To Engage or Not to Engage
By
U AC
RUSSIA and Belarus are already in the deep. China and India
have done it long ago. So have some countries of Southeast Asia. ASEAN is now
doing it using a different approach. Trump and the USA have done it too. Hey,
we are talking about engaging the Myanmar government. So, who is left to engage
the current legitimate government now?
Aussies
Australia has been supportive of Myanmar
since its opening up in 2011. They have participated in offshore oil and gas
tenders and many other businesses dealing with the government. With many
underground resources in Myanmar, it would be a lose-lose situation if Aussies
remain aloof to engagement.
They wanted the market economy,
competitive pricing and democracy. How to have a market economy, if all the
resources can only be sold to one buyer, i.e., China. So that itself is a
dilemma. How can Myanmar be helped to move more towards a more market and
competitive economy if Australia refuses to participate in the economy,
especially in the natural resources sector?
Gangnam
Korea is one of the few countries that
the Myanmar people love, admire and look forward to working there. Korea and
Japan are consistently ranked as countries with the best labour conditions
based on a survey of Myanmar workers. Korea took a step higher with the
legislation that foreign workers in Korea cannot be paid lower than Koreans
with equal qualifications and experience, hence providing the highest take-home
pay for foreign workers.
The Korean government also wants to
engage, but they have to rely on the US in case of war with its super-friendly
northern neighbour, i.e., watch US actions before their initiation. Their
reliance on Uncle Sam becomes even more inevitable, as they rightly worry that
North Korea sent fighters to join the Russian Army to fight against Ukraine.
And Myanmar, being the long-time ally of Russia, is not making the initiation
of engagement any easier.
Rising Sun
Japan, like Korea, is continuing all
engagement at the humanitarian and general public level, from continuing
recruitment of Myanmar workers to donating to the quake victims through various
associations. And it has to take cues from the USA, too.
With many Japanese entities running away
from Myanmar, the ‘first to leave and last to arrive’ nation is exactly looking
after its own interests, despite its affinity to Myanmar.
The old rich
The diplomats stationed locally do want
to engage more, in a private capacity, with the top decision makers of the
nation. Yet the Union is not keen. So the only way out seems to be to entice
the Union leaders far away with some tenable deeds and get the green light from
them to take the engagement to the next level.
Why non-engagement is bad for
Myanmar and the World
Let’s give the example using Wa and the
rare earth. Wa, an independent state, is the largest self-administrative
region in the eastern Shan State. Even the Myanmar military cannot go into
their region without prior approval from them. According to the CIA Handbook
2019, Wa is already the third largest exporter of rare earth in the world and
100 per cent of its rare earth is exported to China. Kachin and Shan state
armies are also contributing to China’s stockpile of rare earth through their
respective exports. The result is that now China is controlling 90+ per cent of
the global rare earth inventory.
The USA, the EU and Australia could have
participated to absorb the supply, thereby retaining some form of control over
the rare earth global supply. Without engaging Myanmar, they are deprived of
that unique opportunity. And Myanmar lose out too as it loses competitive
pricing due to having only one monopolistic buyer. Simple argument perhaps, but
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
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