Irrawaddy-Mar 1
Myanmar’s military regime held an emergency meeting on the Russia-Ukraine crisis in the capital Naypyitaw on February 26, to discuss how the conflict in Eastern Europe might affect Myanmar, sources told The Irrawaddy. At the meeting, the regime assumed that Myanmar faces the risk of invasion by its neighbor China, just as Ukraine has been invaded by its neighbor Russia. While the junta is convinced that Beijing would not invade Myanmar in normal times, it is concerned that the superpower would take matters into its own hand if and when Myanmar’s military is incapable of protecting Chinese interests in the country. The regime believes that Chinese investments are increasingly being targeted by resistance groups. Beijing has numerous existing and planned projects in Myanmar including an oil and gas pipelines project, which is thus far the biggest Chinese project in the country. The project spans nearly 800 kilometers, comprising twin pipelines running in parallel from the port of Kyaukphyu in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State through Magwe and Mandalay regions and northern Shan State before entering China’s Yunnan Province. Last month, an off-take station of the China-backed oil and gas pipelines in Mandalay Region’s Natogyi Township was damaged when a resistance group attacked regime forces guarding the facility. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/russia-ukraine-crisis-prompts-myanmar-junta-emergency-meeting.html
