Tag: myanmar

Myanmar’s Great Coco, which lies 55 km from India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has been at the centre of intrigue…reports Asian Lite News

With developments in Myanmar’s remote Coco island located in the Bay of Bengal, India may soon face a new airbase close by in a country increasingly tied to Beijing, said a report, which analysed satellite images released by Maxar Technologies.

Myanmar’s Great Coco, which lies 55 km from India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, has been at the centre of intrigue. Rumour had it that the island was home to a Chinese intelligence facility, a claim lacking hard evidence.

Now concerns over the island, and its uses, have re-emerged.

Satellite images taken in January 2023 show telltale signs of military modernisation, according to the report by the thinktank Chatham House.

There’s a newly lengthened 2,300-metre runway and radar station, two new hangars, what appears to be an accommodation block, and a new causeway linking to a smaller island.

At the tip of the island is evidence of land clearing efforts, suggesting further construction work is to come. Great Coco is small at 11 km in length, but its location is strategically important. It is not only close to the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, The Guardian reported.

Signs of construction have provoked concern that China — which Myanmar has grown increasingly dependent on after the February 2021 coup — could stand to gain from intelligence gathered there, either through espionage or intelligence sharing.

Delhi has reportedly been monitoring developments closely. It recently confronted Myanmar with intelligence showing that Beijing was providing assistance in building a surveillance post on the island, according to Bloomberg. China dismissed the claims.

Authors of the Chatham House report said the Maxar images did not show any specific evidence of Chinese activity on Great Coco.

However, since the coup, Myanmar’s military has sought closer ties with Beijing, backing its claim to Taiwan and announcing its support for China’s “global security initiative”.

“Myanmar is desperate, it’s cash-strapped,” said Htwe Htwe Thein, associate professor at Curtin University,

“Investment from Beijing is economically helpful — and also on the world stage (Myanmar can flaunt) that such an economic giant and neighbour is still their friend.”

“With Myanmar reliant on China for international support and economic development, it is extremely likely that the army would share intelligence with Beijing, and support China’s strategic initiatives,” said Jason Tower, Myanmar country director at the United States Institute of Peace.

The construction on Great Coco was provocative, he said, adding that it “presents a significant challenge to regional security, and will likely generate significant tensions between China and India in the Bay of Bengal”, the Guardian reported.

Analysts believe Myanmar’s military is likely seeking to play India and China off against one another in return for greater economic and diplomatic support.

Great Coco could be used as leverage in negotiations with Delhi, said Damien Symon of the Intel Lab, who co-authored the Chatham House report, adding that the Myanmar military was “well aware of Indian fears relating to Chinese surveillance of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands”.

ALSO READ: Myanmar to free 3,000 prisoners on New Year’s Day

It is to mark the Southeast Asian country’s traditional New Year with peace in mind and on humanitarian grounds…reports Asian Lite News

Myanmar’s State Administration Council pardoned more than 3,000 prisoners in an amnesty on Monday, the first day of the country’s traditional New Year.

The council granted amnesty to 3,015 prisoners in an order, and 98 foreign prisoners and five Sri Lankans in separate orders on New Year’s Day, reports Xinhua news agency.

It is to mark the Southeast Asian country’s traditional New Year with peace in mind and on humanitarian grounds, as well as in view of relations between the respective countries and Myanmar, the council said.

Myanmar typically pardons thousands of prisoners in an annual amnesty to mark its traditional New Year, and it released 1,619 prisoners on New Year’s Day last year.

On January 4 this year, Myanmar also pardoned more than 7,000 prisoners on its 75th Independence Day.

ALSO READ: Myanmar envoy praises strong cultural ties with India

The attack which took place in Kanbalu township is seen as one of the deadliest attacks since the junta seized power….reports Asian Lite News

At least 133 people were killed, including women and children in an airstrike by the military Junta on a village in Central Myanmar, CNN reported citing the human rights minister of the ousted shadow National Unity Government Aung Myo Min.

The attack which took place on Tuesday in Kanbalu township in the central Sagaing region of the country is seen as one of the deadliest attacks since the junta seized power in a coup two years ago. According to CNN, 50 people were hurt during the strike, the Kyunhla activist group said, which was there. At least 20 children were killed.

Although there have been no additional strikes, military jets have continued to fly over the town, preventing first responders and medical professionals from reaching the attack site, according to Aung Myo Min, who told CNN.

Sagaing region — near the country’s second-largest city, Mandalay — has put up some of the fiercest resistance to the military’s rule, with intense fighting raging there for months.

Reacting to the incident, UN rights chief Volker Turk said on Tuesday he was “horrified” by the deadly air strikes, whose victims he said included schoolchildren performing dances, with the global body calling for those responsible to be brought to justice.

Photos from the village being shared on social media showed more than a dozen burned and mutilated bodies, while videos showed a destroyed building, burned motorcycles and debris scattered over a wide area. Rescuers at the scene confirmed the authenticity of the images with The New York Times.

The apparent target of the attack was a celebration to mark the local resistance movement’s opening of an administration office. Only the charred frame of the building remained standing after the air raid, a video and photos showed.

Myanmar’s military, which has battled armed ethnic groups for territorial control since soon after independence in 1948, has a long history of brutal attacks on civilians.

Last month, Myanmar’s military abolished 40 political parties, including the National League for Democracy.

Myanmar’s military-controlled election commission said that the ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party will be dissolved for failing to re-register under a new electoral law.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) party was among 40 political parties that were unable to meet the ruling military’s registration deadline for an election.

Earlier in January, the Myanmar military gave two months to political parties to register under a strict new electoral law before fresh elections which they have promised to hold. However, the opponents have said that the elections will neither be free nor fair. The NLD has said it would not contest in the elections and called it illegitimate.

In November 2020, the NLD secured victory in Myanmar’s parliamentary elections. However, less than three months later, the Myanmar military carried out a coup and imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi. She is serving a prison sentence which totals 33 years. As per the news report, Aung San Suu Kyi has been convicted in a series of politically tainted prosecutions brought by the military.

Myanmar oppn urges global action

Opposition leaders in Myanmar have called on the international community to take action against the military junta following the latest airstrike in the Sagaing province that claimed the lives of at least 133 civilians, including women and children.

According to The Hindu report, the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), a group consisting of opposition parties and ethnic groups opposed to the junta, accused the military rulers of committing war crimes.

The NUCC reported that a fighter jet from Tada-U Airport bombed the civilian population in Pazigyi village in Kanbalu township in Sagaing region on April 11, 2023, followed by two rocket and machine gun attacks from an MI35 from North-Western Command just five minutes later, resulting in the deaths of the innocent civilians.

The NUCC fears that the Myanmar military may carry out more airstrikes against civilians in Chin, Kachin, and Sagaing regions.

ALSO READ: China in Myanmar: Win-win?