‘China supplying weapons to Arakan Army armed group to weaken India, Myanmar’

NAYPYITAW: China is supplying funds and sophisticated weaponry to armed groups in Myanmar and the Naypyitawdesignated terrorist group, the Arakan Army, to have leverage over Myanmar and India, Licas News reported.

A military source with experience in South-east Asia confirmed that China is providing approximately 95 per cent of Arakan Army funding. He further revealed that the Arakan Army has approximately 50 of the MANPADS (Man-portable Air Defense Systems) surfaceto-air missiles.

"An object lesson in diploterrorism is the leverage over Myanmar and India that China gained by arming the Arakan Army, operating in the corridor from North-east India over Myanmar's Chin and Rakhine states to the Indian Ocean," according to Licas News reported.

According to a source, China's strategy as one to push its influence well south of its own border. "This strategy of supporting the Arakan Army has enabled the Chinese to expand its area of influence towards western Myanmar that is, the India-myanmar border," the source said.

"China is playing a multidimensional game in South Asia. China wants to weaken India. India is in a war with Pakistan and does not want to make a new enemy of Myanmar," said an Australian academic. "China does not want Indian influence to increase in Myanmar," according to an Indian source. "They want a monopoly." China's support of the Arakan Army against India's construction in Myanmar has been apparently quite effective.

The USD 220 million road contract was awarded to the Delhi-based contractor, C&C Constructions, in June 2017. The Myanmar government then delayed the requisite clearances until January 2018.

Once construction was underway, the Arakan Army kidnapped crews including Indian citizens, firefighters, a Myanmar member of parliament and sabotaged a vehicle and building materials. According to an Eastern Link article by Subir Bhaumik, the more recently uncovered arms delivery from China was a "consignment containing 500 assault rifles, 30 universal machine guns, 70,000 rounds of ammunition and a huge stock of grenades ... brought in by sea and offloaded at the Monakhali beach not far from the coastal junction of Myanmar and Bangladesh in the third week of February."