Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
News on disease control, Taiwan, CCP and Myanmar
News (1)
A letter dated 21 July 2021 was sent by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the central executive committee of the National League for Democracy (NLD). It circulated online recently. The letter thanked the NLD for its congratulations on the CCP's 100th Anniversary.
News (22)
CCP is against Myanmar Junta dissolving NLD
In early August, during a virtual meeting between the junta-appointed foreign minister U Wunna Maung Lwin and China’s ambassador to Myanmar, Chen Hai, the ambassador referred to the State Administration Council (SAC), the governing body of the military regime, as the Myanmar government but also voiced concerns over the regime’s plan to dissolve the NLD.
Many Myanmar people are puzzled why China is against the dissolution of NLD, despite the junta-appointed Union Election Commission saying the NLD must be dissolved.
News (23)
CCP is concerned about its interests in Myanmar
According to political analyst Dr. Hla Kyaw Zaw (above), based in Yunnan, the letter sent to the NLD conveys the Chinese government’s message to the SAC that the [NLD must not be disbanded] if the SAC wants Beijing to recognize it [as the government of Myanmar] and to continue to implement previous agreements [on Chinese investments in Myanmar]. CCP wants to see stability in Myanmar because it is concerned about its interests in the country.
News (24)
CCP's BRI projects can only proceed when there is political stability
Dr. Hla Kyaw Zaw said that CCP’s strategic ambitions, the Belt and Road Initiative, can progress only when Myanmar is stable. The Chinese Communist regime knows that it cannot rely only on the Myanmar military to achieve stability in Myanmar. So, together with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Beijing is pushing for inclusive dialogue between all parties in Myanmar.
News (25)
CCP sheds crocodile tears for Burmese civilians while expressing support to the Junta
China has raised concerns about the NLD because the party enjoys the support of the Myanmar people, despite being accused [by Myanmar’s military] of electoral fraud in the 2020 election. By protecting the NLD, Beijing is trying to touch the hearts of the Myanmar people. While anti-China sentiments are growing in Myanmar, it sends a message that China notices and respects the wishes of the Myanmar people.
News (26)
CCP is re-inventing and exporting Marxism to the world through engagement with all political parties
The CCP has departed from its usual routine lately. Its ideology is no longer that of a conventional communist party. In the past, the CCP engaged with other parties based on the ideology of social class. Now, it has departed from ordinary communist philosophy. The party said it is searching for and inventing a Marxism for the 21st Century. It engages with all the parties around the world.
News (27)
CCP wants an inclusive government for Myanmar including NLD's presence
[Under the NLD government] China invited not only the NLD leaders to events in China but also the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) leaders. It invited all and exchanged political views. It tried to show them how changes can be introduced peacefully in this globalized age. The CPC focuses on pragmatism rather than theory. So it engages with the NLD and the USDP, as well as the ethnic parties. It uses soft power to improve its position on the international stage. So China developed good relations with the NLD, and the NLD also tried to improve ties with Beijing.
News (28)
CCP is seeking to replace capitalist globalization with socialist globalization
The situation has changed a lot. In the past, Marxism was about the proletariat: Industrial workers and farmers fighting capitalism.
Capitalism has become globalization now.
To join the globalized world, one has to join the capitalist system. That is why China joined the World Trade Organization because the global order is controlled by capitalists. As the US and Europe controls the global order, it joined them to reap profits. However, when Beijing distributes profits in China, it distributes them based on socialism.
In January 2021, China’s President Xi Jinping said in a speech to the Davos Agenda event that China protects capitalism more than the capitalists do. Globalization has significantly boosted production and if the [profits from production] can be shared properly and systematically for the people, it is beneficial to the majority. China is attempting to replace capitalist globalization with socialist globalization. It is incorporating useful things from capitalism to create wealth for its people.
News (29)
The likelihood of CCP engaging with Myanmar's shadow government
When asked if there is a likelihood of the CCP engaging with the National Unity Government (NUG), Dr Zaw said, "I think both sides are still waiting. The NUG is seemingly reluctant to engage with China because it mainly relies on the US and other western powers for support. And China seemingly does not want to make the SAC feel uneasy. China, if possible, wants to take a neutral position as it wants to intervene impartially in conflicts between the military regime, the NLD and the other forces in Myanmar. China may engage with the NUG if the NUG gets stronger and more capable."
News (30)
Myanmar Junta will not disband NLD as long as CCP has concerns
The SAC needs to buy time considering the realities facing it. That’s why it has nodded to the five-point consensus proposed by ASEAN. There have been delays in the ASEAN envoy’s planned trip to Myanmar. The military has never liked the NLD. But, for the time being, it will not disband the NLD. It will keep the party alive as long as the CCP has raised concerns.
The NLD has fought the military since 1990. They have endurance. A party will cease only when it is ruined by the party members. Any party will be able to mobilize anytime if there are people who have faith in it. As long as there is injustice, a disparity between rich and poor and a lack of democracy in Myanmar, parties that have public support will continue to exist. The NLD will continue to exist even if not under the same name.
News (31)
CCP China may agree to support NUG's ambassador at UN or stay neutral
On the upcoming UN Credentials Committee on placing someone in the position of Myanmar's ambassador to the UN, Dr Zaw explains that China has taken different approaches at the UN, depending on the time and situation in Myanmar. It is not consistent.
Before 2011, during the time of the State Law and Order Restoration Council and the State Peace and Development Council in Myanmar, China used its veto at the UN to protect the then military regime. It understands that Myanmar people have negative views towards CCP China because of that. It was aware of the need to engage with Myanmar people and so it started to engage with different groups, including the NLD.
Dr Zaw analyzed, "This time, China will also take a neutral position at the UN so as not to upset the SAC or the Myanmar people. If there is a majority view among the countries at the UN meeting, China might to choose to agree with them or else it will stay neutral."
Both China and the US back the ASEAN consensus on tackling the Myanmar crisis. But there are tensions between the US and China over the South China Sea. In Myanmar, there are concerns whether the crisis would put Myanmar at the center of the China-US clash.
Myanmar is trapped in the geopolitical struggle between China and the US. Since the February 1 coup, some independent Chinese analysts have claimed that western countries were behind the ousting of the NLD government because it was too close to Beijing. Some have said that when western countries took back the honorary titles given to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and criticized her over the Rohingya issue, that encouraged the military to stage the coup. Other analysts have said that anti-China sentiment is growing in Myanmar because the military is deliberately encouraging the public to hate China rather than the junta. Myanmar could end up trapped between the China and US in the same way that the Ukraine is trapped between the European Union and Russia. For example, since the Rohingya issue, China has said that the US is deliberately disrupting its Kyaukphyu deep-sea port project in Rakhine State.
News (32)
Kyaukphyu project may hurt the economic interests of the U.S., Singapore and Malaysia
The development and final completion of the deep-sea port in Kyaukphyu may hurt the U.S. economic interests in Southeast Asia as the U.S. does not have vast economic interests in Myanmar and sea traffic through Kyaukphyu may divert sea traffic and commerce away from Tanjung Pagar, Singapore and smaller ports along the Straits of Malacca such as Penang, Johor in Malaysia and Belawan in Medan.
Dr Zaw stresses that it is important for Myanmar not to be trapped in conflicts between superpowers while continuing to struggle against the bloody-handed regime of the Myanmar Junta to avoid economic impact to Malaysia and Singapore as a result of the Kyaukphyu project completion.
News (33)
The importance of bringing an end to the Myanmar Junta regime
Dr Zaw says Myanmar people have now fully understood that Myanmar will never develop so long as it remains under military rule. That is why people are saying they have to crush the military.
He said, "My view is that everyone should take their fair share of responsibility by taking up arms or by staging protests. We need to form an allied force that includes all the parties that don’t like the Myanmar military. No party can be left behind. It is the responsibility of all to isolate the military."
News (34) to (40) / Source : The Irrawaddy
News (34)
Hong Kong company withdraws from power station contracts in Kyaukphyu and Mandalay
VPower, a Hong Kong-listed power generation company, has announced that it is pulling out of two projects in Myanmar.
The company, which has a stake in nine power plants across Myanmar, said it will not be renewing the contracts for power stations in Kyaukphyu Township, Rakhine State, and Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region.
The joint venture between VPower and the state-owned China National Technical Import and Export Corporation (CNTIC) won three projects worth US$800 million with a combined capacity of 900 megawatts.
They include the 150-megawatt plant built near the Kyaukphyu deep-sea port project, which is a crucial part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and the 400-megawatt gas-powered plant in Thaketa and 350-megawatt power plant in Thanlyin, which are both in Yangon.
Each project can produce 200 megawatts and the contracts expired in March and June. The company said the decision came after it faced challenging times amid post-coup turmoil since February.
Deputy permanent secretary U Soe Myint of the junta-controlled Electricity and Energy Ministry declined to disclose details, saying the ministry was still discussing details with the company.
News (35)
No demand for electricity supplies from foreign firms due to fund shortage
A director of an electricity provider in Myanmar told independent media The Irrawaddy that there is no demand for electricity supplies from foreign firms and more firms are expected to leave the Myanmar market.
The Electricity and Energy Ministry of Myanmar is short of funds to pay electricity and energy providers following cash shortages after the February coup.
The director said, “In electricity supply contracts, there are terms and conditions such as specifying the units the supplier has to provide and the buyer has to buy in a certain period. But now, the military council can’t afford to buy additional units and can’t even pay for the units it has purchased.”
News (36)
Burmese refuse to pay taxes and utility bills to the Myanmar Junta
As part of the wider Civil Disobedience Movement against the military regime, Myanmar’s consumers have withheld payments to the junta, including taxes and utility bills.
The ousted National League for Democracy government invited bids in 2019 to address the electricity shortage during Myanmar’s hot season when hydropower plants cannot run at full capacity. Hydropower is Myanmar’s main source of energy.
News (37)
KNU Concerned Group: Ceasefire Agreement is void
Ethnic Karen leaders have announced that the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), signed between the government and ethnic armed groups, is no longer valid due to the military coup.
Led by Naw Zipporah Sein, a former vice chairwoman of the Karen National Union (KNU), the KNU Concerned Group (CG) was formed in 2017 and includes former KNU leaders and engages in Karen political and human rights issues.
“To review the NCA, the military after its coup unfairly arrested protesters, politicians and journalists and committed extrajudicial killings. So we can assume that the NCA is null and void,” Naw Zipporah Sein told The Irrawaddy.
She said the NCA was designed by Myanmar’s military as part of the 2008 Constitution to force ethnic revolutionary organizations to give up their arms.
In its statement, the CG said it would support the parallel civilian National Unity Government (NUG) in administrative, military and diplomatic matters.
The CG said it shared the NUG’s objectives for equality and self-determination for ethnic groups and a federal union.
It urged the ethnic armed groups and People’s Defense Forces to work together to defeat the military dictatorship and establish a federal, democratic union.
KNU leader General Saw Mutu Sae Poe in May backed talks with Myanmar’s military regime and said he would stick to the NCA. A month later, Saw Johnny, the chief of staff of the Karen National Liberation Army, the KNU’s armed wing, seconded the KNU leader’s stance and said he would follow the NCA framework.
The NCA was originally signed between eight ethnic armed groups, including the KNU, and President U Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government on 15 October 2015.
News (38)
Myanmar Junta struggling to recruit new officers
The Myanmar military is struggling to recruit new officers, as far fewer people apply to the country’s military academies following the junta’s coup and subsequent brutal crackdowns on anti-regime protesters.
The shortage of new officer recruits is a further blow to the military, which has seen more than 1,500 personnel, including a hundred officers, defect from the army following the military takeover in February.
News (39)
Deadline for recruit applications extended for the "second time"
On 2 September 2021, the regime announced in junta-controlled media that it has extended the deadline for applications to the academies for the “second time”, after the deadline was initially extended in August, supposedly because of the pandemic.
However, a former army captain with knowledge of the application process said that the extension was because there were only “around 100 applicants” so far for the country’s three military academies.
“Around 100 people have submitted applications this year to join the military academies. Most of the candidates are from military families,” said Captain Lin Htet Aung, an army defector and founder of People’s Embrace, a Facebook group set up to encourage soldiers to desert their units and join the resistance against the military regime.
According to Capt. Lin Htet Aung, prior to the coup, Myanmar’s three military schools – the Defence Services Academy, Defence Science and Technology Academy and Defence Services Medical Academy – each attracted some 12,000 applicants annually. Only around 10% of candidates are normally accepted each year.
He added that the steep fall in applicants is a consequence of the coup, referring to the military’s subsequent lethal crackdowns on the Myanmar people, as well as the looting and destruction of civilians’ property.
News (40)
The Myanmar Junta has killed 1,043 civilians
As of 2 September 2021, 1,043 people have been killed by the junta since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
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