How Chinese cash shores up Myanmar’s Rakhine state, despite international condemnation of Rohingya crisis
Despite its natural resources, Rakhine is one of Myanmar’s poorest states – some 78 per cent of the population live below the poverty line, nearly double the national average
Battered by global outrage over an army crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, Myanmar has found comfort in an old friend – China, whose unflinching support is tied to the billions it has lavished on ports, gas and oil in violence-hit Rakhine state.
Close to half a million Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh in the last month after a militant attack sparked a vicious military campaign that the UN has called “ethnic cleansing”.
China – which was expected to speak on Thursday at a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis – has fallen out of step with much of the world in condemning the army-led crackdown.
“We think the international community should support the efforts of Myanmar in safeguarding the stability of its national development,” foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said earlier this month.
That support was far from unexpected from an ally who ploughed cash into Myanmar even as its economy choked under a half-century of military rule and US sanctions.
We think the international community should support the efforts of Myanmar in safeguarding the stability of its national development
Most of those sanctions were rolled back in 2014 as a reward for democratic elections. But those freedoms meant little to Beijing anyway.