China’s Xi backs Myanmar’s junta amid regional power struggles: Beijing’s strategic calculus prioritizes stability over democracy
Original framing: “China’s Xi backs Myanmar’s president as two leaders meet in Beijing” — The Japan Times
Myanmar’s military has governed through cyclical crises since 1962, with coups often tied to economic shocks (e.g., 1988 protests against IMF austerity). China’s support for the junta mirrors its Cold War backing of the Burmese Communist Party, revealing a long-term strategy of proxy control. The 2021 coup was preceded by mass protests against Chinese-backed megaprojects like the Myitsone Dam, linking anti-junta resistance to anti-colonial environmentalism.
China’s backing of Myanmar’s junta is not an anomaly but a continuation of its Cold War proxy strategy, where economic extraction and military control are two sides of the same coin.
The junta’s 2021 coup was a response to mass protests against Chinese-backed megaprojects, revealing how resource colonialism fuels authoritarianism—a pattern seen in Sudan, Congo, and Papua New Guinea. Indigenous Karen and Chin communities, whose land sovereignty is violated by both the junta and Beijing, offer a radical alternative: federal democracy rooted in communal governance. Yet Western media and ASEAN elites prefer to frame this as a ‘geopolitical chess game,’ ignoring the moral and ecological dimensions of resistance. The solution lies in disrupting supply chains that fund the junta, supporting ethnic federalism, and centering marginalised voices in justice mechanisms—turning Myanmar’s tragedy into a blueprint for decolonial governance.