China has called for dialogue between the junta and those fighting against it, but it has cited noninterference as justification for not putting more pressure on the generals-a position that puts it at odds with Japan, South Korea, and the West.Ĭhina effectively normalized relations with the junta in August, when it resumed working-level business with Myanmar’s government ministries after a long break. Protests outside Yangon’s Chinese Embassy and anti-China sentiment in the wake of the military takeover didn’t help assuage them. But unclaimed attacks against Chinese factories in a Yangon industrial zone in March marked a major turning point for Beijing, raising concerns about instability. While maintaining a line of communication with the NLD, Beijing now seeks to sit out the deepening crisis and push ahead with its own interests in Myanmar with the group that holds power.Ĭhina was reluctant to get behind the military regime and its leader, Min Aung Hlaing, immediately after the coup. More than nine months since the coup, Chinese officials have largely normalized engagement with the regime, even if they harbor some doubts over the generals’ ability to run the country. Increasingly, China is now operating under the assumption that the junta will eventually establish effective control of Myanmar and so has moved toward de facto recognition of its authority. Although the NUG is stacked with NLD members and former ministers, to China it appears a force of instability.
1, even as it shifts toward recognizing the junta’s rule. A September editorial from the Global Times, a CCP-owned newspaper, called the NLD the “ legitimate party in Myanmar.” But Beijing sees a fine line between supporting the NLD and supporting the underground National Unity Government (NUG), which seeks to overthrow the junta and upend the pre-coup status quo.
These moves underscore China’s desire to maintain its rapprochement with the NLD, which the military ousted from government on Feb. Sun made another unannounced visit this month.
The overture came shortly after Beijing’s special envoy for Asian affairs, Sun Guoxiang, paid a low-key visit to Myanmar, where he asked to meet Aung San Suu Kyi and was denied access by the authorities. In September, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) invited a representative from Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, to its virtual summit for political parties in South and Southeast Asia.