On 25 October 2024, Reuters reported the help China has been giving Myanmar‘s illegitimate military junta engaged in a civil war against pro-democracy forces.
While initially China maintained a degree of neutrality in the civil war, lately the junta’s defeats have prompted Beijing to render it some help by subverting the pro-democracy side of the conflict.
Specific changes in China’s policy appeared after a significant victory of the pro-democracy forces that resulted in them taking the town of Lashio, close to China’s border, in August 2024.
Shortly after the fall of the town, “Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi met junta leader Min Aung Hlaing in Myanmar.” Following the meeting, China closed the border with the areas liberated from the junta, cutting off supplies to them.
Then, in September 2024, one of the Myanmar rebel groups, the MNDAA, which has close ties with China, “declared it would not work with allies to expand territory, nor engage with or cooperate with ‘foreign nations’ that opposed China or Myanmar.” The MNDAA also said “it was ready for a ceasefire under China’s guidance.”
According to a senior official of Myanmar’s pro-democracy National Unity Government (NUG), “China was trying to create divisions among anti-junta forces,” and “has urged some groups to stop fighting the military and cease cooperating with the NUG.”
China’s actions are dictated by its unwillingness to allow the victory of pro-democracy forces in Myanmar’s civil war, since, unlike the authoritarian junta, a democratic Myanmar would be more likely to side geopolitically with the United States and China’s other democratic adversaries in Asia.
Efforts Category: China’s Political and Economic Subversion vs the National Unity Government of Myanmar and its allies
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