5 years and 1 election later, why China’s Myanmar dilemma still isn’t over
Old concerns about stability and security linger as other big players vie for sway over Myanmar’s rare earth bounty and strategic location
Early in 2021, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw and held talks with both General Min Aung Hlaing, the chief of the armed forces, and Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of the civilian government.
The meeting was a chance for China to voice support for Myanmar’s “national conditions” development path and signal China’s long-term pragmatic approach to ties with its southwestern neighbour, irrespective of who was in power.
That strategy, however, came under strain just weeks later, as the military under Min Aung Hlaing staged a coup on February 1, effectively ending a decade of tentative democratic reform.
Unhappy with Beijing’s ties with the junta, anti-coup protesters set Chinese factories on fire and ran a boycott campaign.
Meanwhile, the military’s fighting with resistance forces and ethnic armed groups pushed violence so close to the Chinese border that the People’s Liberation Army conducted live-fire drills on its side of the frontier as a warning.
Now, with a junta-staged election concluded, attention is shifting to whether Beijing’s dilemma in Myanmar is easing – or becoming more complex.