[Myanmar’s military junta is not short of partners. Indeed,
business, notably in the arms market, continues unabated. Such conduct
makes a mockery of the sanctio ns and injunctions imposed by the EU,
United States and other states since the 2021 coup.]
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A PICTURE OF GLOBAL COMPLICITY: AIDING MYANMAR’S MILITARY REGIME  
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Binoy Kampmark
January 20, 2023
CounterPunch
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_ Myanmar’s military junta is not short of partners. Indeed,
business, notably in the arms market, continues unabated. Such conduct
makes a mockery of the sanctio ns and injunctions imposed by the EU,
United States and other states since the 2021 coup. _

, Photograph Source: KMK from Myanmar – CC0

 

International relations remains the sum game of vast hypocrisies, a
patchwork of compromises and the compromised. Every moral condemnation
of a regime’s conduct is bound to be shown up as an exercise in
double standards, often implicating the accusers. In the case of the
military regime in Myanmar, double standards are not only modish but
expected.

A number of international declarations and measures have targeted
Myanmar’s regime for its blood-soaked brutality, its genocidal
practices against the Rohingya, and its general contempt for the human
rights of its citizenry. In a statement
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November, US Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken took note of the
military’s “brutal campaign of violence against the people of
Burma, carrying out lethal air strikes against the political
opposition and the broader civilian population.”

In response, the US Department of Treasury designated Sky Aviator
Company Limited and its owner and director, Kyaw Min Oo “for
operating in the defense sector of the Burmese economy.” The company
in question had “received multiple arm shipments from sanctioned
entities”, while Kyaw had been responsible for facilitating
“foreign military officers’ visits to Burma as well as the import
of arms and other military equipment and provided assault helicopter
upgrades.”

Despite such seemingly bold responses, Myanmar’s military junta is
not short of business partners. Indeed, business, notably in the arms
market, continues unabated and with some energy. Such conduct has also
done much to make a mockery of the suite of sanctions and injunctions
being imposed by the EU, United States and other states upon the
country’s entities and its military personnel, notably since the
February 2021 coup.

Last year, for instance, the Indian company Sandeep
Metalcraft supplied
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fuses to Creative Exploration Ltd, Myanmar’s arms broker formerly
known as MySpace International). This is despite India being a
signatory to the Wassenaar Arrangement
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and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies, which obliges it to apply export
controls on ammunition and associated products. This becomes
particularly important where the supply of such material might be used
in violation of the Geneva Conventions, or to aid and abet the
commission of crimes and atrocities.

In August that same year, Justice for Myanmar also noted that as many
as 116 Myanmar and Singapore companies with 255 directors and
shareholders brokered deals involving the furnishing of weapons and
other equipment to the regime, including the period since the February
1, 2021 coup.

In a report
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three former United Nations experts as part of the Special Advisory
Council on Myanmar (SAC-M), the verdict about companies in the United
States, Europe and Asia is distinctly negative. Such entities are
officially domiciled in thirteen states, including France, Germany,
China, India, Russia, Singapore and the United States. Using source
materials comprising leaked budget documents from the Ministry of
Defence, interviews with contacts with the Myanmar military, and
statements from witnesses of human rights violations showing security
forces armed with various weapons, a dark picture emerges.

The authors note that Myanmar’s military has progressively moved
towards becoming more self-sufficient in weapons manufacturing in a
number of areas. The state, however, is not entirely weaned off
foreign assistance. The Directorate of Defence Industries (DDI)
remains “reliant on international supplies, including for a variety
of raw materials, parts and components and end-items, as well as
machinery and technology, for the sustained production – both
licensed and un-licensed – of the weapons in its arsenal.”

The DDI has also, whether through production taking place under
license or not, “obtained the technology and know-how to produce a
variety of its weapons through various types of transfer of technology
(ToT) deals.” Such deals have involved the receipt of whole weapon
production plants, also known as turn-key projects, accompanied by
engineer support for those supplying the technology. These include
State-owned companies from Italy to Ukraine.

The report identifies the role played by automated machines, including
Computer Numerical Control machines, manufactured by companies with
domiciles in Austria, Germany, Taiwan and the United States. These are
currently being used by the Myanmar military at factories responsible
for its weapons production. To accompany this are software programs
made by companies which have their legal domicile in France, Israel
and Germany.

The authors are keen to point out the role played by Singapore, which
“functions as a strategic transit point for potentially significant
volumes of items – including certain raw materials – that feed
Myanmar military’s weapon production.” Companies legally domiciled
in Singapore have played significant roles in brokering deals and
exporting military related items to the DDI or relevant civilian front
companies for the Myanmar military.

Not to be outdone, Taiwan also fulfills an important role as transit
point for the DDI’s purchase of high precision CNC machines,
including those from European manufacturers, that aid KaPaSa arms
manufacturing, a country-wide complex which involves some 25 entities.

The authors are direct and unequivocal about their grisly findings.
“In short, weapons produced by the Myanmar military in-country at
its KaPaSa factories have been used in the military’s widespread and
systematic attacks against civilian targets, prior to, during and
after the 2021 attempted military coup, and continue to do so.”

A statement
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the SAC-M’s Yanghee Lee, a former UN Special Rapporteur on the human
rights situation in Myanmar, recapitulated the point: “Foreign
companies are enabling the Myanmar military – one of the world’s
worst human rights abusers – to produce many of the weapons to
commit daily atrocities against the Myanmar people.”

Lee went on to make the obvious point that such companies and their
home states had “moral and legal responsibilities to ensure their
products are not facilitating human rights violations against
civilians in Myanmar.” Not doing so made the parties “complicit in
the Myanmar military’s barbaric crimes.” It is a complicity that
continues to be lightly worn in capitals from Washington to Brussels.

_BINOY KAMPMARK was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College,
Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne.
Email: [email protected]_

_The CounterPunch website is offered at no charge to the general
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* Myanmar
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* military coup
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* Sanctions
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* United Nations
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