Irrawaddy-Oct 28
Staunchly nationalist supporters of the Myanmar military are growing wary of the regime’s increasing dependency on China on all fronts, voicing rare criticism of the way Chinese money and influence are being allowed to shape their country.
It was the question of northern Shan State that finally galvanized this resentment among the pro-military crowd.
Many nationalists believe that China enabled Operation 1027, the offensive by an alliance of three ethnic armed groups that dealt a serious blow to the Myanmar military in 2023-24. They staged protests at the time accusing Beijing of interference, and the sentiment has recently resurfaced over what they see as the “Sinicization” of borderlands that the regime has lost in northern Shan. “We accept them making investment in our country. But supplying arms and funds to ethnic armed groups to capture towns and interfering in our government is unacceptable,” a nationalist told The Irrawaddy. “Public opinion must be voiced openly.” The renewed criticism comes after the Shan State Joint Action Committee (SSJAC)—an ethnic coalition comprising the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), and a Shan militia group—issued a statement on Oct. 23 accusing Kokang’s Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) of imposing Chinese language in schools, granting land rights to foreigners, and erasing local traditions in territories it seized during Operation 1027. The MNDAA swiftly rejected the allegations as unfounded. Earlier this month, Shan civil society organizations released an open letter warning that the MNDAA’s cultural and administrative practices threaten ethnic coexistence and the stability of the China–Myanmar border. At the peak of Operation 1027, China pressured armed groups to agree ceasefires with the regime in northern Shan, but since then has allowed them to consolidate their quasi-autonomous administrations there rather than handing back all the territory they had gained to the regime. Read more at:
