China’s Geopolitical Interest in Myanmar: A Case Study of Rohingya Issue

Abstract

This study looks into China‘s geopolitical interests relating to the Rohingya refugee crisis that in turn affects Bangladesh. China is one of the most important development partners for both Myanmar and Bangladesh, but in the case of the Rohingya crisis, it has extended diplomatic support and cooperation to Myanmar‘s government—a government accused of committing genocide. Leaving Bangladesh alone with over a million Rohingya refugees, it suggests Bangladesh not to internationalize the issue and solve it bilaterally with Myanmar, which did not cooperate with the international community nor with Bangladesh to rehabilitate Rohingyas safely. This context generates a question about why China has prioritized their Sino-Myanmar relationship compared to their Sino-Bangladesh friendship. The contemporary works assist to perceive China‘s interests in Myanmar but cannot explain the reasons behind China‘s special care to Myanmar on a criminal ground. Hence, this qualitative research, depending upon secondary sources and some interviews, will provide a structural analysis of the research question ‗why China has taken side with Myanmar on the Rohingya issue‘ through the lens of neo-classical geopolitical perspective. The research has found some opportunities and challenges toward China‘s primary and secondary interests which originated from the Rohingya crisis. Particularly, the fear of third party‘s involvement in Myanmar and risks to the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative with other economic interests along with the opportunity to get back the ‗Pawkpaw‘ relation with Myanmar and portray itself as the regional leader, provoked China to be a strong supporter of Myanmar‘s ethnic cleansing operation. Thus, this study attempts to provide a clear scenario of China‘s neo-classical geopolitical calculation of the Rohingya crisis in the international environment including all major powers response to the crisis while the contemporary studies provide a fractional discussion based on Sino-US competition or Sino-India competition.