Blast at the Chinese consulate Mandalay
A grenade landed on the building on Friday; no one was hurt or killed. Myanmar's military junta said it would launch an investigation to find those responsible. Discontent towards China is rising in Myanmar, while Beijing asked ethnic militias to stop fighting in Shan State.
Mandalay (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Last Friday, a grenade landed on the roof of the Chinese consulate in Mandalay, Myanmar, a junta officer reported, adding that the "terrorists" would be arrested following an investigation. No one was hurt and the building did no suffer any damages.
Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), set up in exile by lawmakers from the previous government, also condemned the attack on the Chinese consulate.
The attack is a sign that animosity is growing towards China over its ties to the ruling junta and the ethnic militias fighting on opposite sides of the civil war.
Last week, the junta announced that General Min Aung Hlaing, responsible for the coup that led to the civil war, will soon visit China.
This morning, China condemned the attack and urged Myanmar to make every effort to arrest those responsible.
“China expresses its deep shock at the attack and sternly condemns it,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said. The Chinese consul in Myanmar, Gao Ping, took office in August.
“The Chinese Consulate is always tightly secured with the entrance almost always closed. Half of the road near the consulate is blocked off by barriers with very tall walls,” a former political prisoner from Mandalay told The Irrawaddy.
Anti-China protests have taken place in recent days in several Myanmar cities, including Mandalay and Yangon, as well as on social media, especially after Beijing began putting pressure on ethnic militias to stop fighting with the regular military army in Shan State.
Beijing has no interest in ending the conflict, but it needs a halt to the fighting in Shan to move forward with its own infrastructure projects that are part of the Belt and Road Initiatives.
In August, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with the head of the junta, General Min Aung Hlaing, seen as a show of support for the military government.
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