OP-ED: Bangladesh is being held hostage

Dhaka Tribune  

Anis Alamgir

October 12th, 2020

Abandoned by all BIGSTOCK

With little support from the international arena, what is the future of the Rohingya in Bangladesh?

On October 5, Vikram Doraiswami, the newly appointed Indian High Commissioner to the country, arrived in Bangladesh. He told reporters at the land port in Akhaura: “Bangladesh is one of India’s closest friends, and thus we are eager to continue and enhance our bilateral relationship with this neighbouring country.”

Beijing is now more interested in keeping Bangladesh as a development partner through the continuous effort of distancing Dhaka from Delhi. Recently, Sino-Indian relations with Bangladesh are looking great, but the reality is different.

Why China wants Suu Kyi to win Myanmar’s polls

ASIA TIMES
by Bertil Lintner
September 3, 2020

China’s interests will be better served by the Suu Kyi-led status quo than a return to military-dominated rule 

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi shake hands before a bilateral meeting at the Presidential Palace in Naypyidaw on January 18, 2020. Photo: AFP/ Nyein Chan Naing/Pool 

BANGKOK – As Myanmar enters an election season, the economy, Covid-19 and issues of war and peace are expected to dominate the campaign trail discourse.

But for the international community, speculation centers on which direction foreign policy will likely take after the poll: toward an even stronger and closer relationship with China or a shift towards a more independent posture.

China’s Top Diplomat Checks in on Myanmar Projects

THE I DIPLOMAT
By Sebastian Strangio
September 03, 2020

Yang Jiechi’s visit is a sign of the complications China faces in advancing its strategic interests in Myanmar. 

On Tuesday, Yang Jiechi, the head of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chinese Communist Party, paid a short visit to Myanmar as part of a globe-spanning tour that will also take him to Greece and Spain. Coming almost eight months after President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Myanmar in January, Yang’s stop in Naypyidaw was aimed at shoring up key areas of bilateral cooperation ahead of Myanmar’s upcoming elections on November 8, which the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) is widely expected to win.

Chinese Investment in Myanmar: Beyond Myitsone Dam

THE I DIPLOMAT
By Ruosui Zhang
July 22, 2020

How national security concerns sealed the varying fates of Chinese investment projects in Myanmar.

Almost nine years have passed since the Thein Sein administration unilaterally announced the suspension of construction work on the Myitsone dam in September 2011. The building of the controversial hydroelectric dam is a gargantuan Chinese investment project in Myanmar, with an estimated total cost of $3.6 billion, and with a planned reservoir area larger than the size of Singapore. The suspension followed increasingly severe public protests in Myanmar expressing opposition to the Myitsone dam project. Naypyidaw credited the suspension decision to the “people’s will, and many analysts have thus attributed the unexpected suspension to the victory of popular anti-China sentiments and anti-dam movements, following Myanmar’s domestic political transition. If the “people’s will” really brought the Myitsone dam project to a halt, might other Chinese overseas projects be at risk of a similar fate?

Weapons originating from China: India seeks probe findings from Thailand, Myanmar

OneIndia
Vicky Nanjappa
Tuesday, July 21, 2020

New Delhi, July 21: India has asked Thailand and Myanmar to share the details of a probe in which illegal arms originating from China were seized. It may be recalled that the Royal Thai Army had intercepted a big consignment of illegal arms and ammunition. The ammunition having its origin in China was smuggled into Myanmar.

Representational Image

New Delhi's envoy to Bangkok, Suchitra Durai held a meeting with Unsit Sampuntharat, governor of the Tok province of Thailand. Local police and immigration officials too were present at the meeting. India is keen to find out about the renewed flow of illegal weapons that originate from China.

US, Chinese embassies in Myanmar exchange barbs

TAIPEI TIMES
Reuters
Mon, Jul 20, 2020

REGIONAL RIVALRY: The US embassy said Beijing was trying to undermine the sovereignty of its neighbors, while the Chinese said the US statement was sour grapes

The Chinese embassy in Myanmar yesterday accused the US of “outrageously smearing” the China and driving a wedge with its Southeast Asian neighbors over the contested South China Sea and Hong Kong, as tensions mount between the superpowers.

UK accuses China of 'gross' human rights abuses against Uighurs

B B C

19 July 2020 

 China's ambassador Liu Xiaoming: "There is no such concentration camp in Xinjiang"

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has accused China of "gross and egregious" human rights abuses against its Uighur population and said sanctions against those responsible cannot be ruled out.

Reports of forced sterilisation and wider persecution of the Muslim group were "reminiscent of something not seen for a long time", he told the BBC.

US Showed its 'Ugly Face', Chinese Embassy in Myanmar Claims as Two Nations Indulge in Name-Calling

International Business Times
 Akshay Saraswat
July 19, 2020

A war of words has broken out between the two countries' embassies in Myanmar. Both sides have issued strong statements denouncing the other

A serious diplomatic fight has broken out between China and the United States in Myanmar. The spat has descended into name-calling as the two countries level allegations against each other. The root of the problem is growing Chinese assertiveness over its claimed rights in the South China Sea.

Myanmar finds China-Pakistan nexus in arms supply to rebel group: Report

moneycontrol

Jul 18, 2020

Moneycontrol News @moneycontrolcom

 
The Arakan Army (AA), an insurgent group in the Rakhine state, reportedly placed an order for Chinese-made weapons. 

 

 

Myanmar has discovered a China-Pakistan nexus in the arms supply to two rebel groups in Rakhine after arrests by Thai authorities.

The groups allegedly targeted Indian infrastructure such as the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, and are fuelling terror in Myanmar and Bangladesh, The Economic Times reported.

The Arakan Army (AA), an insurgent group in the Rakhine state, placed an order for Chinese-made weapons, a source told the publication.

Could The International Criminal Court Investigate Atrocities Against The Uighur Muslims In China?

Forbes
Ewelina U. Ochab
Policy
 Jul 7, 2020

Over the recent years, several news outlets reported on the dire situation of the Uighur Muslims in China who were being detained for re-education purposes. This was followed by in-depth research suggesting that the religious minority communities are subjected to modern day slavery and women are subjected to forced sterilization. Despite these severe allegations that point towards mass atrocities, as genocide or crimes against humanity, the international community has done little to ensure that the alleged atrocities are investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice. International bodies, such as the United Nations, have been greatly silent, with a few meaningless statements that do not follow with decisive actions to change the fate of the targeted communities. 

This photo taken on May 31, 2019, shows a watchtower on a high-security facility near what is ... [+] AFP via Getty Images 

China supplying funds, missiles and other sophisticated weaponry to terrorist group Arakan Army to weaken India and Myanmar: Report

OpIdia
2 July, 2020
OpIndia Staff

China had earlier this year, managed to bring in a huge consignment of weapons and ammunition through Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts to Myanmar. 

Arakan Army

 

News reports published in Myanmar recently have accused China of supplying sophisticated arms to Arakan Army armed group, a declared terrorist organisation in Myanmar, and other armed groups in Myanmar to have an upper hand over India and Myanmar.

According to military sources in Myanmar, approximately 95 per cent of Arakan Army funding comes from China. It further confirmed that the Arakan Army has approximately 50 MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defense Systems) surface-to-air missiles. 

When the Rohingya issue takes a back seat

Dhaka Tribune

Muhammad Zamir
February 8th, 2020

Photo: Reuters

For China, the crisis in Rakhine state isn’t a big issue

In 2019, the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, appealed to Aung San Suu Kyi to “open your eyes, listen, feel with your heart, and please use your moral authority before it is too late.”

Professor Lee was referring to a newly published report by the UN on the risk to the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya still remaining in Myanmar, who were described as being at “serious risk of genocide.” Since then, a lot of water has flown down from the rivers in Myanmar into the Bay of Bengal.

Europeans Press For Action on Rohingya After China, Vietnam Shield Myanmar at UNSC

RADIO FREE ASIA
2020-02-05

The UN Security Council discusses maintaining international peace and security and upholding the United Nations Charter during a meeting at UN headquarters in New York, Jan. 9, 2020.
AFP/UN/Mark Garten 

European member states of the United Nations called for Myanmar on Tuesday to take measures to hold to account those responsible for committing human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims after the Security Council failed to support an order by the international body’s top court to protect members of the minority group.

UN fails to take action on order against Myanmar on Rohingya

Aljazeera
2020.02.04

Myanmar's allies China and Vietnam block vote on a joint statement forcing EU member states to make separate report.

More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after Myanmar security forces launched a crackdown on the Muslim minority in August 2017 [File: Abir Abdullah/EPA]

The UN Security Council on Tuesday discussed the International Court of Justice's order that Myanmar do all it can to prevent genocide against the Rohingya Muslims, but failed to agree on a statement.

Myanmar Unrolls a Welcome Mat for China, but Not All the Way

The New York Times
By Hannah Beech and Saw Nang
Jan. 16, 2020

As Xi Jinping visits Myanmar, fighting in ethnic borderlands threatens China’s ambitious investment plans.

President Xi Jinping of China and his counterpart in Myanmar, Win Myint, during a welcome ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, on Friday.Credit...Ann Wang/Reuters

BANGKOK — As the leader of China, Xi Jinping, touched down in Myanmar on Friday, his two-day visit is designed to celebrate Beijing’s expanding presence in the region, both as an economic and political role model.

But relations between the two neighbors have never been so simple.

China is by far the largest foreign investor in Myanmar, which boasts a trove of natural resources. And China also provides a road map for how one of Asia’s poorest nations might lift its citizens out of hand-to-mouth existences.

Myanmar, China Ink Deals to Accelerate Belt and Road as Xi Courts an Isolated Suu Kyi

The New York Times

Reuters

Jan. 18, 2020

NAYPYITAW — China and Myanmar inked dozens of deals on Saturday to speed up infrastructure projects in the Southeast Asian nation, as Beijing seeks to cement its hold over a neighbour increasingly isolated by the West.

But no major new projects were agreed during the two-day visit by President Xi Jinping, the first of any Chinese leader in 19 years. Analysts said Myanmar was generally cautious of investments by Beijing and was also being careful ahead of elections later this year.

Still, Xi and Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi signed 33 agreements shoring up key projects that are part of the flagship Belt and Road Initiative, China’s vision of new trade routes described as a “21st century silk road”.

China's Xi stands with Myanmar despite Rohingya genocide accusations

AFP
18 Jan 2020

China's Xi Jinping doubled down on his support for fallen rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday, signing dozens of infrastructure and trade deals and meeting with the Myanmar army chief accused of overseeing a genocide against Rohingya Muslims.

The Chinese president's state visit to Myanmar's purpose-built capital came as Western investors give a wide berth to the country due to the Rohingya crisis.

A 2017 military crackdown on the minority, which UN investigators called genocide, forced around 740,000 people from western Rakhine state over the border into Bangladesh.

What China’s Xi will and won’t get in Myanmar

ASIA TIMES
Bertil Lintner,
Chiang Mai
January 16, 2020

Chinese leader to make historic Jan 17-18 visit in bid to advance contested Belt and Road Initiative 

When Xi Jinping travels to Myanmar on January 17, it will be the first visit by a sitting Chinese president since Jiang Zemin toured the country in December 2001.

Xi’s visit will show just how much times have changed between now and then. Jiang visited Myanmar when it was still ruled by a military junta and China was the then isolated nation’s closest ally.

China, Russia for deeper engagement

NEWAGE

Shahidul Islam Chowdhury 

Nov 21,2019

China and Russia on Wednesday separately expressed intent to make deeper engagement in implementing the bilateral agreements between Bangladesh and Myanmar for peaceful solution to the Rohingya crisis.

Chinese ambassador Li Jiming and Russian ambassador Alexander I Ignatov expressed their eagerness to this end in separate meetings with foreign minister AK Abdul Momen at the foreign ministry in Dhaka, according to diplomatic sources.

Envoy: China involved from day one to find Rohingya solution

Dhaka Tribune 
Tribune Desk
November 17th, 2019

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming speaks at a function at the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka marking the formation of a Chinese medical team on Sunday, November 17, 2019 BSS

Chinese medical team ready to set off to help host community in Cox’s Bazar, he said

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming has said his country remains involved to find out a solution of the Rohingya issue since the crisis began in the region.

“As a reliable friend and neighbor of Bangladesh and Myanmar, China has been involved in finding the way out almost since day one,” he said.