Chinese firm continues to supply regime with warplanes: report

By Admin 23 Dec 2024

DMG Newsroom
23 December 2024, Mrauk-U

The Myanmar military junta has commissioned into service as many as eight new aircraft supplied by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), a close partner and investor of the European aerospace giant Airbus, Justice for Myanmar reported.

An examination of junta-controlled media from the anniversary of the Myanmar Air Force, held on December 15, 2024, shows one Hongdu K-8 light attack aircraft, six FTC-2000G light combat aircraft and one Shaanxi Y-8 military transport plane, according to Justice for Myanmar.

The regime regularly uses those types of aircraft in its airstrikes on the civilian population.

The latest transfer of new AVIC aircraft shows that the company is continuing to aid and abet the junta's ongoing war crimes, Justice for Myanmar said.

AVIC is one of the world's biggest defence contractors, and the Chinese aviation firm continues to supply aviation fuel, weapons and technologies to the regime as it commits war crimes across Myanmar.

Earlier this month, more than 300 domestic and international civil society organisations including Justice for Myanmar sent an open letter to France-based airline manufacturer Airbus, urging the company to pressure its partner firm AVIC to stop supporting Myanmar's military regime.

Despite growing public scrutiny and evidence of the serious human rights implications of its investment in AVIC, Airbus has publicly denied any wrongdoing, Justice for Myanmar's report said.

"The international community is chanting the rhetoric of human rights, but when it comes to their interests, they ignore human rights," said a human rights activist from Arakan State. "The whole of Myanmar has been calling for an end to the junta's indiscriminate killings, but the international community has just turned a blind eye. More Myanmar people will die if this continues."

Between February 2021 and August 2024, the junta killed at least 1,749 civilians in thousands of airstrikes with total impunity, Justice for Myanmar said.