Even though several multinational companies have publicly condemned the military coup in Myanmar, China has remained silent.
According to media reports, Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) a Yangon-based rights group, has called for companies to sign a joint statement of concern for the coup, but companies from China are absent.
A total of 216 companies have signed the statement yet there has been no participation from Chinese companies.
This comes in the backdrop of several Chinese companies being the targets of arson attacks, which have increased public scrutiny over the stance of these companies on the coup. “China won’t allow its interests to be exposed to further aggression… If the authorities cannot deliver and the chaos continues to spread, China might be forced into taking more drastic action to protect its interests,” Chinese state media had said.
China’s recent stance to protect its businesses has fuelled a backlash from the protest movement.
“So this is no longer an ‘internal affairs’. China is now using strong words when their interests are threatened,” one Myanmar businessman tweeted.
China has already been slammed for its alleged support of the Myanmarese military and the hostile takeover on February 1.
Despite efforts to diversify its economy since 2011 and attract international partners, Myanmar still relies heavily on Chinese investment. In the fiscal year ended September, China, including Hong Kong, was Myanmar’s biggest source of foreign direct investment, with nearly USD 2 billion approved by the now-ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government.
Meanwhile, the most powerful foreign business group in Myanmar, the China Enterprise Chamber of Commerce, based in Yangon, has closed ranks to protect China’s image, denying reports of providing technicians to build an internet “great firewall” for the junta.
“Chinese companies really think it is an internal affair. And they’ve been advised and reminded by the people around them to stay away from it,” a Myanmar analyst said, adding that Beijing is only interested in economic developments.