With China's backing, Myanmar's junta continues to crush democracy

Even after the 2021 coup in Myanmar, there have been formal interactions between the junta and high Chinese officials. China today has control over Kyaukpyu port in Myanmar which can be converted into a military one.

It is all bad news about Myanmar. Since the military junta staged a coup against the civilian government in February last year, it has been hell-bent on crushing democracy in the country. Recently, it has transferred the country's arguably most popular leader, from its National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest to a prison and placed her in solitary confinement.

The military junta has carried out the execution of four political activists. Two of them, Ko Jimmy and the Phyo Zayar Thaw, happened to be well-known pro-democracy activists in the country. After the coup of 2021, they had mobilised the people against the junta.

Thaw had been a member of the Parliament. As a member of the NLD, he had worked closely with party leader Suu Kyi. According to the Amnesty International, more than 100 people in the country have been sentenced to death after being convicted in similar proceedings.

Observers say the approach of the junta in Myanmar clearly indicates it has scant respect for civilised norms and laws that ought to govern the contemporary international community. The functioning of the Myanmar junta constitutes a serious threat to peace and stability in the region. It has generated condemnation from all over the world.

In a joint statement, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and South Korea have condemned the recent executions in Myanmar. United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said, "I am dismayed that despite appeals from across the world, the military conducted these executions with no regard for human rights. This cruel and regressive step is an extension of the military's ongoing repressive campaign against its own people."

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously condemned these executions and called for an immediate halt to all violence and "full respect for human rights and the rule of law." The Council has "reiterated their full support for Myanmar's democratic transition and their strong commitment to the sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity and unity of Myanmar." The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has expressed disappointment over the junta's action.

However, the junta is highly unlikely to change its course of suppressing democracy in Myanmar. Communist China is behind the junta in Myanmar. The junta shares with the Chinese regime the culture of political authoritarianism.

The kind of relationship China has had with Myanmar is no secret. Even after the 2021 coup in Myanmar, there have been formal interactions between the junta and high Chinese officials. China today has control over Kyaukpyu port, a commercial maritime facility, in Myanmar, which can be converted into a military one. China maintains a naval intelligence unit in Coco Islands, near India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Chinese state-owned enterprises are among the biggest suppliers of arms and military equipment to the junta in Myanmar. The latter has been using Chinese weapons to suppress the current movement for democracy in Myanmar.