Myanmar takes a moment
▶ By-election results not a setback for China relations: experts
Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi’s focus on her country’s development has strengthened bilateral relations and China-Myanmar ties are on a stable development track, Chinese experts told the Global Times on Thursday.
The remarks came after Saturday’s by-election in which Suu Kyi’s party lost six out of 13 seats, seen by some Western media as a defeat, given the landslide victory she won at the 2015 election.
While some Western media outlets claimed the result was a “test of support for leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her ruling party,” and an “early test” for the 2020 general election, Chen Xiangmiao, a research fellow at the Hainan-based National Institute for the South China Sea, told the Global Times the result shouldn’t be exaggerated.
“The image of Suu Kyi at home is still very secure and recognized by most citizens. They are satisfied with the work she has done in national transformation. Saturday’s poll was just a temporary failure, which won’t have a lasting effect,” Chen said. “And relations between China and Myanmar won’t be influenced by it.”
Currently “there are plenty of variables” in Myanmar, Chen noted. The result was “not only influenced by domestic forces but also international forces.”
According to Chen, there are two different voices in Myanmar: pro-US and pro-China. The two voices influenced the country’s decision making, he said.
Gu Xiaosong, an expert on Southeast Asian studies at the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that after Suu Kyi and her party assumed power, her top concern was stable development.
“As good relations between China and Myanmar are essential to her goal, she was willing to cooperate with China. But the West wasn’t so willing to see this happen,” he said.
Suu Kyi has stated on several occasions that she and her party will give priority to the country’s longterm development and the greater public interest.
“Myanmar borders China. Maintaining border security, peace and stability is key to the country’s domestic development. China can also provide financial and other support to Myanmar, whose infrastructure base is weak,” Gu said.
Healthy relations also benefit China as Myanmar is an important region along the Belt and Road initiative, he noted.
Statistics from Myanmar’s Directorate of Investment and Company Administration showed that China has made up nearly a third of Myanmar’s foreign direct investment since the 2014-15 financial year. The US contributed 0.4 percent.
In September, China signed memorandums of understanding with Myanmar on the construction of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, an important part of the Belt and Road initiative.
The corridor starts from China’s Yunnan Province, heads south to the central Myanmar city of Mandalay and extends further east to Yangon and west to the Kyaukpyu special economic zone, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Myanmar is willing to push forward cooperation of the two countries in major project implementation and exchanges between the ruling parties while promoting the development of bilateral ties, Suu Kyi said at a meeting on Tuesday in Nay Pyi Taw with Song Tao, head of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Xinhua said.
But Gu said there are also some “problems” with bilateral relations that need to be addressed.
“The first is the stability of the northern ethnic area of Myanmar which borders China. Some local people also agitated by the West opposed China’s investment in Myanmar and attacked China. These need Suu Kyi’s wisdom to solve,” he said.
Cooperation, prosperity
Suu Ky’s party reportedly lost five seats in ethnic areas in the by-election. The National League for Democracy (NLD) Party spokesperson Myo Nyunt told Reuters that they lost because “ethnic people are not satisfied with our performance in the peace process.”
The result was “a lesson for us,” Nyunt was quoted as saying. “We will come up with a strategy for each constituency for the coming election.”
Saturday’s polls included seats in the national, state and regional legislatures. The NLD won most contests in the regions where ethnic Bamar Buddhists make up the majority.
The handling of the Rohingya refugee crisis was also a reason the party lost support in the ethnic regions, Chinese experts suggested.
Suu Kyi and her party swept to power in 2015 elections that ended decades of military rule in the country. But she has to share power with the army, which occupies 25 percent of parliamentary seats.
Chen stressed to the Global Times that no other people or party than Suu Kyi’s can win majority support and the 2020 election for Suu Kyi will be “optimistic.”
Chen and Gu both noted that Japan is also investing in Myanmar, seeking influence in the country.
Japanese investment in Myanmar reached an all-time high of about $1.48 billion in fiscal 2017, The Japan Times reported. Most investment went into large commercial complexes and steel manufacturing projects. Japan became the fourthbiggest foreign investor in Myanmar in fiscal 2017.
China and Japan’s investments in Myanmar are meaningful and the three countries’ cooperation benefits the region, Gu said.
“They should bear in mind that we aren’t in a competitive relationship, but a win-win relationship. Both China and Japan’s investments should be treated equally. And the three parties’ cooperation could further bring benefits to Southeast and East Asia,” he said.