China Follows Burma

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_ By Htun Aung Gyaw

China and Burma share a long borderline and both regimes support each other. The question is why do these two governments provide this mutual support? There are three reasons for this, the first reason being that China’s and Burma’s ruthless regimes won’t welcome a democratic system into their countries. The Chinese Communist Party keeps its grip on political power with a relentless iron fist, the same way other Communist regimes maintain their power. China allows only one political party, the Communist Party. In this same fashion, the Burmese regime used extreme force to crush any pro-democracy movement that questions the military junta’s authority. Burma’s current rulers allowed opposition political parties, but when they lost the elections in 1990, they cracked down on the winning political party and set up its semi-political party, the notorious USDA (Union Solidarity and Development Association).

The second reason is economic. China is looking for raw materials for its growing economy and Burma fits in with China’s hunger for raw materials such as copper, iron, minerals, teak, hard wood and natural gas. In return, Burma seeks China’s support for its survival because China is the main supplier of what Burma needs. The generals will do anything to keep their political power, even if this means Burma slides into China’s vessel in the future. The Burmese generals do not care about the future Burma or its future generations. They are only concentrating on how to maintain the status quo within their lifetimes.

The third reason is that China will not allow neighboring Burma to become a democratic state because of its geo-political condition. If possible, China will encourage Southeast Asian nations to become authoritative regimes so that it can further secure Chinese political power. China sees every democratic movement in Asia as a threat to its authority, especially Burma. In a similar way, the United States Government regards every Communist movement in Latin America as a threat to its stability.

In 1988 Burmese students led demonstrations that spread across the whole country and toppled the Burmese Socialist Regime. Millions of Burmese men, women, and children poured into the streets, demanding democracy. But the world knew little about it because the western media’s interest was not in Burma. One and a half months of hopeful demonstrations in every city and town were never known by the majority of the earth’s people. As a result, the historic mass uprising known as 8888 existed mainly as silence and empty space on people’s TV screens and in newspapers and journals. However, the Burmese students’ movement was discovered and followed by Chinese students. The Chinese students saw the 8888 movement as an inspiration. The next year, in 1989, the Tiananmen Square incident occurred. Unlike its shrug-of-the-shoulders response to Burma, the world media’s interest was fired up by the Tiananmen Square revolt. And so the Chinese students’ movement garnered world-wide attention before it, too, was crushed.

Again, in September 2007, the Burmese Buddhist monks’ protest was well known as The Saffron Revolution. More than 100,000 monks and people protested against the sky-rocketing consumer prices and sudden hike of gas prices. The military regime mercilessly clamped down on the peaceful demonstrations, murdering more than 50 human beings. Similarly and recently, in 2008 the Tibetan monks and other freedom-loving people staged demonstrations against the Chinese rule.

And so two movements that originally occurred in Burma served as courageous examples followed next in China and later on in Tibet. If the pattern is right, when Burma changes into a democratic state in 2008, China may change in 2009. Yes, this appears as wishful thinking. But I see some parallels. Sadly for now, the Chinese regime heartlessly supports the Burmese regime because they are scared to see a change in Burma. If the United States wants to see a democratic government in China, it needs to support Burma’s democratic movement first.