The Global Reaction to Myanmar’s Coup
Demonstrators wave flags of the National League for Democracy party during a protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar on February 10, 2021. Source: AP.
February 2021 in Myanmar began with a coup by the military to overthrow the newly elected government. The National League for Democracy (NLD) was supposed to be sworn into power on February 1 but this was stopped when the military seized power by declaring a year-long state of emergency and arresting the elected president, Aung San Suu Kyi, and 24 other NLD officials. The military-backed opposition believed the election was fraudulent despite there being no evidence to back this up. Min Aung Hlaing is now president and 11 of the other overthrown positions have also been replaced by the military.
The coup stands to reverse a slow and long history of attempts at a democratic system of governance separate from military rule. This erasure of progress sparked protests throughout the country. Protests have largely been in the form of labor strikes to slow any progress the military-backed leaders could make. For the first few weeks of the protests, violence was minimal. This changed on February 20 when two peaceful protestors were shot and killed by the military. Since then, the military has become increasingly forceful in resisting protests. As a result of this, over 200 peaceful protestors were killed and well over 2,000 were arrested.
It has been over a month since the coup took place and the global community has responded to the crisis in various ways. The United States has condemned the actions of the military and reimposed sanctions against them. The Biden Administration is also withdrawing all aid that would support the military-led government and reallocating it to support the people of Myanmar directly. They have also encouraged discussion and statements from other partners and international organizations. The United States and other countries have imposed sanctions on Myanmar before to halt antidemocratic governance and they have not been very effective. They could even be counterproductive because the opposition has the wealth and power to not be as affected by the sanctions as the people the sanctions are trying to help. However, they do send a stronger signal of disapproval than a simple statement. The European Union has released a statement of disapproval and has imposed an arms embargo on the country in hopes of limiting the military’s supply of weaponry. While no sanctions have been put in place, the EU is planning on enacting them on specific military-based companies by the end of the month.
More important than the Western response is the response of Myanmar’s close neighbors. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been criticised for their lack of strong response. The most pronounced response has come from Indonesian diplomats who are known to support democratic development. They have condemned the coup and expressed solidarity with the people of Myanmar. Thailand has agreed with their statements. However, ASEAN does not have an extensive infrastructure and not all countries agree on the action they should take. So, they have not been able to actually do anything to take a stance.
China is Myanmar’s biggest and more powerful neighbor. It has maintained relationships with both the military-backed opposition and the leaders of the NLD. The extent of their involvement in the issue is a statement urging a peaceful agreement between the two parties. Of course, this seems to favor the military because it appears the only peaceful resolution is to allow the coup. Unlike much of the Western world, China has no real stakes in maintaining democratic governance for the sake of it. However, this response could prove to hurt China in the long run. In past years, China has been able to work fairly well with NLD leaders and in the past months, support and trust in China has gone down among people in Myanmar.
Myanmar has been historically isolated due to the strife in the region. The recent coup is garnering a mixture of international reactions that could have negative effects on both the people of Myanmar and the countries themselves.