Editorial: Arakan Will Not Bow to the Junta-or to Beijing

By Admin 08 Sep 2025

Myanmar's revolution stands at a crossroads. After suffering historic defeats, the junta is clawing back ground-not through its own strength, but through the shadow cast by Beijing. China's hand is pressing down on the revolutionary movement, protecting its own pipelines and ports while betraying the aspirations of the people.

Let us be clear: the junta was collapsing. Entire commands fell in Arakan, Shan, Karenni, and along the borders. The people's forces seized nearly 100 towns, and for the first time in decades, the military dictatorship was cornered. It was at this very moment that China intervened-not to support justice or peace, but to rescue its business partner in Naypyidaw. By pressuring the Brotherhood Alliance, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, the Arakan Army, and even the Kachin Independence Army to halt offensives, Beijing handed Min Aung Hlaing the breathing space he desperately needed.

Nowhere is this betrayal more evident than in Arakan. Kyaukphyu, Sittwe, and the Kaladan estuary have become battlegrounds not only between junta and resistance, but between people and profiteers. For China, Kyaukphyu is an oil port, a Special Economic Zone and a pipeline. For Arakan's people, it is home, dignity, and freedom. Yet Beijing's actions show where it stands: with the guns of the junta, not the voices of the oppressed.

But the people of Arakan are not passive spectators. The Arakan Army's offensives have shaken the junta's grip, and the sacrifices of civilians in Kyaukphyu, Sittwe, and across 14 townships remind us that this is a struggle for survival as much as for democracy. Yielding small ground does not mean surrender-it means drawing the enemy into battles they cannot sustain.

The junta boasts of conscripts, drones, and Chinese lifelines. But the resistance holds something stronger: unity, determination, and a vision of freedom that cannot be bought or bombed. Across Myanmar, ethnic forces and people's defense groups stand shoulder to shoulder as never before. Their shared cause is clear-the end of dictatorship and the birth of a new federal democracy.

The world must wake up. To stay silent is to side with tyranny. International actors must stop rewarding the junta and hold China accountable for enabling its survival. Arakan's fight is Myanmar's fight-and Myanmar's fight is humanity's fight for dignity, justice, and the right to decide our own future.

The junta may think it can bomb us into submission. China may think it can buy silence with oil, gas, and ports. But the people of Arakan, and all of Myanmar, will not bow. Our revolution is not for sale.

DMG will continue to stand with the people-to record, to resist, and to remind the world that the struggle is far from over. The revolution's momentum is alive, and with unity and global solidarity, freedom will prevail.