The UN is facing calls to investigate Myanmar Special Envoy Julie Bishop for potential conflicts of interest over her private work with Chinese state-owned companies connected to Myanmar’s military junta.
Rights group Justice for Myanmar (JFM) reports that Bishop is a strategic advisor for Energy Transition Minerals (ETM), a mining company involved in the contentious Kvanefjeld project in Greenland.
The project, focused on extracting rare earth minerals and uranium, has drawn opposition for its environmental impact and partnership with two Chinese state-owned companies – Shenghe Resources and China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).
Both companies are reportedly active in Myanmar, with interests in rare earth mining, as well as Belt & Road projects such as the China Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) and Kyaukphyu deep-sea port. These projects help fund Myanmar’s military, which is waging a brutal war against civilians and resistance groups.
“China is one of the Myanmar military’s biggest arms suppliers and also provides the military with major sources of revenue, including from the mining sector,” JFM said in a statement released on Sunday.
“Through its supply of arms and funds to the Myanmar military, the Chinese government is aiding and abetting ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The commercial ties between the UN special envoy and the Chinese state were “alarming” and cast doubt on her ability to carry out her mission with integrity, it said.
Bishop, a former Australian foreign minister, was appointed UN special envoy on Myanmar in April 2024 following almost three years of civil war sparked by the 2021 military coup. She has made little if any progress in mediating a conflict that also confounded her predecessors in the role.
Bishop’s other business links
Bishop is registered as a lobbyist for Twinza Oil Ltd, an Australian private oil and gas company that signed a production sharing contract with the former military junta in 2006 for the Yetagun East Block, off the Tanintharyi coast. The company has since withdrawn from Myanmar.
Twinza founder Bill Clough, who currently sits on the company’s board of directors, was a major investor in the now defunct Myanmar Times newspaper, which was linked to military intelligence.
JFM noted that Bishop has also done work for Mineral Resources (MinRes), an Australian mining company partnered with the Chinese state-owned China Baowu Steel Group. A China Baowu subsidiary is developing the Tagaung Taung nickel project in Myanmar, which finances the military regime.
JFM spokesperson Yandanar Maung said Bishop’s links with companies that have a history of dirty deals with the Myanmar military further undermine her credibility as special envoy.
“We urge the United Nations Secretary General to urgently open an investigation into Julie Bishop’s business activities, consider the appropriateness of her continued UN engagement, and disclose the findings,” she said.
