You may be interested in the following articles:
Myanmar: The unfinished business of an unfolding coup
Derek Aw
Control Risks (Mar 3, 2021)
Extract: Although the Tatmadaw’s political adventurism has clearly had damaging consequences for the business environment in Myanmar, the new military government seems to be taking pains to present itself to foreign investors and domestic corporate groups as being pro-business.
The Tatmadaw’s ostensive pursuit of legitimacy does not entirely bode well for foreign businesses in Myanmar. Given their obvious intent, newly revised and future security policies of the military government sharpen ethical dilemmas for foreign companies. Foreign businesses are likely to be subject to new variations of safety, ethical and reputational risks. Companies are and will be faced with complying with requirements mandated by Myanmar laws on one hand, and their commitment to international norms and duty of care for their staff on the other. The Tatmadaw could also exert political and regulatory pressure on businesses involved in any commercial activity that has security or legitimacy implications for the Tatmadaw, including banking, telecommunications, media, mass transport and infrastructure.
Many foreign businesses could find themselves in the crossfire of a propaganda battle between the military government and the protest movement. Perceptions that a foreign company – or their domestic partner – is conferring legitimacy to the military government by engaging with it could make the company the target of a boycott campaign or anti-coup demonstrations, within or outside Myanmar.
Although the Tatmadaw will be able to adapt and respond to some events that it might not have initially accounted for, what decision-makers should keep a close eye on are new and specifically disruptive forms of popular resistance that take the military by surprise or are outside its leaders’ comfort zone. For example, the pro-democracy movement has sustained disruptions in the banking system in a concerted attempt to force the Tatmadaw to give up power. The ongoing banking stalemate potentially marks the first acute juncture at which the Tatmadaw’s apparent resolve, in terms of avoiding widespread and repeated use of lethal force, will be put to the test. These disruptions – along with widespread calls to withdraw as much cash from military-owned banks that serve as financial vehicles for the military’s business empire – are potential watersheds that could bring forward the moment of truth and provoke the military to reveal its tooth and claw.
Exclusive: U.S. blocked Myanmar junta attempt to empty $1 billion New York Fed account - sources
By Simon Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk
Reuters (Mar 5, 2021)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-politics-usa-fed-exclusive-idUSKCN2AW2MD
Extract: Myanmar’s military rulers attempted to move about $1 billion held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York days after seizing power on Feb. 1, prompting U.S. officials to put a freeze on the funds, according to three people familiar with the matter, including one U.S. government official.
The transaction on Feb. 4 in the name of the Central Bank of Myanmar was first blocked by Fed safeguards. U.S. government officials then stalled on approving the transfer until an executive order issued by President Joe Biden gave them legal authority to block it indefinitely, the sources said.
A spokesman for the New York Fed declined to comment on specific account holders. The U.S. Treasury Department also declined to comment. A spokesman for Myanmar’s military government did not answer repeated calls seeking comment. Reuters was unable to reach officials at the central bank.
Myanmar’s reserves would be managed by part of the New York Fed known as Central Bank and International Account Services (CBIAS), where many central banks keep U.S. dollar reserves for purposes such as settling transactions.
An attempt to empty the account was made on Feb. 4, but was blocked automatically by processes that had been put in place at the New York Fed before the coup, two of the sources said. When the military took charge in Myanmar on Feb. 1, it installed a new central bank governor and detained key economic officials, including Bo Bo Nge, the reformist deputy governor and Suu Kyi ally, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. As of Thursday, he remains under detention, according to the association.
US and UK ratchet up sanctions on Myanmar's military
By Tim McDonald
BBC News (26
March 2021)
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56248559
Extract: The US and UK have imposed sanctions on Myanmar's two military conglomerates in a move that significantly ratchets up pressure on the country's leadership. Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) and Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL) control significant portions of Myanmar's economy, with interests across many of the country's major industries. The US Treasury has now added the two companies to a blacklist, freezing any assets they have in the US and banning US individuals and businesses from trading with them. The UK has imposed sanctions on MEHL.
Human rights groups and democracy activists have long pushed for sanctions against the two conglomerates, arguing that they fund the military's repression of protestors. But the US is the only major power so far to impose sanctions on the two businesses, while Myanmar's biggest trade partners in Asia have rejected sanctions. Critics worry that the increased pressure won't be enough to force change. "The leverage is not really there," said Richard Horsey, a Myanmar expert with the International Crisis Group.
One example that lays out the complexity of imposing sanctions and enforcing them is Golden City, a Yangon mixed-use development with an unobstructed view of the city's most famous landmark Schwedagon Pagoda. The activist group Justice for Myanmar says the development is a cash cow for Myanmar's military that channels millions into the military department "which buys weapons of war that are used on the people of Myanmar in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity."
Singapore-listed company Emerging Towns and Cities (ETC) - which owns a 49% stake in the development through a number of local companies - halted trading in February after Justice for Myanmar published the allegations, and the stock exchange demanded the company explain its part in the project. The company admits its partner in Myanmar has ties to the military. It makes lease payments for Golden City into an account administered by the Quartermaster General's Office, which reports to the Ministry of Defence. But ETC denies those funds could have been used to commit human rights abuses, saying that under Myanmar law, the Quartermaster General must turn over all funds to the government's budget account. And it told the Singapore stock exchange (SGX) that's where its responsibilities end. The company suspended trading in early March on the Singapore exchange while it seeks out an "independent" review to clarify its dealings in Myanmar to investors. ETC declined interview requests, and Myanmar's embassy in Singapore didn't respond to requests for comment.
Both critics and proponents of a tougher approach agree that up until now the sanctions - which only targeted Myanmar's top brass - have been fairly weak. Previous sanctions on Myanmar have had a humanitarian impact. For example, the US state department estimated that a 2003 US ban on Burmese textile imports cost 50-60,000 jobs (although orders from the EU mitigated the effect).
Mr Horsey worries that ordinary people rather than the government could again pay the price, especially if the sanctions turn into a broader attempt to bankrupt the state. But if sanctions force western oil and gas companies to withdraw, Mr Horsey expects that businesses from China or Thailand would replace them. China and Thailand account for more than half of the country's trade volume, while Singapore is the single largest foreign investor, generating $11bn over the past five years according to Myanmar government figures.
'US firm Chevron offering lifeline to Myanmar junta'
Chevron prioritizing profit over human life by lobbying for end to US sanctions on Myanmar army, says rights group
Md. Kamruzzaman
Anadolu Agency (May 1, 2021)
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/us-firm-chevron-offering-lifeline-to-myanmar-junta/2226638
Extract: A Myanmar rights group has strongly condemned American multinational energy corporation Chevron’s efforts to lobby the US government to withdraw sanctions on oil and gas businesses owned by Myanmar’s military junta.
“By continuing its work in Burma, Chevron is offering a lifeline to the military to continue the transport of troops to kill and detain protesters, the launching of artillery in civilian areas, and the use of fighter jets to bomb civilian areas in Kachin and Karen state,” the Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) said in a statement issued on Friday. “Sanctions on the military’s interests, particularly on energy, are one of the only ways the international community can limit the military’s access to foreign cash and limit their ability to purchase the military equipment and fuel they rely on to terrorize the civilian population.”
Amid growing rights abuses in Myanmar, the US, along with the UK and the EU, imposed sanctions on a military junta that has killed hundreds of people during protests against its Feb. 1 coup against the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The London-based BHRN cited a report by leading American daily The New York Times that said Chevron has “lobbied congressmen and the US State Department against sanctioning military-tied companies in the oil and gas sector because it would disrupt Chevron’s operations in the country.” “It is utterly disgraceful that Chevron would use their power to protect their own bottom line while civilians are being murdered in the street by [Myanmar] security forces they are directly funding,” said Kyaw Win, the executive director of the BHRN.
The End of Quiet Diplomacy in Myanmar
The U.N. dials up the pressure campaign against Myanmar’s putschists.
BY COLUM LYNCH
APRIL 7, 2021, 3:27 PM
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/07/myanmar-coup-diplomacy-sanctions-burgener-united-nations/
Extract: In the weeks following Myanmar’s military coup, United Nations special envoy Christine Schraner Burgener privately delivered a blunt appeal to foreign diplomats: Shun Myanmar’s military regime lest you lend it legitimacy, impose an arms embargo, and hit the coup plotters with targeted financial sanctions. Make it hurt. In the past, U.N. envoys to Myanmar, including Burgener, and other top officials have largely held their tongues in public, even when the country’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, threatened democracy and carried out mass atrocities against the country’s minority Rohingya Muslims.
The Feb. 1 military coup in Myanmar has changed that. “I have to be loud now so that people understand that this is not acceptable,” Burgener said, who has been criticizing Myanmar’s military rulers as cruel and repressive since the coup in front of the U.N. Security Council and in interviews with the press. She has been privately counseling a broad range of punitive measures against key sectors of Myanmar’s economy controlled by the military, including sanctions on Myanmar’s oil and gas sector. She has also urged sanctions against military economic powerhouses, Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), which own some 120 businesses in construction, pharmaceuticals, insurance, tourism, banking, and precious stone mining like jade and rubies, according to a report by a U.N. fact-finding mission.
“The military’s cruelty is too severe,” she warned. “Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day [March 27] was marked by some 100 brutal killings by security forces turning against their own citizens, including children, youth, and women. … A bloodbath is imminent.” Burgener’s about-face has won her and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres rare praise from human rights advocates. “They tried the soft approach. They failed. The shift to speaking the truth approach is definitely something we welcome,” said Louis Charbonneau, the U.N. representative for Human Rights Watch. “The U.N. has taken a very clear, moral, and principled stand and demonstrated clear moral leadership.”
Copying China’s Online Blockade
How other countries’ efforts to control the internet compare with China’s Great Firewall.
By Shira Ovide
The New York Times (March 1, 2021)
Extract: How do other countries’ efforts to block some websites or control the internet compare with the Great Firewall? Iran and North Korea also have nearly complete control over the internet, and Myanmar and Cambodia are potentially trying to do something similar.
How has Myanmar tried to control people’s online activities? When the coup started last month, the military used brute force tactics to simply blackout the internet temporarily. In some cases, they did it at gunpoint. Now they’re slowly cutting access.
Each morning, people wake up to find new websites they can’t access. For now, it has been fairly easy for people to get around those blocks. The worry is that new technology from China could make the blocks more complete, though we’ve seen no evidence to date of China’s involvement.
How do you explain that in Myanmar people have suffered from too little restraint of the internet and also too much? First, the military spread hatred online against the country’s Rohingya minority group, and now it’s cutting off the internet.
Where democratic institutions are weak and there are challenges over a country’s future, powerful actors will both cut off the flow of information when it suits them and deploy the internet to spread information in their interests. China does both, and so has Myanmar. Though it might seem contradictory, censorship and disinformation go hand in hand.
What’s next? The fear is that China will make the technology and techniques of its internet manipulation system readily adaptable by other autocratic countries. Myanmar is important to watch because if the generals control the internet without decimating the economy, it may become a model for other authoritarian regimes.
With its interests in flames, what will China do in Myanmar?
Carlos Santamaria
GZERO (March 15, 2021)
Extract: China's stakes in Myanmar. China has always been upfront on what it wants from its southern neighbor: a piece of its natural resources and waterways. Beijing wants the generals to restart long-shelved plans for a controversial hydropower dam to generate electricity for China, which locals fear will damage the environment and force thousands to relocate. Beijing is likewise hungry for Myanmar's rare earth metals (production has dropped significantly since the coup, which probably influenced Beijing's recent threat to stop exporting rare earths to the US.) China also needs Myanmar to continue building a natural gas pipeline linking China's Yunnan province to the Kyaukpyu deepwater port in Myanmar's Rakhine state to gain access to the Indian Ocean, where China is competing for maritime supremacy with India.
Beijing in the hot seat. Since the February 1 coup, Chinese interests have come under fire in Myanmar. A lot of the buzz is on social media, which has been rife with rumors that China — the new regime's most prominent international ally — helped the military seize power. Pro-democracy activists also suspect Chinese cybersecurity experts are helping the junta developinternet censorship technology similar to China's own Great Firewall. Despite its long history of shady activity in the country, China has dismissed such claims as fake news, and pushed back against protesters' calls to boycott Chinese products and sabotage the Kyaukpyu pipeline. But Beijing, as always, is worried about instability on its border, and frustrated with the generals' failure to end the post-coup unrest.
On the other hand, if the rising anti-China sentiment turns more violent, China could feel compelled to do something a bit more radical. Non-interference vs Wolf Warrior. Right now, the Hong Kong scenario is more likely. One reason is that China is deeply concerned about its own reputation as a powerful yet benevolent Asian superpower, the main raison d'être behind its COVID vaccine diplomacy. The other is that China has no fond memories of the last time it deployed combat forces abroad. (That was in 1978, when China lost a brief war with Vietnam.)
But if Chinese businesses continue being singled out, Beijing will be wary of looking weak in the face of rising anti-China sentiment on its border. Further unrest could force Beijing's hand and unleash the "Wolf Warrior" — a new, more aggressive brand of Chinese diplomacy that draws it name from a blockbuster film depicting an extreme version of China using military muscle to defend national interests in Africa.
China’s Myanmar Mess
Increasingly, China’s non-action on the Myanmar coup is going against Beijing’s own interests.
By Sarah M. Brooks and Debbie Stothard
The Diplomat (March 16, 2021)
https://thediplomat.com/2021/03/chinas-myanmar-mess/
Extract: For weeks, every speech from Chinese officials on Myanmar has been essentially the same: China is Myanmar’s “friendly neighbor,” and the current crisis is nothing more than an “internal affair” that needs to be resolved by the “people of Myanmar.” At the Security Council in New York, and the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, China has clung to its position calling for dialogue and national solution – and, with small exceptions for ASEAN and other regional actors, urged the international community to back off.
Chinese policy on international relations has been essentially about building barriers to block criticism of its rights record. When it comes to Myanmar, though, those barriers are working now as bars. Hemmed in on all sides by its own rhetoric, Beijing’s actions are increasingly looking bad for business.
Literally ceding governance in Myanmar to the corrupt cronyism of the military, known as the Tatmadaw, could imperil China’s significant economic interests in the country and the broader region. As many observers have noted, relations between the two countries were warm (and lucrative) under the National League for Democracy. Aung San Suu Kyi both saw the benefits of Chinese investment and engagement, while also burnishing Myanmar’s international image and boosting its potential to integrate into global markets. All this despite her willingness to negotiate with the military, and to defend its reprehensible and genocidal treatment of the Rohingya.
The Tatmadaw, in addition to being more volatile toward investment than the civilian government, has its own reputational and legal risk. It has come under intense scrutiny for its economic holdings. In 2019, a U.N. fact-finding mission dedicated a hundred-page report to assessing the commercial ties of military-backed entities. The experts recommended that “no business enterprise active in Myanmar… should enter into or remain in a business relationship of any kind with the security forces of Myanmar, in particular the Tatmadaw, or any enterprise owned or controlled by them (including subsidiaries) or their individual members, until and unless they are re-structured and transformed.”
These remained, at the time, mostly words on paper. But following the coup, swift bilateral action by the United States, United Kingdom, and others has made doing business with the Myanmar military not only complicated, nor simply unseemly, but flat-out risky for CEOs and shareholders. From China’s perspective, military control of the economy would make continuing “business as usual” a hard sell, and could imperil efforts to further expand their market footprint and integrate into global supply chains.
Explicit support to the junta seems also to be “bad for business” politically. Were Chinese authorities to offer such support, they could risk alienating ASEAN government allies at a time when their regional aspirations are key to managing what Beijing sees as U.S. encroachment in the Asia-Pacific. Active opposition by Myanmar’s citizens to China’s role – real or perceived – in backing the Tatmadaw could turn the tide on carefully-cultivated outreach that had largely improved views of China in recent years. In early March, leaked documents alleged that Chinese officials had secret meetings with members of the military regime to guarantee the security of their oil pipeline; in response, protestors used China’s own language against them, asserting that disruptions or attacks on the pipeline would be “Myanmar’s internal affair.” Public anger has culminated in attacks on Chinese-owned factories in Yangon, much to Beijing’s chagrin.
China’s efforts to build an international framework that would protect itself and others from scrutiny, in the field of human rights or otherwise, have resulted in a cage that limits room for maneuver and jeopardizes competing efforts at economic and political expansion. If it fails to manage the contradiction between ideology and interests, and allows the military regime to steamroll its way to power, China should clearly understand that it’s not just the people of Myanmar but the whole neighborhood that will be worse off.
China to work with ASEAN on promoting peace talks in Myanmar: Chinese FM
Xinhua (2021-04-03)
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-04/03/c_139856764.htm
Extract: China will communicate and coordinate with all parties, while working concertedly with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to promote peace talks in Myanmar and help ease the situation in the country at the earliest opportunity, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said. Wang made the remarks during a one-on-one exchange of views on the Myanmar situation with his counterparts from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, as part of their visits from March 31 to April 2 in the city of Nanping, Fujian Province.
When holding talks with Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin on Friday, Wang summarized China's stance on the Myanmar issue as "Three Supports" and "Three Avoids." He said China supports all parties in Myanmar in seeking a political settlement within a constitutional and legal framework, and the hard-won democratic transformation process should be constantly advanced. China supports the ASEAN in upholding the norm of non-interference in internal affairs and participating constructively to help ease the Myanmar situation, Wang said, adding that China also supports the proposal of holding a special meeting of ASEAN leaders to discuss effective solutions, Wang said. Shedding light on the "Three Avoids," Wang called for avoiding further bloodshed and civilian casualties in the country.
Milk Tea Alliance: Twitter creates emoji for pro-democracy activists
BBC (Apr 8, 2021)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56676144
Extract: Twitter has launched a new emoji for the "Milk Tea Alliance" - a movement uniting Asian pro-democracy activists. The alliance has brought together anti-Beijing protesters in Hong Kong and Taiwan with pro-democracy campaigners in Thailand and Myanmar. The emoji, a white cup set against three different shades of a popular regional tea, marks a year since the #MilkTeaAlliance hashtag started. One target is Chinese dominance, and Beijing says it is "full of biases".
What is the Milk Tea Alliance? The alliance has united campaigners pushing for greater democracy. It emerged last year from a Twitter dispute between Chinese nationalists and a young Thai actor and his girlfriend, who were accused of supporting democracy in Hong Kong and Taiwanese independence. The movement gained popularity among pro-democracy activists in Thailand who are calling for reform of the monarchy and protesters in Hong Kong who accuse Beijing of harming the territory's democracy. Use of the hashtag spiked again this February after a military coup in Myanmar led to mass protests.
"We have seen more than 11 million tweets featuring the #MilkTeaAlliance hashtag over the past year," Twitter said in a post on the platform. The emoji will automatically show up when users post the #MilkTeaAlliance hashtag. What does China say? The Chinese government has criticised the Milk Tea Alliance. The movement has "consistently held anti-China positions, and is full of biases against China," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a press conference on Thursday, Bloomberg reported.
My Chinese article on Myanmar with English reference materials:
Made in Myanmar
2017-10-24
https://xiaoshousha.blogspot.hk/2017/10/made-in-myanmar.html
Hope this would help. Best wishes from HK.
Auntie
Revised 04/05/2021
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謝謝你的文章。十分詳細有用。天佑緬甸。
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