Myanmar Spring Chronicle – June 25 Scenes
MoeMaKa, June 26, 2023
Myanmar issue amidst the world political strategies
Recently, Indian Prime Minister Modi reportedly visited the United States. After the two leaders of India and the United States met, they issued a statement on the issue of Myanmar. They issued a general statement expressing their deep concern about the deteriorating situation in Myanmar and calling for the release of all those arbitrarily detained, the establishment of constructive dialogue, and the transition of Myanmar toward an inclusive federal democratic system. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the military council responded that they could not accept even this general statement.
When looking at the situation happening in Myanmar, not only local residents, but also international governments and the general public are already aware of the terrorist acts such as illegal arrests, killings, and burning of houses in Myanmar, by reading the news with evidence. On the other hand, although they are not comparable to the killings by the military council, there are civilian killings that are said to be military targets carried out by forces opposed to the military council.
There are international standards and laws that say that crimes committed by non-governmental organizations cannot be punished equally with those committed by government organizations, but non-governmental organizations may also be held accountable at some point.
Now, the statements made by the US-Indian leaders on the Myanmar issue mainly refer to the military council. India, on the other hand, is treating the coup military council government in Myanmar like a legitimate government, selling the military equipment, and has diplomatically acknowledged it, with the cooperation of middle-level representatives and diplomats. This has discouraged the anti-military council forces because of India’s lack of support for Myanmar’s democracy
India’s foreign policy in dealing with the military council is also different from the Western practice of sanctioning the military council diplomatically. Among the areas bordering Chin State, only the Mizoram state government is helping the people fleeing from Myanmar as much as possible within the legal framework of the state government, and it is not seeing the central government of India helping the people fleeing from Myanmar. Looking at these situations, Myanmar democracy activists have concluded that India, which is the largest democratic country in the world in terms of population, does not support Myanmar’s democracy as much as expected.
On the other hand, India needs other allies in order to deal with China, which is also a neighboring country and is becoming a major power in world affairs. From this point of view, India is trying to improve relations with the US. India has a close relationship with Russia to some extent on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is necessary to make the United States an ally, which is an opponent of China, in order to deal with the influence of China.
Under such international strategies, global scenes, and political interests, the concern that the Myanmar issue will be ignored has also emerged among the anti-military council forces. The United States, which is the most active country that supports Myanmar’s democracy and has criticized and pressured the military council, has not yet directly supported armed movements for democracy, although it supports Myanmar’s democracy. Since the beginning of the military coup, the US government has expressed in diplomatic terms that the United States will not participate, encourage, or support the armed path because it has large sacrifices and great impacts, and it has been applying this principle till now.
On the other hand, the United States and China, rival countries in world affairs, have their own views on the Myanmar issue and are trying to find a solution from each point of view. If the United States, which has opposing views and stances with China on the Taiwan issue and the South China Sea issue, has the same stance and interest in the Myanmar issue, there will be a concern that the Myanmar issue will be ignored as a non-strategic issue as much as the Taiwan issue and the South China Sea issue.
In a situation where powerful countries with different aims and similar interests for the balance of global power rather than a country’s democracy, human rights, and justice temporarily stand together, they should be aware that the Myanmar issue may be neglected and think about how to prepare and organize such countries.