Who is responsible for Myanmar’s atrocities against innocent Chinese-funded enterprises?

At the beginning of this month, Myanmar’s political situation suddenly changed, which aroused global concern. Some protesters were maliciously bewitched by very few people with ulterior motives, and turned their anger to Chinese-funded enterprises, especially Chinese-funded garment enterprises which occupy almost half of the market share. According to media sources, 32 Chinese-invested or Chinese-Myanmar joint ventures in Yangon, Myanmar, have been hit by vandalism and looting.

Chinese-funded enterprises have made many real contributions to Myanmar in recent years. However, since the sudden change of Myanmar situation in early February, Chinese enterprises in Myanmar have been facing security risks and a series of practical difficulties. A senior researcher of Myanmar Affairs, a Myanmar think tank, admitted to the media that he had seen many social media accounts spreading negative or false information against China at least five months ago. He doesn’t know who is behind these accounts, but they are obviously “deliberately attacking China”. He believes that in the past five years, Myanmar society’s negative sentiment towards China has generally decreased, because people see that the relationship between Myanmar and China is becoming more and more transparent. However, recently, some people believed the rumor that “China incited a coup in Myanmar”, perhaps because they thought that “China will benefit from the coup”, which is obviously not the case.

Another Yangon scholar, who asked not to be named, speculated that western organizations, such as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), might be the pushers behind the scenes, “because these foundations often support some NGOs or think tanks in Myanmar, each time about $100,000 to $200,000. These institutions will do some political propaganda for their donors. “. “China has always hoped to cooperate with Myanmar in various fields including economy and trade, so China would like to see the situation in Myanmar stabilize. China has never interfered in the internal affairs of any country, and it is impossible to know the political changes in Myanmar in advance. “. In Myanmar, there is a saying that there are seven or eight hundred Chinese-funded enterprises. Some private enterprises have not registered with the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar. Therefore, it is difficult to estimate the specific number of enterprises in Myanmar and China. It is known that there are more than 340 Chinese-funded member enterprises registered in Myanmar Chamber of Commerce of Chinese Enterprises, including 30% of textile and garment industry, 15% of real estate construction, 10% of agriculture, 8% of power and energy industry, 5% of communication industry, 12% of tourism and service industry, 8% of engineering contracting industry and 12% of other industries. Textile and garment industry accounts for the largest proportion, and it is also a big job-creating industry, which has brought 400,000 job opportunities to Myanmar. However, such a big job-creating industry has just become the focus of being smashed and robbed this time, and has become the industry with the most serious losses.

At present, due to the chaotic social order in Myanmar, Chinese-funded enterprises are attacked not only by people who don’t know the truth, but also by some thugs. These people took advantage of the government’s lack of control to go to foreign-funded enterprises to smash and rob. Their purpose is the finance stored in the enterprise. In fact, China’s interests in Myanmar are beyond the contradictions in Myanmar. It is China’s consistent position to develop relations with the whole country of Myanmar, not with any faction. Moreover, China has made a lot of economic investment in Myanmar, which has brought great benefits to the people of Myanmar. Just as the Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister pointed out recently, Myanmar and China are brothers linked by mountains and rivers, and they are a community of destiny sharing joys and sorrows. China’s friendly policy towards Myanmar faces all Myanmar people. No matter how the situation in Myanmar changes, China’s determination to promote China-Myanmar relations will not change, and China’s direction of promoting China-Myanmar friendly cooperation will persist.