Frontier woes
An MP from India’s Mizoram State recently visited Myanmar’s Chinland Council and called on border areas under its control to join India, citing their shared ethnic identity.
Soon after, a lawmaker from neighboring Manipur addressed India’s Lower House to propose the reclamation of Kabaw Valley in Sagaing Region, urging the government to assess the feasibility of its return or enforce compensation from Myanmar.
He stated that then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru gifted the border valley – a resource-rich and fertile landmass of 22,000 sq km that had been under Manipur rule since 1450 – to Myanmar in 1953 during a meeting with Burmese leader U Nu.
On Thursday, junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun warned foreign politicians to refrain from actions “driven by self-interest” that could harm bilateral relations. He urged respect for Myanmar’s sovereignty and said further statements on the issue would follow.
India’s Foreign Ministry addressed the MP’s meeting with the Chinland Council at a March 7 press conference, stating that provincial governments have no authority to determine the country’s foreign policy, pro-junta NP News reported.
The Indian Embassy in Myanmar has yet to comment on the issue though there have been reports that Naypyitaw will summon the Indian Ambassador to discuss the matter.
The move by Indian lawmakers to claim Myanmar’s northwest border comes after the junta has ceded much of the border with Bangladesh, India, Thailand, and China to ethnic rebels.
The regime has lost control of more than half the country, including dozens of towns, hundreds of military bases, and two regional commands.
Facing defeat on the battlefield, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has turned to China, which pressured resistance forces to sign a truce in January as they were poised to complete their conquest of northern Shan State. In return, Min Aung Hlaing vowed to push forward China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road projects in Myanmar.
Under pressure from Beijing, the regime last month passed the Private Security Services Law, permitting Chinese private security companies to deploy troops in Myanmar, a move viewed by many as violating national sovereignty.
Irony explodes in Seoul
Last week, South Korea’s military issued a formal apology and took legal action against the pilots after a village was accidentally bombed during a training exercise.
“The Air Force, which should protect the lives and property of the people, inflicted harm to the people,” Air Force Chief of Staff General Lee Young-su told a press briefing. “It was an accident that should never have happened, and one that should not recur.”
For the people of Myanmar, who have been enduring deliberate and devastating airstrikes by the military junta for more than four years, this was an extraordinary and almost unimaginable gesture.
The junta’s ambassador to South Korea, Thant Sin, visited a Myanmar citizen injured in the accidental bombing at the Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday, apparently deaf to the appalling irony. Junta media outlets doubled down, portraying the visit as a display of the regime’s compassion. In reality, it was simply part of the ambassador’s core mission to propagandise for the junta.
If the military regime had even a shred of humanity, it would not have spent the past four years bombing schools, hospitals, and clinics in areas controlled by resistance forces. This week, a junta airstrike in Bago Region’s Htantabin Township killed a 25-year-old female Karen medic from the Free Burma Rangers. The next day, a junta warplane bombed a village in Madaya Township, Mandalay Region, killing a family of five, including a 10-year-old schoolgirl, and leaving many others wounded.
But these are merely the latest in the junta Air Force’s weighty catalogue of war crimes. Its ruthless bombing campaign has intentionally targeted not just schools and healthcare facilities but also social gatherings including wedding receptions and concerts, causing mass slaughter of civilians. The regime has never apologised for these acts. Instead of prosecuting the pilots, it has rewarded them with medals.
Pushing China’s Belt & Road as Rakhine war rages
Despite ongoing battles with the ethnic Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu, the regime remains committed to developing China-backed projects in the area.
At Tuesday’s meeting of the Central Committee on Myanmar Special Economic Zones, deputy junta chief Soe Win stressed the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is crucial to Myanmar’s geopolitical and economic interests, junta media reported.
“This project must succeed,” he told the meeting. Read more
Junta boss returns to woo China after Russian trip
Myanmar junta boss Min Aung Hlaing quickly returned to China’s diplomatic embrace on Tuesday, meeting with its Special Envoy for Asian Affairs two days after returning from a visit to Russia and Belarus, his other key allies.
The embattled regime leader met with Deng Xijun in Naypyitaw to discuss China’s support for the junta’s planned election, their joint crackdown on cyber scams, and border trade, according to junta media.
The meeting took place amid reports of further setbacks for junta forces across the country, including in Mandalay State and Bago Region. Read more
‘Opposition cooperation needed for election’
Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing says opposition forces should work with Myanmar’s regime to create a multi-party democracy and Russia and Belarus will send observers to oversee his promised election.
He spoke to the junta’s media on his way back to Naypyitaw on Sunday after a week in Russia and Belarus.
“If you want a multi-party democracy, don’t obstruct us. All we need is cooperation,” he said. Read more
