China has made great achievements in the past year in eradicating fraudulent activities, but the fire ignited by fraud in Myanmar has not yet been extinguished.
At the beginning of the new year, when the situation was changing, the former government of Myanmar suddenly appeared and sent a "letter of nomination" to the Chinese side.
(Daw Aung San Suu Kyi)
Previously, the warring parties in Myanmar reached a brief ceasefire agreement after the first round of negotiations mediated by the Chinese side, but the fighting resumed soon after, and the parties to the conflict were deadlocked. In recent days, the junta and the "Three Brothers Alliance" have launched a second round of negotiations, but this time the negotiations did not go well, and the Kokang Alliance then launched another attack on Lao Cai and successfully took control of the entire neighborhood.
Coupled with the joint operations of other civilian forces in Myanmar, the government army has been defeated and has fallen into difficulties in many directions, and now some have retreated to strongholds such as the Lao Cai Headquarters, and some have gone north to defend Lashio and other places.
At a time when the junta was in a difficult situation, the "Government of National Unity" headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, that is, before the junta took power, claimed to be an organization of the Burmese government, and issued a "position on China."
The declaration-like document contains 10 main points, the first six of which focus specifically on Myanmar's foreign policy and bilateral relations with China.
For example, in the third content, Myanmar uses a geopolitical inevitability perspective to emphasize that China and Myanmar have naturally formed an inseparable neighborhood because of their border line of more than 2,000 kilometers. Myanmar said that the coexistence relationship between the two countries should continue to exist as long as the earth exists, and made it clear that it will continue to be a good neighbor of China in the future. Immediately after that, the fourth item also emphasized the issue of Chinese principle, saying that the organization adheres to and upholds the one-China principle.
(China and Myanmar have made remarkable achievements in cracking down on wire fraud)
The latter points are related to the recent problems between China and Myanmar. For example, in point 7, the organization said that it will take necessary measures to protect China's economic investment and other social and economic enterprises in Myanmar, in point 8, it will not allow any organization that threatens neighboring countries in Myanmar, and in point 10, it is committed to continuing to cooperate with China to combat transnational criminal activities, including fraud and drugs, and jointly maintain regional peace and stability.
It can be seen from this document that these points have been carefully studied, and the propositions are basically the same as those of the Chinese side, and the only one that leaves room for itself is Article 9. This article says that the organization remains committed to fulfilling all obligations under treaties or agreements signed by China and Myanmar prior to the attempted military coup in 2021, including the border agreement.
It is worth noting that the agreement committed by the organization is limited to documents before 2021. The agreements signed by China and the Burmese junta in the next three years were not included. However, in the past three years, China and Myanmar have carried out in-depth cooperation at various levels. For example, under the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor project has been promoted, cooperation in oil and gas exploration, exploitation and related pipeline construction has been strengthened, and even recently China and Myanmar signed a supplementary agreement on the Kyaukphyu deep-water port project.
Therefore, the ninth point put forward by the "National Unity Government" is very likely to have an adverse impact on the cooperation and current progress between China and Myanmar in the past three years, and may even lead to damage to China's interests in Myanmar.
(Announcement issued by the "Government of National Unity")
On the one hand, the reason for this is that they see the junta's ascension to power as "illegal", and on the other hand, they want to show goodwill to China while reserving some political and negotiating space for themselves, so that if there is a change of regime in Myanmar in the future, they can use this point in the agreement to renegotiate and negotiate with the Chinese side.
Now, the announcement of the "Government of National Unity" can be regarded as grasping the weak links in the military junta of Min Aung Hlaing in the past two years of government, and clearly making commitments in the areas that China is most concerned about. The ultimate goal is to win the favor of China, and try to use China's influence to strengthen its own support base and seize the opportunity in the power struggle with the junta.
However, China's position on the Myanmar issue has always been very clear. Since the outbreak of the new round of civil war, the Chinese side has expressed the hope that all parties to the conflict can exercise maximum restraint, and during this period, China is also committed to providing conditions for peace talks between the two sides of the conflict, so that a truce and truce can be truly achieved in Myanmar.
At present, there is constant friction and confrontation between various factions in Myanmar, and there is no complete unity of opinion within the opposition coalition. In such a volatile political climate, predicting who will ultimately win remains fraught with uncertainty. Therefore, in this context, any excessive involvement of external forces will only exacerbate regional tensions, and China's security and border stability, as a neighbor of Myanmar, will also be greatly affected.
(China and Myanmar signed a supplementary agreement on Kyaukphyu deep-water port project in Naypyidaw)
Moreover, China has long adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. This principle not only demonstrates China's respect and equality for other countries in international relations, but also serves as a form of self-restraint in protecting national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Therefore, China will never change its position easily because of external pressure or the appearance of a certain document.