The cost of Trump-Xi detente will be paid in Myanmar
The recent Trump-Xi summit has implications for Myanmar, where military offensives are ongoing. As China seeks stability in the region, its support for the Myanmar junta raises concerns about the impact on local resistance movements. The U.S. focus on trade and tariffs may overlook the complexities of Myanmar's situation, potentially endangering its democratic aspirations.
- ▪Myanmar's military has renewed offensives in strategic border regions amid the Trump-Xi summit.
- ▪China's interests in Myanmar include critical minerals and access to the Indian Ocean, which complicates the local political landscape.
- ▪The U.S. administration's focus on tariffs and trade may signal to the junta that Myanmar is a low-priority crisis.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
As Donald Trump and Xi Jinping embraced the language of “constructive strategic stability” in Beijing, Myanmar’s war was again showing what calm between great powers can mean at China’s frontier. In May, the Myanmar military renewed offensives toward strategic border regions, including in Kachin State, where mines along the Chinese border produce roughly half of the world’s heavy rare earths. Those mines feed China’s dominant rare-earth supply chain, even as the White House listed Chinese commitments to address rare-earth shortages among the summit’s economic gains. Yet Myanmar was not the main headline from the Trump-Xi summit.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Asia Times.
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