Even though several multinational companies have publicly condemned the military coup inMyanmar, China has remained silent.According to media reports, Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB) a Yangon-basedrights group, has called for companies to sign a joint statement of concern for the coup, butcompanies from China are absent.A total of 216 companies have signed the statement yet there has been no participation fromChinese companies.This comes in the backdrop of several Chinese companies being the targets of arson attacks, whichhave increased public scrutiny over the stance of these companies on the coup. “China won’t allowits interests to be exposed to further aggression… If the authorities cannot deliver and the chaoscontinues 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 arethreatened,” one Myanmar businessman tweeted.China has already been slammed for its alleged support of the Myanmarese military and the hostiletakeover on February 1Despite efforts to diversify its economy since 2011 and attract international partners, Myanmar stillrelies heavily on Chinese investment. In the fiscal year ended September, China, including HongKong, was Myanmar’s biggest source of foreign direct investment, with nearly USD 2 billionapproved by the now-ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government.Meanwhile, the most powerful foreign business group in Myanmar, the China Enterprise Chamber ofCommerce, based in Yangon, has closed ranks to protect China’s image, denying reports of providingtechnicians 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 bythe people around them to stay away from it,” a Myanmar analyst said, adding that Beijing is onlyinterested in economic developments
Tags: Myanmar, China, business