Beijing: While many countries of the world including India, America have labelled the military takeover in Myanmar and detention of Aung San Suu Kyi a coup, China has merely described it as a ‘cabinet reshuffle’. Not only this, China has even advised all Myanmar political parties to resolve their differences. Surprisingly, China, which has always been aggressive with neighboring countries, including India, has also asked the international community at the UN Security Council meeting to resolve the issue peacefully. However, the question is: why is China taking such a soft stance on Myanmar’s military coup?
What did China say about Myanmar?
The official Xinhua news agency on Monday m reported the “Myanmar military announced a major cabinet reshuffle hours after a state of emergency was declared.” Global Times quoted an unnamed expert in Beijing as saying the military’s actions “can be viewed as an adjustment facing Myanmar’s imbalanced power structure,” referring to the declining popularity of the military and the growing political power of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
China’s soft stance in United Nations Prior to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on the coup incident in Myanmar, China said on Tuesday that all action by the international community should be focused on contributing to the political stability, peace and reconciliation agreement in that country. In response to a question at the press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, “All the action of the international community should contribute to political-social stability and peace and reconciliation in Myanmar, so as to avoid escalation of tensions, complication of matters.”
China, which holds veto power in the Security Council, has had a close relationship with Myanmar’s military regime since it ruled (for two decades) by Myanmar’s military and later after Suu Kyi came to power in the 2016 elections. There has been close relationship between the two countries.
China has invested heavily in Myanmar and after the change of power it may cause problems for Chinese investors. According to the news of the South China Morning Post, the military government of Myanmar has announced that it will appoint about a dozen new ministers and officers in place of ministers of the Suu Kyi government elected by democratic process. These will also include finance, international cooperation, foreign economic relations, home and foreign ministry.
Some of the officials were involved in talks on Chinese investment, adding to uncertainty over Chinese projects, according to Yin Yihang, a researcher on Myanmar affairs at the Taihe Institute, a Beijing-based think tank.
“Many of the people replaced used to be involved in economic cooperation,” Yin said. “It means that some deals may need to be renegotiated, and this could discourage many Chinese investors.”
One of China’s largest joint projects is to connect Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, by rail with the coastal city of Kaipu in the Bay of Bengal. China is also planning to build underwater ports and some other industry ventures in Kyaukpyu. However, due to the change of power, now in the near future China does not seem to be launching any major project in Myanmar.