In this first installment of a two-part interview, human rights campaigner Igor Blazevic asks Jason Tower, country director for the Burma Program of the United States Institute of Peace, about Beijing’s recent moves in relation to the Naypyitaw regime and the ethnic armies on China’s border with Myanmar.
Blazevic: Jason, in your recent article “The Limits of Beijing’s Support for Myanmar’s Military,” you argue that the Chinese government is changing its approach to Myanmar. What has changed and why?
Tower: China is in a rapid way bringing an end to its COVID-zero policy. Over the past three years, Chinese business actors could not really travel overseas. Even more importantly, the number one policy focus of Chinese government officials was on containing COVID-19. Rapid change happened in December and January and it immediately shifted to focus on resetting the…
