Politics

Report: China, Russia, India Enabling Myanmar Junta

NOV 2 2022·Updated FEB 7 2024

Story

Image credit: AFP/Getty Images [via Time]

The Facts

On Wednesday, a group of eight international legislators published a report claiming that, despite not being able to consolidate its takeover, Myanmar's military junta continues to hold on to power with the support of China, Russia, and to a lesser extent, India.
Al Jazeera
The report deemed the Five-Point Consensus from the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to solve the crisis a huge failure, stating that it's vital that the international community "changes course on Myanmar" to comply with international obligations and standards.
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
It also urged the global community to recognize the National Unity Government (NUG) as Myanmar's legitimate authority and impose effective coordinated sanctions on the junta, which has been accused of killing at least 2.4K citizens and arresting over 16K people.
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights
This comes after the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) conducted a four-month-long inquiry into the global response to the February 2021 coup.
Al Jazeera
ASEAN leaders will next week consider a proposal from Malaysia to ban the Myanmar junta from all ministerial-level meetings, in reaction to the viewpoint that the current approach to stop violence and alleged human rights abuses in the country isn't working.
Australian Financial Review
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar has announced that the South China Sea's Beibu Gulf Port-Myanmar shipping route was opened last Friday as Beijing seems to be moving forward with its infrastructure projects in the country.
The Irrawaddy

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The Spin

Anti-China narrative

Though reluctant to support the military coup at first, China has gradually stepped up its relationship with the junta to unequivocal support based on the belief that the regime will ultimately prevail and favor PRC economic and strategic interests. This support has aggravated the situation in Myanmar, harming the country's innocent people.

The Irrawaddy

Pro-China narrative

While China seeks to help Myanmar prosper with peace and stability, the West and its proxies insistently promote a smear campaign against Beijing. This clearly reveals their hypocrisy; though they claim to support democracy and human rights, they're merely leveraging the Myanmar population's suffering as a pawn against China.

Global Times

Cynical narrative

The UN's strong response to the crisis in Ukraine has shown that the organization had the necessary means to act to stop violence in Myanmar — proving that the international community has used a possible veto from China or Russia to justify its dereliction of duty. The crisis in this vulnerable Southeastern Asian country poses a serious threat to international peace, and decisive action must be taken.