Bangladesh-Myanmar Economic Ties: Addressing the Next Generation Challenges

moderndiplomacy

Shazzad Hussain
August 1, 2021

Bangladesh-Myanmar relations have developed through phases of cooperation and conflict. Conflict in this case is not meant in the sense of confrontation, but only in the sense of conflict of interests and resultant diplomatic face-offs. Myanmar is the only other neighbor that Bangladesh has on its border besides India. It is the potential gateway for an alternative land route opening towards China and South-East Asia other than the sea. Historically, these two countries have geographic and cultural linkages. These two bordering countries, located in separate geopolitical regions, have huge possibilities in developing their bilateral economic relations. At the initial phase of their statehood, both countries undertook numerous constructive initiatives to improve their relations. Nevertheless, different bilateral disputes and challenges troubled entire range of cooperation. Subsequent to these challenges, Bangladesh and Myanmar have started negotiation process on key dubious issues. The economic rationales over political tensions in Bangladesh-Myanmar relations prevail with new prospects and opportunities.

New Great Game rages in post-coup Myanmar

ASIA TIMES
Bertil Lintner
June 12, 2021

China and US on opposed sides in Myanmar's escalating civil war while Japan, India and ASEAN struggle to strike a middle ground

Anti-coup protesters show their support for Myanmar's National Unity Government. Photo: Jose Lopes Amaral / NurPhoto via AFP

CHIANG MAI – China has declared its support for Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s military-coup government in Myanmar. The United States and the European Union have implemented sanctions and declared their support for the people’s power movement agitating against the dictatorship.

India and Japan are keeping quiet because they don’t want to push Myanmar further back into the clutches of China. Thailand is too dependent on natural gas imports from Myanmar to dare to condemn or even criticize the coup.

The rest of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, has once again demonstrated that it is wholly incapable of resolving regional crises. 

World Bank: Coup and Coronavirus Shrink Myanmar’s Economy by 18%

VOA
Vijitra Duangdee
July 26, 2021

Vehicles make their ways as pedestrians cross a road with Sule pagoda seen the in background in downtown Yangon, Myanmar, July 19, 2021.

BANGKOK - Myanmar’s economy is forecast to shrink by 18% as it grapples with the coronavirus and the political turmoil unleashed by a coup, the World Bank said Monday. The contracting economy threatens millions with poverty, joblessness and hunger.

A decade ago, the Southeast Asian nation was seen as a promising frontier market. Its military began to slacken its grip, the economy opened up to the outside world for the first time in decades and Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party was democratically elected.

Moscow sells warplanes to Burmese generals

ASIANEWS.IT

Vladimir Rozanskij
07/26/2021,

Sukhoi Su-30SME multirole fighter jets and military training aircraft​ delivered . After China, Russia is the main supplier of weapons to Naypyidaw. Like the Chinese, the Russians support Min Aung Hlaing's coup junta. Burma's military leadership relies on the Kremlin to balance Beijing's influence.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - In recent days Russia has delivered a consignment of Sukhoi Su-30SME multi-role fighter jets and military training aircraft to Myanmar, contracted by the regime a few months ago. Head of the Federal Service for Military Cooperation, Dmitry Šugaev confirmed the sale to Interfax over the weekend.

Šugaev says "the supply of these technologies will significantly strengthen the capabilities of Myanmar's military aviation." During the Maks-2021 Air Show, in the presence of Vladimir Putin, he explained that "Naypyidaw remains one of Russia's key partners in Southeast Asia."

Myanmar’s Junta Tries – and Fails – to Appoint a New UN Ambassador

THE I DIPLOMAT

Sebastian Strangio

July 21, 2021

But the military’s takeover has trapped foreign governments between dueling moral and diplomatic imperatives.

Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that Myanmar’s military junta has attempted – unsuccessfully – to replace the country’s ambassador to the United Nations, foreshadowing a looming battle over diplomatic recognition at the world body.

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres dated May 12, a copy of which was obtained by the news agency, the junta’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin said he had appointed the former military commander Aung Thurein as Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador.

Wunna Maung Lwin said in an accompanying letter that Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s currently recognized U.N. ambassador, “has been terminated on Feb. 27, 2021, due to abuses of his assigned duty and mandate.”

Yunnan Sees COVID-19 Spike as Myanmar Slides Toward ‘Super-Spreader’ State

THE I DIPLOMAT

Sebastian Strangio
July 21, 2021

 

The former head of the Myanmar’s COVID-19 response says the country could be facing “up to 400,000” dead.

China yesterday reported its highest daily toll of COVID-19 infections since January, driven by a sudden increase in infections in Yunnan province, where cases are spilling across the border from Myanmar.

The National Health Commission reported 65 new confirmed cases on Monday, up from 31 the day before. As Reuters noted, this was the most since January 30, when 92 new cases were reported.

Inside A Myanmar Clinic Fighting A New COVID Surge

THE ASEAN POST
18 July 2021

Volunteers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) prepare to transport the body of a victim of the COVID-19 coronavirus to a cemetery in Hlegu Township in Yangon on 10 July, 2021. (AFP Photo)

In a clinic in a remote Myanmar town, some of the few doctors still working after the coup emptied hospitals are battling to keep their COVID-19 patients alive as the virus resurges.

Infections are spiking in Myanmar, with the State Administration Council – as the military junta calls itself – reporting more than 4,000 cases on Thursday, in a crisis made worse by shortages of critical medical equipment.

AFP footage from inside a clinic in the north-western town of Kalay showed patients slumped in makeshift beds, oxygen canisters at their feet.

Why the West won’t recognize Myanmar’s NUG

ASIA TIME
by David Hutt
July 16, 2021

While Western governments universally reject the military coup, they're also wary of the anti-junta National Unity Government's credibility

Protesters hold posters in support of the National Unity Government (NUG) during a demonstration against the military coup on "Global Myanmar Spring Revolution Day" in Taunggyi, Shan state on May 2, 2021. Photo: AFP / Stringer

“Defending Burmese democracy is no longer a progressive, sexy cause.”

That may be at the heart of why Western governments still have not recognized Myanmar’s government-in-opposition that formed months after February’s military coup, according to David Frederic Camroux, an honorary senior research fellow at the Center for International Studies at Sciences Po in Paris.

Myanmar government slams UN on Rohingya resolution

CNA
15 Jul 2021

Members of the internally displaced Rohingya Muslim community are seen on Jun 5, 2021 at the Thet Kay Pyin camp in Sittwe, Rakhine state, Myanmar. (Photo: AFP/STR)

YANGON: Myanmar's government rejected on Wednesday (Jul 14) a UN Human Rights Council resolution calling for reconciliation with the persecuted Rohingya minority, slamming "one-sided allegations" over its treatment of the stateless community.

The country has been in turmoil since the government of Aung San Suu Kyi was ousted in a February coup, sparking huge pro-democracy protests and a bloody military crackdown.

China, Myanmar named in US genocide report

UCA News

UCA News reporter
Published: July 14, 2021

Report highlights China's treatment of Uyghurs and Myanmar military's ethnic cleansing and post-coup atrocities

Protesters gather outside the Belgian parliament in Brussels on July 8 as MPs vote on a resolution to recognize China's policies towards Uyghurs as genocide. (Photo: AFP)

China, which has been accused of ill treatment of its Uyghur minority, and its neighbor and ally Myanmar, which faces allegations of ethnic cleansing, have been named in a new US genocide report.

The State Department’s annual report to Congress on countries where there is risk of atrocities being committed named China and Myanmar along with Eritrea, Syria and South Sudan.

Blinken urges ASEAN to take ‘immediate action’ on Myanmar

Aljazeera

14 Jul 2021

In first meeting with ASEAN, US secretary of state calls for action on Myanmar and rejects China’s claims in South China Sea.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed US's commitment to ASEAN centrality during Wednesday's video conference [Jim Watson/Pool via Reuters]

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed “deep concerns” about the military coup in Myanmar and called on Southeast Asian nations to take action to end violence and restore democracy in the country.

UN resolution calls for reconciliation in Myanmar

Frontier
MYANMAR
AFP
JULY 13, 2021

The UN Human Rights Council on Monday adopted a resolution condemning human rights violations by Myanmar’s military against the Rohingya and other minorities, and called for a process of reconciliation.

The resolution, brought forward by Pakistan on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, was approved without a vote in the Geneva-based council.

China, one of the 47 council members, said it could not join the consensus but nonetheless did not insist on bringing the text to a vote.

UNHRC adopts resolution emphasising justice and repatriation of Rohingyas back to Myanmar

The Daily Star

Star Digital Report
Mon Jul 12, 2021

UN Human Rights Council unanimously adopted a resolution on the "Human Rights Situation of Rohingya Muslims and other Minorities in Myanmar" today, calling on the international community to continue providing humanitarian assistance until they return to Myanmar.

The resolution also emphasized bringing all responsible for torture, crimes against humanity, and war crimes against Rohingyas to justice, while also acknowledging the ongoing criminal proceedings in the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.

Torture in Myanmar: Don’t Let the Junta Normalize Cruelty

THE I DIPLOMAT 

By Tomas Max Martin, Ergun Cakal, and Hannah Russell
JULY 13, 2021

Torture – and the fear that it engenders – has been central to the military junta’s efforts to quell popular resistance.

On June 26, CNN reported the story of American-Burmese journalist Nathan Maung, who was released by the Myanmar military after three months of detention, during which time he experienced severe torture. On June 22, Human Rights Watch published the account of a 17-year-old boy, who endured repeated beatings with a bamboo stick filled with cement, blows to the head with the butt of a rifle, and burial up to his neck in a mock execution.

Analysis: Myanmar turmoil deepens as clashes spread

REUTERS
July 7, 2021

  

July 7 (Reuters) - The farming town of Depayin joined Myanmar's list of shattered communities when the army moved in to crush a local anti-junta militia armed with makeshift weapons.

When army trucks arrived at Depayin around dawn last Friday, local youths assembled to fight back but were quickly overwhelmed, six residents told Reuters by telephone. Dozens of people were killed afterwards by the soldiers and thousands have since fled with whatever they could carry, the residents said.

UN rights expert urges sanctions on Myanmar's oil, gas sectors

REUTERS
July 7, 2021

Summary:

• UN rights expert calls for sanctions on oil and gas sector
• Bachelet urges ASEAN to foster dialogue to resolve crisis
• Nearly 900 killed since Feb. 1 coup, 5,200 detained

GENEVA, July 7 (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights investigator called on countries on Wednesday to impose economic sanctions on Myanmar's oil and gas sector to cripple the junta that took power five months ago.

Myanmar has been in crisis since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government on Feb. 1, unleashing nationwide anger that quickly turned into protests and strikes brutally suppressed by security forces, with nearly 900 killed.

WFP, Korea working together to help Rohingyas in Myanmar, Bangladesh

Dhaka Tribune

Tribune Desk
July 7th, 2021

File photo of a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

Korean contribution to help WFP provide assistance for over 860,000 Rohingyas living at Cox’s Bazar camps

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received a contribution of $800,000 from the government of the Republic of Korea to support operations in Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Inside the Myanmar mountain camp where rebels train to fight for freedom from the junta

CNN
Exclusive by Sam Kiley,
July 8, 2021

Camp Victoria, Myanmar (CNN)Full-throated they belt out songs of victory, their boots adding the drumbeat as ranks of new recruits jog in formation through their jungle training camp.

There's no doubting the shining eyes of these young people united by an ideal -- freedom from the junta that's smothered democracy in Myanmar.

Nor, perhaps, hiding from the dark tragedy that may await them.

In Myanmar, the military declares war on medical workers

Los Angeles Times

KRISTEN GELINEAU AND VICTORIA MILKO

ASSOCIATED PRESS

JULY 7, 2021

JAKARTA, Indonesia —

In this Feb. 28 image from video provided by Dakkhina Insight, medics attend to a man who appears to have a chest wound in Dawei, Myanmar.

(Dakkhina Insight via Associated Press)

The clandestine clinic was under fire, and the medics inside were in tears.

Hidden away in a Myanmar monastery, this haven had sprung up for those injured while protesting the military’s overthrow of the government. But now security forces had discovered its location.

A bullet struck a young man in the throat as he defended the door, and the medical staff tried frantically to stop the hemorrhaging. The floor was slick with blood.

In Myanmar, the military has declared war on healthcare — and on doctors themselves, who were early and fierce opponents of the takeover in February. Security forces are arresting, attacking and killing medical workers, dubbing them enemies of the state. With medics driven underground amid a global pandemic, the country’s already fragile healthcare system is crumbling.

Why Myanmar may be heading for a full-scale civil war

THE WEEK
JOE EVANS
6 JUL 2021

Civilian death toll rises as military battles anti-coup resistance groups

Resistance fighter with improvised weapon in the southern city of Yangon
Stringer/Getty Images

Myanmar’s security forces have killed at least 25 people in clashes with opponents of the military junta in a township in the central Sagaing region.

Local people in Depayin say the violence erupted after “four military trucks dropped soldiers at the village early on Friday”, Reuters reports.

The alleged raid is the latest in a series of clashes as civilians “increasingly take up arms against the generals who seized power in a coup five months ago”, says Al Jazeera.