Current developments in Myanmar in light of the dynamics of its relations with China : Sibel Karabel – Director of ASEAN Strategic Studies and Application Center

On Feb. 1, 2021, a military coup took place in Myanmar, leading to the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of the ruling party National League for Democracy (NLD), as well as a number of government officials. The Myanmar army took over the administration on Feb. 1 and declared a year-long state of emergency in the country, citing “fraud” in the elections held on Nov. 8, 2020. Myanmar has faced multiple military interventions in its political history. However, unlike past coups, narratives traditionally used to justify coups, such as “internal turmoil” and “threat to the integrity of the union”, are not listed among the reasons this time. The coup was justified by the fact that in the November 2020 elections, the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) received only one-third of the vote garnered by the NLD of the “liberal” Suu Kyi. It is suspected that the army is concerned about the situation and that the coup may have been carried out for a variety of reasons, including high-level officials’ desire to escape international sanctions for the massacres perpetrated against Rohingya Muslims. The fact that the military intervention occurred during the week in which the government was due to obtain parliamentary approval seems to support these claims.

Myanmar is important to China because of its complex domestic politics, erratic relations with the international community and geostrategic location, as evidenced by recent developments. In this article, recent events in Myanmar will be evaluated from the perspective of China-Myanmar relations, and Myanmar’s political system will be examined from a historical viewpoint, as well as the context of its relationship with China.

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