China supports Myanmar junta’s planned election: think tank

By Admin 12 Aug 2023

DMG Newsroom
12 August 2023, Sittwe

The Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar (ISP-Myanmar) said on August 11 that the military junta’s election process is being supported by China.

“The junta extended the State of Emergency for another six months [on July 31] and made holding elections a top priority. At the same time, China’s support for the junta’s election process has become increasingly visible,” ISP-Myanmar said in a statement.

The International Relations Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China invited ethnic political parties preparing to participate in the junta’s planned elections to China on August 1, 2023, the statement reads.

China’s Nanning City-based Deputy Director Chan Hai Kum and the junta’s Consul General U Kyaw Soe Thein met and discussed the conditions for holding elections and implementing the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus on July 21, 2023.

Despite China’s help in organising the elections, political analysts say the elections will not take place due to the daily fighting between the junta and ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar.

“It is impossible to hold an election at a time when there is fighting all over the country and houses are being burned down by junta troops,” said U Pe Than, an Arakanese political analyst. “This election cannot be a free and fair election. At this time, the election to be held by the junta will not be a real election. Since the election will not take place, it will not be a political outlet for the junta.”

Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Chen Hai visited the junta-appointed Chairman of the Union Election Commission on March 8, 2023, to inquire about the preparations of political parties for the election, ISP-Myanmar reported.

At the invitation of the International Relations Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, a member of the junta’s Union Election Commission (UEC), U Mya Thein, and his team went on a tour to China on July 26.

“China prioritises relations with any government in power,” U Pe Than said. “They [Chinese officials] are always worried about the stability and security of China’s border region and making sure its interests in Myanmar are not damaged.”

At a meeting of the National Defense and Security Council held on July 31, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing said that elections should be held nationwide and only in areas under the junta’s control, excluding volatile areas.

“We will contest the junta-organised election,” said U Lay Kyaw Tha, general secretary of the Arakan State-based Khami National Development Party. “We are preparing to open representative offices in five townships in Arakan State. We cannot [yet] open representative offices because we have financial difficulties.”

The military seized power on February 1, 2021, using alleged electoral fraud as a pretence. The regime once said it intended to hold a redo election in August 2023, and claimed it would transfer power to the winning party. That election has been postponed indefinitely, effectively at the order of Min Aung Hlaing.