How China has Tightened its Grip on Myanmar’s Economy

NEWS18

FEBRUARY 09, 2021

While China Was Rapidly Making Inroads Into Myanmar, Indian Economic Presence In Myanmar Has Been More Or Less Limited To The 2010 Trade Statistics Level, A Bilateral Trade Over 11 Times Smaller Than China.

The bilateral trade between Myanmar and China in 2010 was US$1.22 billion. China’s share in Myanmar’s imports was 19.81%, while it accounted for just 2.93% of Myanmar’s exports. Back then, Thailand was the biggest trading partner with US$3.65 billion in bilateral trade. But it was largely export driven with 35.83% share of Myanmar’s total exports, while Singapore was at number three with US$1.58 billion of bilateral trade, according to the World Bank data.

India’s bilateral trade with Myanmar stood at US$1.12 billion and it was largely import driven. Myanmar’s import share with India was just 3.32%, while India’s share in Myanmar’s export was 10.80%.

How a Deadly Power Game Undid Myanmar’s Democratic Hopes

The New York Time

Max Fisher
Feb. 2, 2021

Myanmar seemed to be building a peaceful transition to civilian governance. Instead, a personal struggle between military and civilian leaders brought it all down.

Guarding a Hindu temple in Yangon, Myanmar, during a senior military officer’s visit on Tuesday.Credit...The New York Times

 

The wrenching collapse of Myanmar’s once-celebrated democratic opening had many witting and unwitting accomplices along the way. But its central driver, activists and experts say, was a yearslong power struggle between the military and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s civilian leader.

Democratic transitions can be a messy business. Old regimes tend to surrender power slowly, piece by piece. In a transitional phase that might last decades, the authoritarian and democratic systems often operate side by side. If they stay on tolerably good terms, with a shared understanding of their eventual destination, they have a chance to make it.

Rohingya refugees condemn Myanmar coup - community leader

REUTERS
Monday, 1 February 2021 

DHAKA, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Rohingya refugees condemned the overthrow of a democratically elected government in Myanmar by the military on Monday, a community leader said in Bangladesh, where a number of them live after fleeing violence in the neighbouring country.

"We Rohingya community strongly condemn this heinous attempt to kill democracy," Rohingya leader Dil Mohammed told Reuters by phone. "We urge the global community to come forward and restore democracy at any cost." (Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. 

Schumer said administration has briefed Congress on Burmese coup

THE HILL   

Laura Kelly
02/01/21 

© Getty Images

The Biden administration has briefed Congress on the military coup in Myanmar, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Monday, amid an international outcry condemning Burmese forces over their arrest of democratically elected leaders.

Speaking from the Senate floor, Schumer said Congress stands ready to work with the administration on efforts to support restoring democracy in the Southeast Asian country, also referred to as Burma.

“We are monitoring this situation with great concern, and the Biden administration is already providing briefings to the Hill on the state of affairs,” he said. “Congress stands ready to work collaboratively with the administration to resolve the situation.”

Timeline of Recent Events in Myanmar

VOA

VOA News
01 February 2021

A vehicle with Myanmar and military flags and supporters of the Myanmar military and the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party passes by a row of police trucks with police security onboard parked near the Kyauktada police station in…

Here is a timeline of some key events in Myanmar's recent turbulent history:

November 2015: The National League for Democracy (NLD) wins a general election by a landslide and Aung San Suu Kyi assumes power in a specially created role of state counselor.

U.N. fears for Myanmar Rohingya after coup, Security Council due to meet Tuesday

REUTERS

Michelle Nichols
APAC
February 1, 2021

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United Nations fears the coup in Myanmar will worsen the plight of some 600,000 Rohingya Muslims still in the country, a U.N. spokesman said on Monday as the Security Council planned to meet on the latest developments on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: The United Nations logo is seen at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 23, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson 

 

Myanmar’s military seized power on Monday in a coup against the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with other political leaders of in early morning raids.

A 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State sent more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing into Bangladesh, where they are still stranded in refugee camps. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Western states accused the Myanmar military of ethnic cleansing, which it denied.

U.N. fears situation will worsen for Rohingya in Myanmar

REUTERS

By Reuters Staff 

February 1, 2021 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United Nations fears the coup in Myanmar on Monday will worsen the situation for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims still in the country’s Rakhine state, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.

“There are about 600,000 Rohingya those that remain in Rakhine State, including 120,000 people who are effectively confined to camps, they cannot move freely and have extremely limited access to basic health and education services,” he said.

Myanmar’s Political Drama – What Episode Are You Watching Now?

The Irrawaddy 

Aung Zaw
29 January 2021

Former Myanmar military dictator Gen. Ne Win

Late on the evening of March 1, 1962, General Ne Win was among the honored guests at a Chinese ballet performance in Yangon. The general enjoyed a drink as he took in the show. Guests recalled seeing the general and his bodyguards return home soon after the performance ended.

But this relaxed scene was a façade. In the early hours of March 2, troops dispatched by the general arrived at the residences of government leaders and detained them. At 8:50 a.m. he went on the air to announced a military takeover of the government. Not even Ne Win’s close subordinates—including Brigadier General Aung Gyi, who would become the No. 2 in the Revolutionary Council formed shortly after the coup—had prior knowledge of the power grab.

Myanmar's ruling NLD party says military statement 'suitable explanation'

THE Star ONLINE  

Saturday, 30 Jan 2021

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy Party (NLD) on Saturday said it accepted a military statement on the situation in the country as a suitable explanation, after the armed forces said it would protect and follow the constitution.

Myo Nyunt, spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling party, which won a November election in a landslide, told Reuters the party wanted the military to be an organisation "that accepts people's desire regarding the election".

(Reporting by Shoon Naing; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by William Mallard)

 

Link : Here

 

UN, embassies fret over Myanmar coup talk

Bangkok Post 

AFP
29 Jan 2021

Supreme Court postpones decision on military-linked party's claim of electoral fraud

Myanmar is just a decade out of nearly 50 years of military rule. (AFP Photo)  

YANGON: More than a dozen embassies, including the US and EU delegations, on Friday urged Myanmar to “adhere to democratic norms”, joining the United Nations in a chorus of international concern about a possible military coup.

Political tensions eased slightly on Friday when the Supreme Court postponed considering allegations of electoral misconduct by President Win Myint and election commission chairman Hla Thein.

 
The submissions filed by the military-linked Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) would be “reserved for judgement", the court said.

Biden Administration Should Tread Carefully on Myanmar’s Rights Issues: Observers

Irrawaddy

Nyein Nyein
27 January 2021

Then US Vice President Joe Biden and Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi meet in Washington in September 2016. / State Counselor’s Office

 

US foreign policy under new President Joseph Biden will be centered on promoting democracy and human rights around the world, Antony Blinken, the administration’s nominee for secretary of state, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Jan. 19. Unlike Republican President Donald Trump, the new Democratic administration is likely to make human rights its top priority in dealing with Myanmar.

The UN Human Rights Commission said in September that ongoing and severe human rights violations continue to occur in armed conflict areas of Myanmar, including in the ethnic states of Kachin, Shan, Rakhine and Chin, despite the country’s ongoing democratic reform and peace-building processes.

It urged Myanmar to take concrete steps toward accountability for rights violations and said the current government’s initiatives to address the situation have been “inadequate and fallen short of international standards”.

Rohingya Brides Thought They Were Fleeing Violence. Then They Met Their Grooms.

VICE
Pari Saikia
25.01.2021

In a VICE World News investigation, Rohingya women share their harrowing stories of being sold to men in Kashmir.

IMAGE: OWI LUINIC/VIC

KASHMIR, India—Her baby cradled in her arms, Muskan recalls the winter night when she was duped into traveling more than 2,000 miles to be married to a man 30 years older than her.

“My legs were swollen and hurting because of the beatings and intense cold,” Muskan told VICE World News at her house in Kashmir, a stunning but conflict-ridden mountainous valley administered by India. “I felt miserable. I couldn’t see a way out.”

Five years have passed since she made the harrowing journey from her home in Myanmar. But Muskan can’t forget the horror of being held captive in the middle of the freezing winter, locked in a room without a toilet. The traffickers wouldn’t even let her and the other young trafficked women leave to use the bathroom. Muskan said their male captors beat them when they refused to marry complete strangers, often older men suffering from mental disabilities. Many of the marriages were arranged by families who struggled to find a caretaker for these men, she said.

Myanmar: 99 Undocumented Muslims Arrested In Yangon To Be Sent Back To Arakan State

eurasiareview  

DMG  

January 25, 2021 

Muslims arrested in Shwepyithar Township, Yangon Region. Photo Credit: DMG

Officials say they are planning to return 99 Muslims to Arakan State after they arrived in Yangon Region’s Shwepyithar Township without any documents and were arrested earlier this month.

Yangon Region lawmaker U Yan Aung Min told DMG that a letter had been addressed to the Union government through the regional government to send the 26 men and 73 women back to Arakan State via a ship from the Department of Marine Administration, which is part of the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Bangladesh to buy Myanmar rice, putting aside Rohingya crisis

REUTERS
Ruma Paul
APAC
January 24, 2021 

General view of a rice field in a valley in Nyaung Shwe, Shan state, Myanmar, November 6, 2019. REUTERS/Ann Wang

 

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh will buy 100,000 tonnes of rice from Myanmar, putting aside a rift over the Rohingya refugee crisis as the government races to overcome a shortage of the staple food for the country’s more than 160 million people.

High rice prices pose a problem for the Dhaka government, which is ramping up efforts to replenish its depleted reserves after floods last year ravaged crops and sent prices to a record high.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh and mostly Buddhist Myanmar have been at odds over the more than 1 million Muslim Rohingya refugees in camps in southern Bangladesh. The vast majority of them fled Myanmar in 2017 from a military-led crackdown that U.N investigators said was executed with “genocidal intent” - assertions that Myanmar denies.

Indonesia seeks a safe return of Rohingya to Myanmar

mizzima

Mizzima
24 January 2021

File) Rohingya refugees take rest after disembarking from a boat at Rancong Beach, Lhok Seumawe, North Aceh, Indonesia, 07 September 2020. Photo: EPA

This week Indonesia called on Myanmar to create safe conditions in Rakhine state for the return of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, as Southeast Asian foreign ministers met and expressed support for the repatriation plan, according to RFA.

At the same time, a regional parliamentarians group criticized the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for “pushing the return of the Rohingya refugees” to “a place that is completely unsafe.”

Around 1 million Rohingya refugees live in camps in Bangladesh, over 700,000 having fled from fighting in Rakhine State in 2017.

Myanmar committed Rohingyas repatriation under 2017 agreement with Bangladesh

The Indian Awaaz

INDIAN AWAAZ

23/01/2021

AMN/ WEB DESK

 

 

Myanmar Minister for International Cooperation Kyaw Tin has said that Myanmar is committed to start the repatriation of Rohingyas under the 2017 agreement with Bangladesh. The Minister pointed out that Myanmar had taken back Rohingyas in 1978 and 1992 on the basis of mutual talks.

According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of Bangladesh yesterday, Myanmar minister said in a letter to the Bangladesh Foreign Minister that Myanmar is committed to resolve all issues of mutual interest peacefully with it.

He expressed the hope that the tripartite meeting between Bangladesh, Myanmar and China held on January 19 would help in starting the repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar.

Earlier, Bangladesh had expressed ‘cautious optimism’ at the tripartite meeting held between Bangladesh, Myanmar and China.

Indonesia Urges Myanmar to Create Safe Conditions for Rohingya Repatriation

THE I DIPLOMAT

Sebastian Strangio
January 22, 2021

Conditions in Rakhine State are unlikely to be amenable to the safe return of refugees any time soon. 

Indonesia has called on the government of Myanmar to create safe conditions for the return of hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya refugees currently living in Bangladesh. The country’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi issued the call at a news conference on January 21, after an online meeting of foreign ministers from the 10 nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“Indonesia earnestly hopes that the Myanmar government can immediately create favorable conditions in Rakhine State so that repatriation can be done voluntarily, safely, and in a dignified manner as soon as possible,” Retno said.

Myanmar agrees to start taking back Rohingya this year

AA

SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh 

20.01.2021 

 

Tripartite meeting facilitated by China also agrees to keep global community in Rakhine State during repatriation.

Rohingya refugees sit on a Bangladesh Navy ship as they are relocated to the controversial flood-prone island Bhashan Char in the Bay of Bengal, in Chittagong on December 29, 2020. ( Stringer - Anadolu Agency ) 

 

Myanmar agreed to calls by Bangladesh at a tripartite meeting facilitated by China to start the much-awaited repatriation of Rohingya in the second quarter of this year, officials said Tuesday.

Bangladesh pushed hard to begin the repatriation, but Myanmar again delayed it, seeking time for logistical arrangements.

“We pushed to initiate the repatriation in the first quarter, but Myanmar sought more time for logistical arrangements and some physical arrangements. So we asked to start repatriation in the second quarter, and they agreed on it,” Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said after the meeting.

Bangladesh, Myanmar, China tripartite talks Tuesday

Prothum Alo------ 

Prothom Alo English DeskDhaka
Published: 18 January 2021,

Rohingya exodus from their homeland, making their way to Bangladesh Reuters

Bangladesh, Myanmar and China will hold a virtual tripartite meeting on Tuesday to discuss ways to expedite the Rohingya repatriation process.

Rohingya repatriation talks between Dhaka and Naypyitaw remained halted for nearly a year due to COVID-19 pandemic and the general elections in Myanmar, reports UNB.

Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen will lead the Bangladesh delegations in the meeting scheduled to begin at 2pm (local time) on Tuesday, reports UNB. Vice Minister of China Luo Zhaohui will join from Beijing with Bangladesh and Myanmar delegations, a senior official confirmed.

Myanmar: Serious Rights Abuses Persist

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

 

 

 

January 13, 2021

No Justice for Ongoing Crimes Against Humanity, Apartheid

Voters wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus line up to cast their ballots at a polling station near Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar, November 8, 2020. © 2020 AP Photo/Thein Zaw

 

(Bangkok) – The Myanmar government has repeatedly violated basic civil and political rights, and failed to hold the country’s security forces accountable for atrocities against ethnic minorities, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2021.

The ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party overwhelmingly won the November 8, 2020, election, which was marred by serious problems. Prior to the vote the government prosecuted its critics, censored opposition party messages, and did not provide equal access to state media. Systemic problems include the continued ethnic Rohingya disenfranchisement, the 25 percent of assembly seats reserved for the military, and the lack of an independent and transparent Union Election Commission. The commission cancelled voting in 57 primarily ethnic minority townships for security reasons, but provided little or no consultation or explanation to affected political parties and candidates.