Chinese regime's reaction in Myanmar's protest is not a surprise. It's a reflection of a greater paranoia of the dictatorship

In the mid of March 2021, more than thirty Chinese factories were set ablaze by unknown assailants. Shortly aftermath, the Chinese government and its embassy in Myanmar condemned the arson attacks, accusing the perpetrators of being "instigated by the West". The condemnation possibly drew into the protesters, who are actively fighting against the junta since the 1 February coup. In the end, it was mocked by many Burmese online users for its hypocrisy.

Yet, the reaction of China is nothing surprising. In fact, it is revealing the true paranoia of a totalitarian regime. China, now the world's most powerful dictatorship, is facing an unwanted challenge in Myanmar. Despite its attempts to whitewash history, the protest in Myanmar makes me questioning back what is China behaving, for certain. This is definitely not the only moment we see China's grotesque propaganda methods, it also helps us to see the maniac level of the Chinese regime: a regime that is paranoid of everything, regardless.

China and the anime

Beginning with an even unthinkable belief in my memories about China's paranoia is the anime. Well, what does a Japanese cartoon industry have something to do with Beijing. But with Xi Jinping, everything is possible. And nothing explains better than this one.

You know what I mean.

In September 2020, two virtual anime YouTubers, Kiryu Coco and Akai Haato were banned for three weeks after mentioning Taiwan in their chats. The reaction from the host company, Hololive, was a huge shock wave for the anime lover communities across the world, just because of having Taiwan (Republic of China) flag.

The fixation of China toward Taiwan is real. And it all started with history. Taiwan was once a Japanese colony, and when Chiang Kai-shek helped the allies to beat the Japanese in 1945, one of his requests was to return Taiwan back to mainland China, by then under the Kuomintang. But the communists, which gained momentum by keeping their best away from the war against Japan, able to utilise the rampant corruption and weakness of the Republic to finally defeat Chiang, forcing the Kuomintang leader to retreat to Taiwan. The United States, feeling threatened by the advance of the communists, quick to dispatch warships to defend Taiwan, keeping the status quo since 1949.

The communists established the People's Republic of China, and for more than 70 years, they have always maintained an assertion that Taiwan is an undeniable part of China, and has threatened to wage war in case the island declared independence. Chen Sui-bian, the first Taiwanese President to really move toward an independence motivation, had caught distraught among the Chinese regime. Now, the new President, Tsai Ing-wen, is even triggering a further reaction from Beijing. Massive military buildup has been done since 2016 to prepare for a potential invasion on the island.

This is enough for China to not tolerate anyone who speaks in favour of Taiwan. China is also the largest anime market for many Japanese producers and banning Kiryu Coco and Akai Haato, appear to be appeasing Xi Jinping. This has caught backlash across the world communities of how China has been abusing even in cartoon entertainment.

Yet, that's not the ugliest thing. Another major controversy is the airing of a series of Chinese magical anime girls that has been quickly mocked for copying from Japanese Pretty Cure.

First three series of Balala the Fairies featuring four characters.

Yes, Balala the Fairies. I used to watch that series and it seriously abused my taste of arts. It is like you are watching Pretty Cure, a Japanese magical series, but more like an absurd version rather than a genuine version, because everything I watched from it, has nothing innovative outside being from a different country than Japan. The company making it is Alpha Group Co., and it is one of the companies that have direct links to the Chinese government. Obsession, I supposed, is what taking the Chinese state media to even drag a copycat version of Japanese anime series for its influence ambitions.

Imperialist but hypocrite

Yet when talking about Taiwan being a victim only, I think it is an insult to normal people. Back in May 2020, Chinese private websites with connections to the government, sohu and tuotiao, made headline by claiming Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the two Central Asian states, as not independent and should be reunited with China, judging by historical Tang and Qing dynasties' accords.

Map of the Tang dynasty to its extent.

Kazakhstani government had already condemned the move, summoned the Chinese embassy. Yet despite Beijing claimed these are private websites and had nothing to do with Chinese government, the way how Xi Jinping's regime operated is not strange for many. China has the most complex and strict censorship network in the world, and articles need to be confirmed before officially uploaded by the state. The fact that sohu and tuotiao's articles about Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are freely read in China told that the CCP, Chinese Communist Party, actively approved it. As for 2021, they haven't been deleted.

China has also made their demand with various countries, such as Nepal, by claiming Mount Everest, using the Tibetan name Quomolangma. China has occupied Tibet since 1950, and using the Tibetan name was the way China asserted its role as "protector" for Tibetans. This dispute is less known because the Nepalese government is led by a Maoist Communist Party, which is pro-China.

It doesn't end there. If we remember the brutal border skirmishes back in 2020 between India and China that led to more than 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers killed, China also has demands on India. China claims part of Kashmir, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh/South Tibet, and has never abandoned these claims. China had fought India in 1962 and 1967, each shared a win.

China's dispute doesn't end in just the land area. Even in the sea or the air, nothing is cool. China has been ramping up its military coercive activities in South China Sea. So far, Vietnam, a fellow but not so happy communist state, has been the most critical - a bit that is influenced by the 1979-90 war and naval battles during 1980s and how China divided the Ban Gioc/Detian Falls. The Philippines have also been questioning Beijing's movements. Indonesia even faces a rising Chinese threat, after Beijing makes its move over the Natuna Regency. But with most ASEAN nations are in the weaker states comparing to China, Beijing feels it can be free to take actions, best example is the fishing militia squad that is not under the jurisdiction of Chinese navy nor even the Agricultural Ministry, but operates with financial support from CCP.

Yet this is not the same with the situation in East China Sea, where China has to face two stronger opponents, South Korea and Japan. Both nations have never been in full jovial with China at all. Japan, leave aside the anime conflict with China, has undertaken responses against Chinese ships and its fishing squad in the ongoing Senkaku Islands dispute, China calls it Diaoyu, by nationalising some of these islands.

Still, South Korea's pushback has to be the strongest. South Korea has also dealt with these militias before, and in one such confrontation, a Korean Coast Guard was murdered by a Chinese fisherman. The South Koreans immediately shut down Chinese ships, openly warned Chinese militia group of trying to enter South Korean soil illegally. South Korea also fortified its outpost in the Socotra Rock, in Korean it's Ieodo while Chinese call it Suyan. The South Koreans resent China deeply because China had actively involved in the Korean War in 1950, dividing the peninsula, pumping the North Korean regime, and split up the sacred Paektu Mountains.

Probably, Russia will remain the only peaceful border, thanks to the Chinese government banning any distribution of territorial conflicts with Russia that could inflame hostilities, and because Russia also hates the West like China. Recently, China is getting cosy with the tactic of Wolf Warrior diplomacy, which traced the root of two successful movies with the same name prizing Chinese nationalism.

Unfortunately, in China under CCP, victimisation takes place. It is not uncommon to find a Chinese about how their country being viewed and their actions have any repercussions - he or she will immediately deliver a clear whataboutist answer. To be honest, the United States is no angel, but it differs from China that not all Americans would defend the government; but in China, nearly everyone in this country will defend Beijing's actions. I used to hear from a Chinese professor who openly accused Vietnam of building fishing militias in South China Sea, suggesting that China has never tried to harm Vietnamese fishing boats yet not acknowledging the existence of Chinese militias. This summarises up everything.

Music, football and business to be suited to China

Talking about entertainment, anime is not the only industry to receive ire from China. Even in the music industry, it is not easy either.

Back in June 2016, a K-pop member was forced to apologise to the audience after showing Taiwanese flag. She is Chou Tzu-yu, a Taiwanese singer, who was 16 years old at the time and part of the girl band Twice. This shattered my feeling, but it was not the end overall. However, because the dispute of Taiwan is hardly surreal, I'd address the newer tension relating to China in the music industry.

In October 2020, when RM (real name Kim Nam-joon), a member of boyband BTS, made his comment about Korean War, offering solidarity with the United States, this had provoked a wave of anti-Korean sentiment in China, with Chinese companies stopped trading with any trademarks about BTS. This boycott has been condemned in South Korea, and with China already embroiled in the border war with India and land grabs in Central Asia, worsened China's reputation.

But BTS is not the only victim. Nor even Twice. Let's not forget the cold storms against Japanese and Korean businesses in China. When Japan agreed to nationalise some islands of Senkaku in 2012, the Chinese government deliberately unleashed anti-Japanese unrest. Later, when South Korea announced it would install THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) to defend from North Korean nuclear threats, China, instead, considered it a threat to Chinese sovereignty, and unleashed a similar boycott wave against South Korean businesses, in some cases, there was even violence against Koreans.

Anti-Japanese riot in China, 2012.

Recently, this tactic is being repeated, this time with Western businesses. Fashion and sporting brands like Adidas, Nike and H&M faced boycotts for supporting the United States' stance in Xinjiang. The U.S. and its allies, Britain and Canada, had accused China of Uyghur genocide and stopped using Xinjiang cotton. This, in turn, was met with fierce anti-Western prohibition, Nike shoes being burnt, clothes by H&M were not bought by customers.

Make an honourable mention, a Thai model, for mentioning Taiwan in her account, has been bombarded with CCP-sponsored hate accounts, but the Thais retaliated strongly to repel these hate accounts with their stylish jokes to troll China.

Talk about football, it is a new one. Xi Jinping really loves football. He dreams to see China to World Cup, hosting and winning it. So he sought to build and expand football infrastructures. Chinese investors are encouraged to take football clubs abroad. But few of them had any interests in promoting football for good use: rather, it is for political abuses. At the same time, China sought to enforce its laws into other football clubs, and those who upset China, face severe punishment. This was given to Mesut Ozil, the Turkish-German footballer.

Ozil's open accusation of China for the Uyghur genocide had led to Arsenal being boycotted, Chinese state cut off Arsenal's games. The German former international was unofficially banned from going to China. But Ozil wasn't the first. Think Brad Pitt, think Daryl Morey, all were prohibited just because of their support for Tibetan and Hong Kong democratic movements.

Meanwhile, Chinese owners bungled the clubs they owned, with only Inter Milan being financed properly. Even Chinese Super League's governing way has led to the deterioration after a decade of booming, with foreign stars leaving the country only because of money no more.

There is also another kind of harassment the CCP loves: imposing trade restriction as a form of boycott. China did this tactic with Australian products after Australia asked for an inquiry since it didn't trust China after the COVID pandemic broke out. However, Xi's China still relies heavily on emotional response, rather than affirmative actions.

Other tactics?

Well, China always has their hands for its attempt to put others under pressure. The most notable will be kidnapping diplomacy. This has been done with two Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, after Canada arrested Huawei boss Meng Wanzhou. China has also gone further, detaining an Australian citizen of Chinese origin, Cheng Lei, as retaliation for Australia's call for inquiry over COVID in China.

China has also been seen as the force that blackmails other countries over illegal activities. Xi's tactic in South America reveals that a lot of Chinese ships, many belong to the same militia group that harasses other ships in South China Sea, take part in illegal fishing in the region that caused tensions between Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Brazil and Chile to China on the rise, due to Beijing's refusal to address it. Still, China is expanding its influence and some Latin American nations have to be cautious toward a furious Chinese regime.

China also does the building a lot of football stadiums, partly due to the passion for football (or soccer) in Africa, in exchange for political leverages - and it did a lot of good deeds, true. However, China's record in Africa doesn't go without controversies, owning by systematic racism and anti-African sentiment, which has been covered up by Beijing to pretend like they're not racists comparing to the more xenophobic West. This cover has been exposed by black Africans being evicted in major cities of China after Africans being seen as COVID-19 infects, previous race riots in China against Africans, inhuman depiction of Africans in China and how Chinese treated Africans in Africa poorly.

How about Myanmar?

What stake China has in Myanmar is quite unique. Both China and Myanmar share a similar mother linguistic root: Sino-Tibetan, but they practise totally different cultures.

Since Burma's independence in 1948, Burma was one of the world's first to recognise the communist-based People's Republic of China, as it adhered to neutrality. Nonetheless, anti-Chinese unrest in 1967 had led to a strong reaction from China, with the Chinese government, then under Mao Zedong, to arm the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and sheltered them. Ne Win, dictator of Burma from 1962 to 1988, was unhappy and demanded China to stop. Eventually, China agreed to halt its activities, but not completely. Eventually, when the CPB collapsed in 1989, Chinese money continued to flow, this time for some newer ethnic insurgent groups, and has stayed since. This fueled the distrust against China among the Burmese top brass.

Yet, the Tatmadaw also realised only China could guarantee their safety. For people who could not agree, the 1988 Uprising and subsequent crackdown that killed 3,000 people made clear who would stand side-by-side with. The top brass of Burma, or Myanmar, travelled to China, finding themselves welcome by the Chinese regime. The Tatmadaw became a frequent buyer of Chinese arms, still now.

Wen Jiabao and Than Shwe in Naypyidaw, 2010.

At the same time, the Burmese Generals also knew that Chinese investors were generous, and disinterested in politics, something the Tatmadaw wanted. Chinese firms became dominant in Myanmar, in some cities and border towns, Chinese people became the dominant ethnicity. A lot of infrastructure projects, many controversial, were signed between the Burmese Generals and Chinese state companies.

Notwithstanding widespread cooperation, the Burmese Generals maintained a reasonable distrust of China's influence. That's why they tried to look at other investors. They looked at India, Thailand, Singapore, and further nations like Vietnam and Taiwan, trying to diversify before embracing economic reforms. Finally, when Myanmar reformed in 2011, the country's profile improved. Getting beneficiaries from the liberalisation, but not completely, is how the Tatmadaw played. Their wealth has to be independent of the upcoming civilian government, for good. That means they must maintain good faith in China, but not 100%. General Min Aung Hlaing, the man who later did the coup, accused China indirectly during his shopping in Moscow of arming rebels back in 2020, which was part of this behaviour, for example.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government isn't always pleased with the Tatmadaw, still not. But Beijing also knows where the Tatmadaw lies. So it keeps the link, at the same time it cultivated relations with Aung San Suu Kyi, and it turned to be fruitful. China knew very well about how the 2008 constitution of Myanmar. Beijing openly defended Suu Kyi and the Tatmadaw when the Rohingya genocide spiked in 2017. Suu Kyi also appreciated Xi Jinping during the latter's trip to Naypyidaw a year before the coup. China also has an important pipeline that is nearly completed when the coup occurred.

China-Myanmar pipeline from Kunming to Kyaukphyu.

Surprisingly, the Burmese government under civilian leadership doesn't want China as much as expected. In spite of massive media campaigns by Beijing to promote the Sino-Burmese friendship, the relations are far from perfect. Myanmar is fearful of Chinese debt-trap policy, and the civilian government of Suu Kyi also distrusted China for its role in arming ethnic rebels.

There is also a huge anti-Chinese sentiment among the population of Myanmar. Like how Poles, Ukrainians and Estonians view Russia, the Burmese view China as a major concern. China is seen as a thief, a destabiliser and an undemocratic nation, but they reluctantly accepted working in Chinese factories because they have no other option. It's easy to understand because China is the second-largest investor in Myanmar, and also the country's biggest trader, with China alone counts nearly 2/3 of all trade surplus with Myanmar.

Now, with the protest broke out in Myanmar, the Chinese government chose a dangerous policy: rather than trying to stand against the coup, it openly blocked condemnation at the UN and state media refused to name the coup, instead just "major cabinet reshuffle". This was truly putting the foot into the mouth. Chinese government's action was seen as pro-junta and pro-coup, thus allowing widespread anti-Chinese sentiment to explode. That included the string of arson attacks on Chinese factories, boycotting Chinese products, and recently, burning Chinese flag, not just only rallying at the Chinese embassy.

But Xi's China keeps maintaining such behaviour, ignorant at the best. Chinese principle of "non-interference", but not so brightly functioned, turned biting Beijing's ambitions. Chinese condemnation of properties being destroyed in Myanmar, only to be ridiculed by Burmese population. That's all for so much mishandling.

A conclusion

China is reeling in Myanmar. But the real trouble is coming for Beijing, Myanmar is one of them.

As China is struggling with even its own RCEP designation, Myanmar's unrest is swaying opposing forces to unite against China, and Joe Biden's determination to restore American involvement in Asia may put China's design at its biggest risk. Potential American revival of TPP or joining CPTPP will ruin China's RCEP, as China is already engaging in the trade war with Australia.

Moreover, anti-Chinese unrests are growing not just only in Myanmar. This is also being felt in other Southeast Asian nations like Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Even Taiwan, Japan and South Korea are becoming more antagonistic to China. Further, rising hostility against China can also be discovered in India, Bangladesh and Bhutan. And then, in Central Asia, countries like Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Tajikistan are discussing Chinese threats. Its wolf warrior diplomacy led to the plummet of Chinese influence in the West, where Sweden, Britain, Turkey, Czech Republic, France, Ukraine, Poland, Australia and Canada are taking harsher tones against Chinese agitation. Even in West Asia, or Middle East, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain are reviewing their pro-Chinese policies, because of Beijing's support and secret involvement in helping Iran to develop nuclear armaments as well as providing Iran's economic muscles to infiltrate on Saudi backyards. In Africa, Chinese racism and xenophobia have put Chinese investments in jeopardy. In Latin America, these countries are questioning China's commitment after Chinese flotillas continue their illegal activities in their economic zones. Not even say how China treats non-politic subjects like political tools for its obsessive ideological, economic and militaristic expansionism.

Yet, because of state censorship, this is impossible to think if the Chinese leadership is aware of, nor even how the very nationalist, sectarian Chinese population, mainly Han Chinese, ever care of. It resembles a locomotive train, gaining power, but has no brake to control. It is determined, yet over-suspicious. The paranoia that not even dictatorships of North Korea, Russia, Venezuela, Iran or Cuba can rival of. And this can only envision a future where a communist totalitarian state, going to be the biggest superpower, copying Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf for eventual imperialist campaigns.

Of course, this is just speculation. But with how Xi's China is heading, nothing is certain. Myanmar unveils this.