excesses of the military regime.

There are widespread negative sentiments about China and its moves in Myanmar, at a time when the military junta is becoming increasingly authoritarian and suppressive by using state power against its own people.