Anti-China sentiment said to be growing in Myanmar

A recent attack on a Chinese consulate in Myanmar reflects growing anti-Chinese sentiment in the country fed by Beijing’s support of the ruling junta, experts say.
On October 18, the Chinese consulate in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, was struck by a small explosive device. Reports say the building was damaged but there were no casualties.
It was the first attack was on a Chinese diplomatic facility in Myanmar since anti-China riots in Yangon in 1967.
In a statement to journalists, the nation’s military authorities said the blast damaged tiles on the roof of the two-story building and that they were seeking to identify and arrest the “terrorists” who were responsible.
Two weeks later, no one has been caught and no group has claimed responsibility, but anti-China sentiment exists, experts say.
Ye Myo Hein, a visiting senior expert at the United States Institute of Peace and global fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, said strong anti-China sentiment has been brewing since Myanmar’s military seized power on February 1, 2021.
“Immediately following the coup, the public perceived China as supportive of the junta, resulting in strong anti-Chinese sentiment among the general population,” he told VOA.
Anti-Chinese sentiment grows
Myanmar has been in chaos since General Min Aung Hlaing and his military forces overthrew the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Backers of the ousted government have joined forces with various ethnic armies to resist the junta’s rule.
China distanced itself from the junta for a time, but recently renewed its support. When it did, Ye Myo Hein said, anti-Chinese sentiment began to rise again.
“It is difficult to determine who was responsible for the attacks on the Chinese consulate, but if China continues its pro-junta stance, it will likely face growing public animosity,” he said.
The military has been sanctioned and condemned by the U.S. and Western countries, but it has retained some support from countries such as China and Russia.
“Whoever was behind the consulate bombing, it suggests that there are multiple strands of anti-Chinese anger, against the support for the regime and against the perceived support of China for the Kokang occupation of Lashio,” David Scott Mathieson, an independent analyst with more than two decades of experience focusing on Myanmar, told VOA.
Kokang, which is in northern Myanmar’s Shan State, sits on the border with China. It is home to 90% ethnic Chinese and is an important trade route between the two countries.
In the past year, three allied pro-democracy ethnic groups have captured the city from Myanmar military forces. Beijing negotiated a cease-fire between the allied brotherhood and the junta in January but it was short-lived.
China did succeed in getting the ethnic groups to assist in a crackdown on Chinese crime rings in northern Shan state that had been targeting Chinese citizens with online scams.
China now appears to be backing both sides of the conflict. But with rebel forces capturing more territory over the past year, Beijing is showing its concern over the rapid deterioration of the junta’s position.
In late July, after ethnic groups captured Lashio, a town in the northeast, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw.
China also recently closed its borderlands and key trade routes under the control of Myanmar’s rebel groups, Reuters reported.
One Chinese national who lives in Myanmar told VOA’s Mandarin Service that he believes the consulate attack was not a terrorist incident, but an expression of dissatisfaction with China.
He added that since the coup, there have been protests against China’s government in various parts of Myanmar. In March 2021, several Chinese factories in Myanmar were burned and destroyed during mass protests against the coup.
“China has to take this rising public anger very seriously, as it could potentially descend into violence in urban areas and against Chinese nationals and economic assets, but also Myanmar-Chinese communities as well,” Mathieson told VOA this week.
“Has Beijing really thought through all these dilemmas? Or is its cynically arrogant support for the SAC at such levels the Chinese leadership don’t care about consequences?”
The SAC is short for the State Administration Council, a reference to the junta.
History of supporting military
Over the last three decades, Beijing has supplied the Myanmar military with major arms. The military has used those arms to crush those opposing their rule, with nearly 6,000 people killed, according to rights groups.
China is also Myanmar’s biggest trade partner and has invested billions into the country’s oil and gas sector.
“Since the junta is widely despised, Beijing’s support for it will almost certainly fuel anti-Chinese sentiment,” Ye Myo Hein said.
Nevertheless, diplomacy is continuing between the two regimes, as Myanmar junta boss Min Aung Hlaing is expected to pay a return visit to China in November.
VOA reporter Katherine Michaelson contributed to this report.