BEIJING: The military coup and unrest in Myanmar are "absolutely not what China wants to see", the Chinese ambassador to the Southeast Asian country said in remarks published on Tuesday (Feb 16).
Envoy Chen Hai's comments come as anti-coup protests escalate in Myanmar and the military steps up efforts to stifle opposition, with hundreds arrested since the seizure of power on Feb 1.
"We noticed Myanmar's domestic dispute regarding the election for some time, but we were not informed in advance of the political change," Chen said in comments released on the website of the Chinese embassy in Myanmar.
Traditional allies of Myanmar's armed forces such as China and Russia had previously pushed back against international outcry over the coup, calling it interference in the country's "internal affairs".
Chinese state media earlier described the putsch and detention of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi as "a major Cabinet reshuffle", rolling out euphemisms to avoid labelling the situation a coup.
But in remarks published Tuesday, Chen said: "The current development in Myanmar is absolutely not what China wants to see."
He added that China hopes all parties can handle differences properly, maintaining political and social stability.
Chen said the UN Security Council's recent press statement calling for reconciliation and the immediate release of all those detained "reflects the common position of the international community, including China".
The military has justified its power seizure by alleging widespread voter fraud in November elections that Aung San Suu Kyi's party won.
In the two weeks since the generals ousted Aung San Suu Kyi and put the civilian leader under house arrest in the administrative capital Naypyidaw, big cities and isolated village communities alike have been in open revolt.
YANGON: Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi was hit with another charge on Tuesday (Feb 16), after the military imposed a second straight overnight Internet shutdown in an attempt to grind down an anti-coup uprising.
In the two weeks since the generals ousted Aung San Suu Kyi and put the civilian leader under house arrest in the administrative capital Naypyidaw, big cities and isolated village communities alike have been in open revolt.
The military justified its power seizure by alleging widespread voter fraud in November elections that Aung San Suu Kyi's party won.
After her detention in a dawn raid on Feb 1 - the day of the coup - she was charged under an obscure import and export law, over walkie-talkies that were found in her home during a search.
The Nobel laureate's lawyer told AFP on Tuesday she had been hit with a second charge, of violating the country's disaster management law.
"She was charged under section eight of the Export and Import Law and section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law as well," Khin Maung Zaw told AFP.
While it was unclear how the disaster law applied in Aung San Suu Kyi's case, it has been used against deposed president Win Myint - also arrested on Feb 1 - relating to a campaign event that the junta alleges broke COVID-19-related restrictions.
Khin Maung Zaw added that Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint, both of whom he has yet to have any contact with, were expected to appear via video conference during a Mar 1 trial.
Demonstrators display pictures of detained Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest against the military coup in Mandalay on Tuesday, Feb 16, 2021. (Photo: AP)
Both defendants were in a "safer place" and "in good health", according to military spokesman Zaw Min Tun.
"It's not like they were arrested - they are staying at their houses," the general, who became the country's vice-minister of information after the coup, said during a press conference on Tuesday.
More than 420 people have been arrested since the coup, according to a list of confirmed detentions from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group. There are numerous unconfirmed reports of other arrests.
Security forces have used increasing force to quell huge nationwide street protests and a disobedience campaign encouraging civil servants to strike.
Troops have fanned out around the country in recent days.
They fired rubber bullets to disperse one rally in Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, hours before authorities again cut Internet access.
"They shut down the Internet because they want to do bad things," said 44-year-old Win Tun, a resident of commercial capital Yangon.
"We didn't sleep the whole night so we could see what would happen."
The Internet blackout came after another day of protests in Yangon and Mandalay, where police used slingshots against protesters and fired rubber bullets into the crowd. At least six were injured in the clashes.
Buddhist monks and nuns display pictures of detained Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest against the military coup in Mandalay on Tuesday, Feb 16, 2021. (Photo: AP)
Crowds returned to the streets of Yangon and around the country on Tuesday morning.
"I want more people to join the protests, we don't want to be seen as weak," said university student Thwe Ei Sann.
A large crowd blocked railway tracks outside Mawlamyine to prevent a Yangon-bound train from leaving the port city.
Many of the country's train drivers have joined the anti-coup work boycotts, frustrating junta efforts to restart the national railway network after a COVID-19 shutdown.
Yangon residents at the weekend used tree trunks to block police vehicles sent to take striking rail workers back to their stations.
The international community has unleashed a torrent of condemnation against the leaders of Myanmar's new military administration, which insists it took power lawfully.
United Nations Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener spoke to junta No 2 Soe Win on Monday and warned him that the regime's network blackouts "undermine core democratic principles", according to a spokesman.
State media reported the following day that the general had discussed "security measures" with the envoy, along with the regime's COVID-19 vaccination roll-out and economic recovery plans.
UN special rapporteur Tom Andrews told AFP on Monday that he did not expect Aung San Suu Kyi's court hearing to be fair.
"There's nothing fair about the junta. This is theatre. It's just theatre," Andrews said.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia announced on Tuesday (Feb 16) that the movement control order (MCO) will be extended for the states of Selangor, Johor and Penang as well as the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur until Mar 4.
Meanwhile, it will relax the COVID-19 restrictions for most areas of the country, with the conditional movement control order (CMCO) reinstated for Kedah, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Terengganu, Kelantan, Melaka, Pahang and Sabah as well as the federal territories of Putrajaya and Labuan.
The northern state of Perlis will be placed under recovery movement control order (RMCO), said Senior Minister for Security Ismail Sabri Yaakob in a press conference.
These will be implemented from Feb 19 until Mar 4.
Mr Ismail Sabri, who is also Defence Minister, said people are now permitted to travel more than 10km from their homes, even in areas under MCO.
However, interstate and inter-district travel are still not allowed, he said.
Speaking during the press conference, Mr Ismail Sabri urged Malaysian residents to adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to curb the spread of COVID-19, even though restrictions will be eased in some locations.
"We don't want to have more new cases when RMCO and CMCO are implemented. We need to flatten the curve together and ease the pressure on healthcare. Breaking the chain of infection is so important. Avoid leaving home unless necessary," he added.
Earlier this year, all states in the country except Sarawak were placed under MCO until Feb 18 in response to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Sarawak was subsequently placed under CMCO from Feb 15 to Mar 1.
When Malaysia was first placed under the MCO in March last year, almost all economic activities ceased, except for essential services such as food and beverage outlets and pharmacies.
The lockdown saw the country reduce its COVID-19 cases to single digits in the first half of 2020. MCO was replaced by CMCO and recovery movement control order (RMCO), while localised restrictions were introduced in areas with a spike in cases.
In contrast, this current MCO, dubbed "MCO 2.0", has allowed more economic sectors to continue functioning, such as the automotive sector and retailers like gold and jewellery shops.
Since MCO 2.0 was enforced in January, Malaysia has continued to battle a sharp spike in infections and has consistently reported four-digit daily increases in COVID-19 cases.
On Monday, Malaysia recorded 2,176 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest number of daily infections recorded in the past 30 days.
So far, Malaysia has reported a cumulative tally of 266,445 infections and 975 deaths.
There are currently 47,135 active cases, with 260 patients in intensive care and 112 people requiring ventilator support.
YANGON: Protesters opposed to Myanmar's military coup blocked train services between Yangon and a southern city on Tuesday (Feb 16), hours after a United Nations envoy warned the army of "severe consequences" for any harsh response to the demonstrations.
Despite the deployment of armoured vehicles and soldiers in some major cities on the weekend, protesters have kept up their campaign to denounce the Feb 1 takeover and demand the release of detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others.
As well as the demonstrations in towns and cities across the ethnically diverse country, a civil disobedience movement has brought strikes that are crippling many functions of government.
Protesters milled onto a sun-baked stretch of railway track waving placards in support of the disobedience movement, stopping the service between Yangon and the southern city of Mawlamyine, live images broadcast by media showed.
"Release our leaders immediately," and "People's power, give it back," the crowd chanted.
Crowds also gathered in two places in the main city of Yangon - at a traditional protest site near the main university campus and at the central bank, where protesters hoped to press staff to join the civil disobedience movement.
About 30 Buddhist monks protested against the coup with prayers.
The turnout at protests this week has been smaller than the hundreds of thousands who joined earlier demonstrations, but opposition to the army takeover that halted a decade of unsteady transition to democracy remains widespread.
The army cut off the Internet for a second consecutive night early on Tuesday, though it was again restored at about 9am (10.30am Singapore time).
UN Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener spoke on Monday to the deputy head of the junta in what has become a rare channel of communication between the army and the outside world, urging restraint and the restoration of communications.
"Ms Schraner Burgener has reinforced that the right of peaceful assembly must fully be respected and that demonstrators are not subjected to reprisals," UN spokesman Farhan Haq said at the United Nations.
"She has conveyed to the Myanmar military that the world is watching closely, and any form of heavy-handed response is likely to have severe consequences."
In an account of the meeting, Myanmar's army said junta No 2, Soe Win, had discussed the administration's plans and information on "the true situation of what's happening in Myanmar".
The unrest has revived memories of bloody outbreaks of opposition to almost half a century of direct army rule that ended in 2011 when the military began a process of withdrawing from civilian politics.
"SECURITY PATROLS"
The army said late on Monday that protests were harming stability and had left people in fear.
"People are delighted to have the security patrols and the security forces will conduct them day and night," its True News information team said.
The military was due to hold a news conference later on Tuesday.
An activist group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, said it had recorded 426 arrests between the coup and Monday, and it feared the military was using Internet blackouts to arrest more opponents, particularly after it suspended legal constraints on search and detention powers.
Violence during the protests has been limited compared with that under previous juntas, but police have opened fire several times, mostly with rubber bullets, to disperse protesters, including on Monday.
One woman who was shot in the head in the capital Naypyidaw last week is not expected to survive.
The army took power alleging fraud in a Nov 8 general election which Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party had won a landslide. The electoral commission had dismissed the army's complaints.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 75, spent nearly 15 years under house arrest for her efforts to end military rule, and is again being kept under guard at her home in Naypyidaw.
She now faces charges of illegally importing six walkie-talkie radios and is being held on remand until Wednesday.
The coup has prompted an angry response from Western countries, and the United States has already set some sanctions against the ruling generals.
But China has taken a softer approach, arguing stability should be the priority in its neighbour, where it has close contacts with the military. China did, however, join other UN Security Council members in calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and others.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a briefing in Jakarta that Myanmar should stick to the path to democracy.
"The safety and security of the people of Myanmar is the main issue, and that the transition to democracy is advanced," she said.
OSLO: Norwegian telecom operator Telenor on Monday (Feb 15) said that concerns for its employees' safety had stopped it listing forced Internet outages in Myanmar following the Feb 1 military coup.
While the junta has repeatedly forced Internet providers to shut down or restrict access since seizing power, Telenor attempted transparency by listing the ordered outages on its website.
But it posted on Sunday that "it is currently not possible for Telenor to disclose the directives we receive from the authorities" in Myanmar, adding that "we deeply regret that the list on this site will no longer be updated".
Spokeswoman Hanne Langeland Knudsen told AFP on Monday that "our overall judgement of the situation now means that we can't communicate about the directives," saying that the situation in Myanmar is "confused and unclear" and that "our employees' security has had top priority from the start".
Telenor has been active in Myanmar since 2014 and last year employed 747 people there.
At present, telecoms services are heavily disrupted, with UK-based monitoring group NetBlocks tweeting on Monday evening that the country was under a "near-total internet shutdown" for the second night in a row.
Repeated Internet blackouts have not prevented thousands of people taking to the streets in Myanmar's major cities and far-flung villages alike, although the generals on Monday deployed extra troops as their crackdown intensified.
SINGAPORE: It was only a decade ago in 2011 that Myanmar started democratic reforms and opened its doors to foreign investment.
Industries such as oil exploration, retail and wholesale, telecommunications, and insurance and banking have since been opened up.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s landslide victory in the 2015 elections further cemented the country’s path towards democracy.
Foreign investors piled in.
World Bank data shows that foreign direct investment inflows jumped to a high of 6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015.
Foreign direct investment inflows have since tapered off, hitting a low of 1.7 per cent of GDP in 2018.
Now, with the army back in control, there are concerns foreign investor sentiment will take another hit.
This photo taken on Dec 11, 2020 shows workers loading bananas onto a truck at a wholesale coconut and banana market in Yangon. (Photo: AFP/Sai Aung Main)
Htwe Htwe Thein, an Associate Professor of international business at Curtin University, said the coup is the “biggest nightmare” for investors.
“Businesses want stability and certainty. Right now, anything can happen, so confidence is low. These events prove that Myanmar is still a dangerous foreign investment destination.”
The manufacturing sector could see a fallout.
According to Assoc Prof Htwe Htwe Thein, “Made in Myanmar” could find fewer buyers.
Big infrastructure projects such as industrial zones and special economic zones are also likely to be affected. China and Japan are the biggest investors in these developments.
Kirin Holdings was the first Japanese company to speak out against the military coup. It has announced it will terminate its two joint ventures in Myanmar.
But China is Myanmar’s largest trading partner, and observers believe the Chinese will seek to deepen their foothold in Myanmar.
Boys play outside a branch of the Myawaddy Bank in Yangon on Feb 3, 2021, after Myanmar's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi was detained in a military coup. (Photo: STR / AFP)
“China wants to be a more substantial player regionally, and it wants good close relationships, productive relationships with its direct neighbours, of which Myanmar is one. So, there's no sense that Myanmar would fall off the map of interest for policymakers in China," said Mr Andrew Delios, Professor of strategy and policy at NUS Business School.
"In fact, it might even be prioritised as a major policy initiative, particularly as it connects to China developing its Belt and Road initiative and connecting through these parts of Asia to other parts of the world,” he added.
Mr Jason Yek, senior country risk analyst at Fitch Solutions, said believes that the Chinese government and Chinese companies will still be able to push through with their projects, even under military rule and in the current state of emergency - but with a caveat that the pace of progress might be slightly slower.
According to Myanmar’s Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, China has invested a total of US$21.5 billion so far, making it the second-largest investor in Myanmar.
Singapore remains the largest investor in the country, with US$24.1 billion in approved foreign capital.
Singapore and Chinese investments alone account for more than half (52 per cent) of all approved foreign capital into Myanmar.
Women holding umbrellas look back as they walk along a bridge in Yangon on Jun 8, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Ye Aung Thu)
The country, seen as the last frontier market of Asia, is not for the faint-hearted.
The threat of military coups will always be present; this is Myanmar’s third coup since 1962.
But the last time there was a coup, Myanmar was not a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Mr Yek from Fitch Solutions believes the impact will be contained.
“We see quite minimal spillover impacts in the grand scheme of things and this is largely due to Myanmar’s low external integration. The country only emerged from military rule in 2011, so from an investor country's perspective, foreign direct investment into Myanmar generally constitutes a very very small proportion of the total outward FDI.
"This is also similar in trade, as Myanmar is not a large trade partner from the perspective of the other countries, even for Thailand, which is a large trading partner for Myanmar.”
A vendor pushes a cart carrying bottles of drinking water while crossing a road on Feb 3, 2021, in Yangon, Myanmar. A coup in Myanmar on Monday left the military in control under a one-year state of emergency. (Photo: AP/Thein Zaw)
Myanmar-watchers note that the country is known for having a very difficult business climate to begin with. That, they said, is ultimately about effective governance, coup or no coup.
“The idea of having a military government, and at the same time, seeing rapid economic development, these two things are not really inimical to each other," said Mr Michael Witt, Professor of strategy and international business at INSEAD.
"The form of governance per se is not the problem. What you see here is an authoritarian government, (but) with the right policies, actually this could be very good for economic growth,” he added.
A convoy of army vehicles patrol the streets of Mandalay, Myanmar, on Feb 3, 2021. (AP Photo)
Businesses face other structural challenges too.
Mr Bryan Tse, country analyst for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said that Myanmar has faced many complaints about its slow pace of reform, especially when it comes to opening up key sectors and improving its bureaucracy and regulatory regime.
"These are the things that don’t really have a lot to do with the military. Rather, it has more to do with the fact that Myanmar lacks an efficient bureaucracy, it lacks expertise and also it lacks the money needed to implement these changes effectively," he said.
In the longer term, as the country transitions from a decade of civilian rule, back to military rule, there remain many questions over how the political and business environment will pan out.
YANGON: Myanmar's military government deployed extra troops around the country and choked the internet for the second night in a row as it intensified a crackdown on anti-coup protests, but defiant demonstrators again took to the streets on Monday (Feb 15).
The military has steadily escalated efforts to quell an uprising against their seizure of power two weeks ago, which saw civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained along with hundreds of others, including members of her democratically elected government.
Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint are expected to be questioned by a court "via video conferencing" in the country's capital of Naypyidaw this week, said lawyer Khin Maung Zaw, adding that he had not been able to make contact with either client.
Neither has been seen in public since they were detained in dawn raids on Feb 1, the day of the coup.
The generals imposed an hours-long internet shutdown on Monday morning and ratcheted up the military's presence across the country overnight, including armoured vehicles in Yangon, the nation's commercial hub and biggest city.
On Tuesday, another internet blackout blanketed Myanmar, dropping connectivity to 15 per cent of ordinary levels, according to UK-based monitoring group NetBlocks.
"#Myanmar is in the midst of a near-total internet shutdown for a second consecutive night" as of 1am local time, NetBlocks tweeted early on Tuesday morning.
The shutdown comes after a day of protesters taking to the streets in defiance of heavy troop presence around Yangon - although turnout was smaller than in recent days.
The United Nations denounced the choking of the internet.
The UN envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, spoke with the deputy commander of the Myanmar army, Soe Win, and warned that "network blackouts undermine core democratic principles," UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said in New York.
The envoy noted that such shutdowns "hurt key sectors, including banking, and heighten domestic tensions. And, so, we've made our concerns about this very clear", said Haq.
"Patrolling with armoured vehicles means they are threatening people," said 46-year-old Nyein Moe, among the more than 1,000 gathered Monday in front of the Central Bank, staring down armoured vehicles parked there.
"We can't stop now."
Since the military detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ousted her government on February 1, the new regime has detained hundreds of protesters. (Photo: AFP/STR)
By afternoon, news of a strong police presence at the city's headquarters of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party drew thousands to the scene.
They chanted "End military dictatorship" as the officers stood guard.
"About seven police officers searched for about 30 minutes (for two MPs)," NLD member Soe Win told AFP after the security forces left without finding them. "Now everything is settled."
Across the country, people continued to take to the streets Monday to call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi - with some incidents of violence.
A demonstration led by student groups in Naypyidaw was met with force after the gathering had retreated. Police also arrested dozens of the young protesters, though some were later released.
Mandalay, the country's second largest city, saw a clash which left at least six injured after police used slingshots against protesters and fired rubber bullets into the crowd.
Demonstrators retaliated by throwing bricks, said a rescue team member who assisted with the injured.
"One of them needed oxygen because he was hit with a rubber bullet in his rib," rescue team head Khin Maung Tin told AFP.
Journalists on the scene also said police had beaten them in the melee.
'STATE-ORDERED INFORMATION BLACKOUT'
NetBlocks reported Monday that a "state-ordered information blackout" had taken Myanmar almost entirely offline for around eight hours, before connectivity was restored at the start of the working day.
Tuesday's internet blackout would be the fourth since Feb 1, when the military staged a putsch and detained Aung San Suu Kyi, ending a decade-old fledgling democracy after generations of military rule.
But cutting out internet connectivity - and a step up in arrests - has done little to quell resistance that has seen huge crowds throng big urban centres and isolated frontier villages alike.
Yangon residents make their way outdoors to protect neighbours from being arrested after hearing an alarm of banging pots and pans. (Photo: AFP/STR)
The anti-coup movement has continued apace despite intensifying fears of a harsher crackdown, like on Sunday night when troops in the northern city of Myitkyina fired tear gas and then shot into a crowd of protesters.
So far, more than 420 people - including striking workers - have been detained since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.
DECLARATION OF WAR
A joint statement from the US, British and European Union ambassadors urged security forces not to harm civilians.
By late Monday night, the UK embassy in Myanmar took a harsher line, admonishing the regime for its attack on journalists and for imposing another internet blackout.
"The assault on freedom of expression must stop," it tweeted.
UN special rapporteur Tom Andrews told AFP on Monday that he does expect Aung San Suu Kyi's court hearing to be fair.
"There's nothing fair about the junta. This is theatre. It's just theatre. And of course, nobody believes them," Andrews said.
"In a kind of an ironic way, the generals have proven their capacity to unify the country in ways that I have never seen," he added.
"They're a unifier. But unfortunately for them, everyone is unified in opposition to them, and opposition to the idea of once again being under a brutal, military, authoritarian regime," Andrews said.
