Has Beijing abandoned the Myanmar junta?

Guwahati: Myanmar has been facing relentless turmoil following the military coup on 1 February 2021 and our eastern neighbour now witnesses a flare-up in violence as many ethnic armed outfits started a massive offensive against the Burmese military junta in the last week of October.

By now some parts of the south-east Asian nation have gone under the control of pro-democracy & anti-junta rebels, which have vowed to throw away the military dictators from Naypyidaw.

The intense fighting continues and it expands into new localities with densely populated areas. From the States of Shan, Kayah (formerly Karenni), Mandalay & Sagaing divisions, the battles against the junta forces (popularly known as Tatmadaw) expanded to Rakhine and Chin States.

The land of golden pagodas slipped into an intensive conflict soon after the present band of dictators, led by Min Aung Hlaing, staged the coup over a thousand days ago alleging voting fraud and ousted a democratically elected government under the leadership of Nobel peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party National League for Democracy (NLD) recorded a massive victory in the last national elections.

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The pro-democracy icon was detained and later imprisoned by the military-controlled courts for many years with fictitious cases alleging her involvement in various electoral corruption.

By now 2,940 civilians have been killed and over 17,550 people arrested by the military authorities within 1000 days of the coup, where more than 3,33,500 civilians were rendered homeless because of the ongoing gun fighting between junta forces and armed rebel groups.

No less than 150 media personnel were also detained by the military council and some 25 are still inside various jails. At least three journalists died of military atrocities in separate incidents. Days back, the Geneva-based global media safety and rights body Press Emblem Campaign expressed serious concern over the imprisonment of working journalists in Myanmar and urged the authorities to ensure fair trials for them.

The recent wave of gun fighting broke out on 27 October, when three ethnic minority groups (namely Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Ta'ang National Liberation Army and Arakan Army) coordinated their offensive in the northern Shan locality, which is adjacent to China.

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Named Operation 1027, the offensive has achieved some successes as Tatmadaw had to lose nearly 200 military camps and nine towns till the third week of November.

Lately, the Arakan Army (AA) has launched an offensive in Rakhine State killing many soldiers and even compelling some to surrender with arms & ammunition.

Amazingly, a recent public demonstration attracted the attention of political observers as it chanted slogans against China, which is usually known as a good neighbour and arms supplier to Myanmar.

A good number of people assembled in front of the Chinese Embassy in Yangon on 19 November and propagating anti-Beijing statements was an unusual occurrence in the country. The agitators understood as pro-junta, claimed that Beijing was behind the recent offensive against the military regime and also supporting the People’s Defence Forces (PDF), the armed wing of the National Unity Government.

Speculations are now raised that Communist China wants to topple the current batch of Burmese military dictators.