Myanmar’s new govt signals closer alignment with China: Report

Naypyidaw: Appointment of ex-Brigadier General and Myanmar’s former Ambassador to Beijing, Tin Maung Swe, as the Foreign Minister of the government led by President Min Aung Hlaing signals a move to deepen ties with China, a report highlighted this week.

“After the international isolation that followed the massacres of August-September 1988, the Myanmar military, with its exceedingly brutal but whimsical actions and policies, turned to China for support but the relationship became such an overwhelming dependency that the junta thought it had no choice but to open up the country in order to restore relations with the West,” Bertil Lintner, a Swedish journalist, author and strategic consultant, wrote in Myanmar’s media outlet ‘The Irrawaddy’.

“Haphazard manoeuvres and ill-planned initiatives in the aftermath of a rigged election in 2010 led to unexpected consequences such as the rise of a civil society and two landslide victories for the National League for Democracy (NLD). Responding to those challenges, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing staged a coup in February 2021, and sanctions and boycotts initiated by the West were back,” he added.

According to the report, a newly-appointed military-dominated government has sought to correct past mistakes by diversifying its foreign contacts. At the same time, the Chinese have become far more sophisticated in exerting renewed influence over Myanmar. Ultimately, this development may prove tragic, with the people of Myanmar bearing the cost, opined Lintner.

It added that a glance at a map of Asia illustrates how strategically important Myanmar is to Beijing and why China has a vested interest in maintaining influence over its weak southern neighbour.

“China is a huge inland empire with a comparatively short coastline. For a country with a growth model based on exports, access to ports is vital. Myanmar is a crucial link in Beijing’s foreign policy because it is the only neighbouring country — apart from remote and crisis-ridden Pakistan, as well as India, which is not interested in facilitating Chinese exports — that provides China with direct access to the Indian Ocean, making it possible to bypass the contested South China Sea and the congested and potentially vulnerable Strait of Malacca for exports as well as the import of gas, oil and minerals,” the report noted.

Highlighting the underlying dynamics and Chinese influence, the report said, “In Myanmar, history is repeating itself in reverse of Marx’s dictum: a tragedy, not a farce, is evolving, one in which the people have no say and the military, wise from past mistakes and backed by China, seems more firmly entrenched in power than before.”

IANS