Who benefits from the military coup in Myanmar

The United States hesitates to qualify the recent events in Myanmar as a military coup. It is not advantageous for China to destabilize the country either.

Military coup in Myanmar removed the "star" of the West

In Myanmar (Burma), the military seized power and declared a state of emergency after the arrest of President Vin Myin, the leader of the ruling party Aung San Suu Kyi, other officials and MPs.

The Internet, television and radio broadcasting were turned off, banks were closed, a news anchor announced on a TV channel owned by the military that the power had been transferred to the commander-in-chief of the army, Min Aung Hlaing.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won the November parliamentary elections in a landslide victory having gained 83 percent of the vote, as well as an opportunity to lead the government for another five years. The military-backed "Party of Solidarity and Development of the Union" won only 33 of 476 seats. The military assumed they had lost due to "fraud."

Suu Kyi is known for spending 15 years under house arrest as part of a decades-long campaign against military rule. Five years after her release, she led her party to a convincing victory in the 2015 elections by establishing the nation's first civilian government.

However, Aung San Suu Kyi's star in the West is set. The "fighter for democracy and human rights" undermined her reputation by dodging the condemnation of the army for "reprisals" against the Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar, a Buddhist nation.

Biden's administration is hesitant about Myanmar coup

The Joe Biden administration has not decided yet how to qualify the events - the State Department is analysing them.

The official announcement of events in Myanmar as a coup would legally oblige the United States to stop foreign aid to the government of the country. The administration will make a relevant decision if it meets the interests of US national security, an anonymous source in the State Department told CNN.

Min Aung Hlaing, who now runs the country, has been under US sanctions since December 2019. He was found guilty of human rights violations related to the "atrocities" committed against the Rohingya.

On Monday, Min Aung Hlaing's administration issued a statement saying that new elections would take place only after the election commission is "re-established" and voter lists are "examined."

"The Genocide of Rohingya Muslims"

More than one million people set "The Genocide of Rohingya Muslims" trending on Twitter in just a few days. The BBC online channel wrote 17 articles on the topic in August 2017.

There is the state of Rakhine, or Arakan, in the northwest of Myanmar. This is the compact place of living for the Rohingya people. Problems started after the collapse of the British colonial system, which caused massive migrations. In 1948, the independent nation of Burma (80 percent of its people practice Buddhism) declared martial law in Rakhine, a part of which with its Muslim Rohingya population wanted to be part of Pakistan. The militant (or insurgent) sentiments were suppressed, but the problem was not resolved.

Not that long ago, the Rohingya people migrated to Myanmar from Bangladesh in search of work. The harsh and negative reaction on the part of the Arakanese Buddhists was not surprising as the Rohingya wanted to expand their habitat.

In Myanmar, it is believed that the word "Rohingya" was coined by the group of ordinary Bangladeshi Bengalis in order to justify their right to live in the territory of Myanmar, to become a majority and to declare first the autonomy and then the independence of the state.

Destabilizing countries around China

The resignation of the prime minister of Mongolia, political events in Kyrgyzstan, the crisis in Myanmar - all these political crises have recently sparked in three states bordering on China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a briefing on Monday: "We have taken notice of what is happening in Myanmar, and we are looking into the situation."

Alexei Maslov, a professor and director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Pravda.Ru that it is extremely important and beneficial for China that the Suu Kyi government remains in power. The two countries agreed that China would make considerable investments in Myanmar, including in road infrastructure.

China, the expert said, did not support protests of the Western community against the oppression of the rights of the Rohingya Muslim minority.

According to Alexei Maslov, the coup is driven by the internal conflict between the military and the civilian authorities.

"Of course, this will throw Myanmar many years backward, because criticism of the Rohingya will start again, and Myanmar will again be accused of being part of a drug production network, and so on and so forth," said Alexei Maslov.

Supporting a coup and the coming of the military to power is something that the Americans do not welcome, unless it is them who stand behind a particular coup," said Maslov.

Myanmar is a country that remains entirely dependent on China. It gets almost everything from China, including products of such industries as machine-building, electronics, etc.

"In general, China views Myanmar as a very important transport hub with access to the sea, which was to complete part of the long corridor from China to Southeast Asia. This would give an opportunity for Myanmar to develop. Apparently, these plans will be postponed for a long time now," said Alexei Maslov.

We would like to add here that it was in the state of Rakhine, where the port and a system of oil and gas pipelines were created to deliver hydrocarbons to China. It goes about 22 million tons of oil and 12 million cubic meters of gas per year already today. One can imagine what losses Beijing will incur in the event of destabilization of Myanmar.

Russia's position on Myanmar coup

Spokespeople for the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Russia is closely following the development in Myanmar and hopes for a peaceful settlement of the crisis.

"We hope for a peaceful settlement of the situation in accordance with the current legislation through the resumption of political dialogue and the preservation of sustainable socio-economic development of the country. In this regard, we paid attention to the statement from the military authorities about their intention to hold new parliamentary elections next year," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.