Since the Myanmar coup 2021, the Chinese government has been suspected by some western media of being behind the Burmese military. However, a Chinese expert familiar with Myanmar says that China has helped Myanmar many times in its history and has been inevitably betrayed, so it prefers to stay neutral.
Below is what the expert has to say:
As for the question of whether China takes sides in the coup of Myanmar, anyone who has a little knowledge of the historical exchanges between China and Myanmar knows that when China takes sides in a fight among the Burmese people, it will be hurt by the Burmese people in the end. Not to mention too long ago, just to cite a few examples in modern times:
1. During the Second World War, the government of the Republic of China sent expeditionary forces to Burma to fight against Japan. At that time, Japan was introduced into Burma by General Aung San to overthrow the British colonial rule and help Burma to become independent. At the end of World War II, the Burmese army attacked Japan in a single blow (which was the end of Japan’s support for the Burmese army), and the expeditionary force fought back from India. It can be said that most of the territory of Burma was liberated by the expeditionary army of China, but so what? The Burman and British forces jointly attacked the Chinese army and demanded that the Chinese expeditionary force withdraw immediately from what is now Kachin State and the Hugang Valley (Jiangxinpo), and Chiang Kai Shek had to withdraw. So just look at what happened in WW2 when China and Japan took sides for the Burmans.
2, After the liberation of mainland China, the KMT remnants army withdrew into Burma, Burma army couldn’t fight the KMT army, and they asked India to help. But more than half of the Indian army was wiped out by the Chinese residual forces, and then left. However, Myanmar’s attitude towards India was: India wanted to annex Burma again. So they supported the northeast of India to rebel against Indian rule. This policy lasted until the beginning of 2015, whether it was a democratic government or a military government (that is, when the Allied forces launched the Feb. 9 “home for the Spring Festival” campaign). Look, the Indian army paid the price of more than 2,000 casualties to stand in line with the Burmese, and what they got was this kind of return from the Burmese. Of course, Indians were not kind, and the dispatch of troops was conditional, that is, the division of Indian-Burmese territory, for which India made its own offer, only that it was not realized because it was nearly annihilated by the remnants of the Kuomintang from China.
3, The Burmese army could not fight the remnants of the Kuomintang, and it was useless to complain to the UN, so they turned to the Chinese authority. Note that not only the Burmese army turned to China, but also the U Nu government and the Burmese people turned to China, that is, all the parties with interests within the Burmese community turned to China at that time, while China had no territorial claims on Myanmar, but China finally helped Myanmar drive the remnants of the army into Thailand. After Burma eliminated its internal problems, Ne Win came to power in a coup and what they did first was to target China and exclude the Chinese. And to this day, the Burmese ethnic group is still haunted by the fact that China has sent troops to Burma, and considers China untrustworthy, declaring everywhere that the most untrustworthy people are the Chinese (whether mainlanders, Hong Kong people or Singaporeans), and this is what the Burmese ethnic group is.
The lesson China has learned from history and reality is that when the ethnic Burmese turn to other countries for help in their internal fighting, or when they unanimously ask for help, they do not hesitate to turn on those who help them without any guilt once they have achieved their goals. Whether it is the military or the government, whether it is dictatorship or democracy, any change of the brand will not change the “ungrateful wolf” nature in the bones of the Burmese.