MoeMaKa, February 26 2023
Global attention on Myanmar’s political crisis
Since Myanmar’s political crisis started in 2021, it has been a political problem that has received the most attention in the world and that other countries are interested in helping to resolve. The hundreds of millions of people in Myanmar who refused to accept the military coup have been recognized and praised by the international community for their resounding protests against the occurrence that the nation, which underwent a decade-long democratic transition, returned to a military coup.
Other countries have urged the United Nations and ASEAN to intervene and resolve the political crisis in Myanmar. From February 2021 to February 2022, they appointed ASEAN special envoys, United Nations special envoys, etc. to resolve the Myanmar political crisis so that the results of the Myanmar issue could come out quickly. The governments of Southeast Asian countries have been concerned about the possibility of refugees entering neighboring countries and countries in the Southeast Asian region due to the armed conflict in Myanmar, and the consequences of the war spreading across the border.
After a year of the Myanmar issue, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine occurred in Europe, and the world’s attention to the Myanmar problem has decreased. ASEAN countries and neighboring countries of Myanmar in Southeast Asia continue to encourage Myanmar to find a solution to the Myanmar issue, but the Western countries and European countries have reduced their attention to the Myanmar issue because the Ukraine-Russia war is a more serious, bilateral war that affects the whole world. For European countries, the possibility that the fire that is happening near their countries could spread to their respective countries at any time, the consequences of the current war, the impact of the refugee problems, the impact on the economy, etc. have become factors that have reduced the attention and aid given to the Myanmar issue.
The United States is also actively involved in the Ukraine-Russia war, and the Myanmar issue has lagged behind. It has been 1 year since the Ukraine-Russia war, and there are no signs that the war will end overnight, and armed conflicts over Myanmar are still taking place in various parts of the country.
Although the United States supports the forces that are fighting against the Myanmar military dictator politically and spiritually, there is still no prospect of providing weapons for the armed struggle. In the US defense budget to be implemented in 2023, hundreds of millions of dollars in grants have been provided for Myanmar under the Burma Act, but they have only been described as humanitarian assistance and skills training assistance, not weapons assistance.
Although there is moral support from the world for the Spring Revolution, it is currently facing a situation where it cannot receive material support other than humanitarian aid.
After many decades, the United Nations Security Council’s resolution on Myanmar was recently adopted. However, if this decision is not implemented and followed, it is not clear how they will act, so on the one hand, the military dictators are still relieved.
After the change of ASEAN chairmanship, Indonesia, a powerful country in the region, is eager to make new efforts to deal with the Myanmar issue, but the military council is stubbornly resisting what is being said diplomatically.
In Myanmar’s struggle to overthrow the military dictator, the international moral support has been satisfactory, but the material support has not been so much. There are other new events and new problems in the world that require humanitarian aid, such as the earthquake on the Turkish-Syrian border, and there are also situations in which attention will be reduced on the Myanmar issue. So, I urge that it is also important to be aware of these events and to keep talking about the Myanmar issue so as not to decrease further than the current situation.
