MYANMAR FOCUS: Myawaddy fighting continues
Plus UK-Myanmar trade data and more pressure for economic sanctions
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Good morning! Welcome to the latest “Myanmar Focus” edition of Watching Europe In Southeast Asia, written by journalist and columnist David Hutt.
As well as weekly news briefs about Europe-Southeast Asia engagement, this newsletter also brings you exclusive analysis and in-depth Q&As with leading diplomats and businesspeople from both regions.
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— THE BIG NEWS OF THIS WEEK IS THE JUNTA’S ASSAULT on Myawaddy, a town on the Thai border that revolutionary forces captured earlier this month. The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its political wing said they had captured the town, a conduit for annual foreign trade of more than $1 billion, earlier this month, but the junta’s forces launched major raids to retake it. On April 24, the KNU said it made a “temporary retreat”, citing the safety of the local inhabitants, and a blame game started over whether the KNU forces were sold out by some apparent allies (namely the mercenary Karen Border Guard Force, or BGF). It’s still too early to tell how much of the town the junta has retaken and how strategic it is (or, indeed, if it is just temporary), although Thailand reckons tensions have now calmed and normalcy will be restored over the vital border town. Bangkok has offered to be a mediator, again.
—LABOUR UNION INDUSTRIALL IS CAUSING A RUCKUS AGAIN by arguing that shipping companies Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Company are putting commercial interests above human rights concerns by continuing to ship from Myanmar, while business groups are fighting back, contesting that keeping Myanmar’s economy flowing helps ordinary people. This is pretty much a repeat of the to-and-fro arguments about whether the EU should exclude Myanmar from its preferential Everything But Arms scheme. By now, it’s rather obvious that the EU won’t take away Myanmar's privileges nor will the global companies that haven’t yet left Myanmar do so. Perhaps only after the conflict ends will we be able to properly assess the arguments on either side. That said, if the revolutionary forces do lose to the junta, international businesses and, indeed, the likes of the EU will come in for much blame for keeping the lights on not just for ordinary people but also for the junta.
—THE UK RELEASED ITS LATEST DATA ON TRADE WITH MYANMAR, which found that trade in goods and services was £525 million in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2023, a decrease of 10.7% from the four quarters to the end of Q3 2022. This was mostly a decrease in UK exports to Myanmar (down 25.2%) than Myanmar’s exports to Britain (down just 5.2%)
—SWEDEN ANNOUNCED ITS STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION WITH MYANMAR FOR 2024-2026, which will amount to around €51 million. The report is, naturally, in Swedish.
Trade union leader and activist Khaing Zar Aung, who has been in exile in Germany since 2021, won the 2024 Arthur Svensson’s International Prize for Trade Union Rights.
At the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Italy stated: “We reiterate our strong condemnation of the military coup in Myanmar and reaffirm our support and solidarity with the people of Myanmar in their quest for peace, freedom, and democracy.”
“International investors are concerned that the military regime might constrain them to support the conscription, for instance, by providing data on employees.” A Tightening Noose Heightens Risks to Investors in Myanmar’s Economy, Fulcrum, 22 April.
ADDITIONAL READING
Myanmar’s figurehead vice president, a rare holdover from Suu Kyi's civilian government, steps down, Associated Press, April 22, 2024)
How the New UN Special Envoy to Myanmar Should Approach Her Impossible Mission, The Diplomat, April 19, 2024
Why Myanmar’s War Matters, Even if the World Isn’t Watching, New York Times, April 20
Keeping Facebook responsible in Myanmar, East Asia Forum, 24 April
'My hell in Myanmar cyber slavery camp', BBC, 21 April