Anti-Chinese sentiments swell across Myanmar after coup

New Delhi: Allegations of Chinese hand in Myanmar coup is growing in salience following massive anti-Beijing protests sweeping across the SE Asian state, India’s key neighbour to the East.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has been urged by the protestors not to recognize Myanmar’s military regime and to stand with the people, amid a wave of anti-China sentiment—including boycotts on Chinese products, ET has reliably gathered from sources and activists who did not wish to be identified.

An increasingly large crowd of anti-coup protesters have gathered daily in front of the Chinese Embassy in Yangon throughout last week, demanding that Beijing end its support for the military regime at various international fora and stand with the tens of thousands of protesters in the country in their demand for a restoration of civilian rule, according to local media outlet The Irrawaddy.

“Myanmar’s student unions said that if the Chinese government wants to act as a good neighbor, it must make clear that it does not recognize the military regime, which they said had unjustly detained the leaders of the legitimate government elected by the people of Myanmar,” according to The Irrawaddy report:

The protestors have warned that supporting the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) would do “serious damage” to the reputation of China.

China has been one Myanmar’s close partners. So far, Beijing has refrained from criticizing the coup; recently, it refused to condemn the military at the United Nations Security Council. However, cracks had appeared in Sino-Myanmar ties during the past couple of years over China’s duplicity — trying to media between military and insurgents on one hand but also supplying arms to the rebels. The military before the coup was also upset with mega BRI projects that could have pushed Myanmar into debt trap.

Anti-Chinese sentiment has spread rapidly following Beijing’s failure to denounce the takeover, which at one point it described as a “major cabinet reshuffle”. As a result, social media campaigns against “made in China” products and Chinese brands have circulated widely among users of Facebook and Twitter in Myanmar.

In the latest social media campaigns against China, thousands of social media users on Facebook and Twitter have joined a boycott of Huawei products, accusing the company of helping the military to install IT systems to limit digital rights in the country.

Thousands of social media users on Facebook and Twitter posted the message “Huawei is an enemy of the Democracy and Freedom of expression,” urging people to stop using its products.

Rumors have also surfaced that China is helping the military to build an internet firewall to limit the freedom of speech and access to information in Myanmar by blocking social media, popular search engines including Google, and virtual private networks (VPNs).

A facility that forms part of the China-Myanmar twin oil-and-gas pipeline in Thaungtha Township in Mandalay was heavily guarded by local police last week after nearly 2,000 social media users shared a status notice threatening to destroy a segment of the pipeline if the military regime cut internet access again.

The Chinese Embassy in Myanmar has denied the reports that China had sent IT technicians to Myanmar help the Tatmadaw build a firewall.