Myanmar’s Army Chief Challenges Biden, and Bets Big on China – By Khine Lin Kyaw and Philip Heijmans (Bloomberg) / February 1 2021
- Biden under pressure to impose sanctions on Myanmar generals
- Myanmar army voids election, takes power for one year
By seizing power on Monday, Myanmar’s generals are providing U.S. President Joe Biden with an early test of his efforts to counter the appeal of China’s authoritarian model in Asia.
Army chief Min Aung Hlaing, who was bumping up against a mandatory retirement age this year, already faces sanctions from the U.S. and U.K. due to a brutal crackdown against Rohingya Muslims that has led to accusations of genocide. Beijing, meanwhile, has shown him respect: In a meeting last month with the 64-year-old general, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called the two countries “brothers” while praising the military’s “national revitalization.”
Min Aung HlaingPhotographer: Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images
“While the coup will no doubt come with costs, the army clearly views them as affordable,” said Sebastian Strangio, author of “In the Dragon’s Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century.” “Recent events in Southeast Asia have shown that with China’s growing power, and democratic backsliding in the West, the U.S. and other Western countries no longer have the moral authority or economic and political means to set the normative agenda in the region.”
