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Sam Beltran

Myanmar’s deadly earthquake has exposed the vacuum left by the United States’ retreat from foreign aid, prompting calls for Asean to assert leadership before major powers like China shape the humanitarian response to their advantage.
More than 3,000 people were killed by the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, flattening buildings and overwhelming local responders.
In a rare move, Myanmar’s military-led junta government, known as the State Administration Council, appealed for international help. Countries including China, India and Russia responded swiftly, deploying search-and-rescue teams and medical support.
China’s response was the most robust, with more than 600 personnel across 30 teams sent to Myanmar and over 100 million yuan (US$13.7 million) pledged in aid.
“We hope and believe that the government and people of Myanmar will overcome difficulties and rebuild their homes at an early date,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement. China was closely following the situation in its friendly neighbour after the earthquake and extended its sincere sympathies to Myanmar, the ministry added.

By contrast, the United States has offered US$2 million to aid the earthquake relief efforts – an amount that observers have described as modest.
It is the first major disaster since US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day freeze on foreign aid in January and slashed funding for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), cutting over 90 per cent of its contracts and eliminating an estimated US$60 billion in global assistance.
Washington also said it would send a three-member assessment team, but its arrival was reportedly delayed due to issues in obtaining visas from the military junta – a stark difference from the rapid and comprehensive response the US had deployed during previous calamities around the world.
Moe Thuzar, Myanmar studies programme coordinator at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, said that the drop in USAID assistance had become “all the more salient in the aftermath of the earthquake where thousands are in need of urgent humanitarian and health assistance”.
Regional rivals such as China could quickly move in to fill this “aid vacuum”, Kei Koga, an associate professor at the Nanyang Technological University’s public policy and global affairs programme, told This Week in Asia.
“With the United States no longer maintaining leverage in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in Myanmar because of the aid cut, the narrative and public perception can be quickly shifted in China’s favour.”
This could have significant political and strategic implications. “China is now positioned to demonstrate its reliability in supporting Myanmar, while implicitly or explicitly suggesting that the United States is not a dependable partner,” he said.


The impact of these aid cuts would be felt among Myanmar’s civil society organisations that were already stretched thin to begin with, said Bridget Welsh, an honorary research associate at the University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute Malaysia.
Welsh added that the loss of USAID would make it more difficult and slower to facilitate aid, as this would have to be diverted through other organisations such as the United Nations.
“That has its own sets of problems in those circumstances, because the UN will operate slowly … It limits the funds going to the sources that you really need, which are people on the ground,” she told This Week in Asia, adding that these cuts were “basically creating harm [not only] to the networks of soft power networks that the United States had, but also particularly in helping Myanmar”.
‘Asean at the centre’
Observers stress that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations must cement its role as a regional leader and strengthen its mechanisms in delivering aid, as larger countries such as China and India aim to use their humanitarian assistance to their strategic advantage.
Myanmar’s military government has announced a temporary ceasefire against armed opposition groups to better facilitate aid delivery, but there are fears that it may restrict access for humanitarian workers in opposition-led areas.
Thuzar said that the ceasefire could provide Asean members already in Myanmar a chance to “plan and coordinate future actions and responses as urgent needs post-quake for saving lives, providing shelter, food and medical care will eventually shift to addressing longer-term recovery needs”.

“It is hoped that response teams from various countries can also get the opportunity to work with local organisations and networks to reach as many of the communities in need, regardless of whether they are in areas not under the military regime’s direct administrative control,” Thuzar said, adding that Asean needs to exert “adroit diplomacy” to ensure that aid reaches all communities in need and reaffirm itself as a key regional actor in disaster response.
Kitti Prasitsurk, professor of international relations at Thailand’s Thammasat University, said that while the regional bloc “does not have a tradition in terms of financial contribution”, it can continue to mobilise support and attract aid, working primarily with Japan, the UK and Europe.
With the US and other Western governments holding back aid, countries like China and India would compete to stake their interests in Myanmar and the region, Welsh said.
“The fact that the US is no longer a player has given more power to China and India to carve out their respective interests in a country that is massively divided,” she said, adding that Asean needed to take a central role in discussions and resolutions surrounding these issues.
“It has to recognise that as long as Myanmar is suffering, the whole region is suffering.”


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Myanmar earthquake: can Asean step up to fill US aid vacuum?

The Chinese government’s second batch of emergency supplies arrives at Yangon International Airport on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua

People queue for food and relief supplies in Amarapura, Myanmar, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Earthquake survivors take shelter at a makeshift camp in Myanmar on Friday. Photo: Reuters

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A Chinese H-6 bomber flies east of the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on March 24. Photo: Reuters/Maxar Technologies

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Members of the Chinese rescue team pictured at Yangon airport. Photo: Xinhua

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Rescuers dig through rubble in Mandalay, Myanmar on Monday following a devastating earthquake. Photo: Xinhua

Members of the Chinese Red Cross international emergency response team carry out rescue efforts in Mandalay, Myanmar on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

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A team from the Red Cross Society of China has been deployed to Myanmar to help with relief efforts following a devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

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The US aid retreat opens ways for China and India to use their humanitarian assistance to build influence


The US aid retreat opens ways for China and India to use their humanitarian assistance to build influence.


Myanmar earthquake: can Asean step up to fill US aid vacuum?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The US aid retreat opens ways for China and India to use their humanitarian assistance to build influence

The US aid retreat opens ways for China and India to use their humanitarian assistance to build influence