- Web Master
- March 10, 2023
Amid China’s funding to Myanmar’s junta, resistance forces have given a collective warning to the Chinese-run copper mines in Salingyi to halt their operations and join the civil disobedience movement (CDM) by May 5.
Salingyi is home to the Chinese-run Letpadaung, Sapetaung, and Kyesintaung copper mines and resistance groups in Salingyi and Yinmabin are raising their voice against the joint ventures of China and Myanmar’s military, reported The irrawaddy.
People are displaying their dismay with China and Myanmar’s junta collaboration
as they continue to fight to uproot the dictatorship. The resistance groups
said they will attack all sources of funding for the dictatorship with any
means.
In January, resistance fighters blew up electricity pylons supplying the
China-backed Tagaung Taung nickel-processing plant in Sagaing Region, which
forced production to halt.
Since the coup, Chinese projects have been largely safe despite the resistance
forces’ attacks on police and soldiers guarding some Chinese projects. But the
collective announcement on Thursday was the first open warning to Chinese
projects in the country.
The three Chinese mines are run by Wanbao Mining, Ltd. and its two
subsidiaries, Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper, Ltd. and Myanmar Yang Tse Copper,
Ltd. in partnership with the military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd, as
per the media outlet.
A report by Publish What You Pay Australia, a coalition of 30 organizations
campaigning for transparency and accountability in the extractive industries,
said that the Chinese-backed mines were financially propping up the junta.
The report, How Chinese Mining Investment Funds the Myanmar Military, released
in November last year, said the Chinese-run Letpadaung, Sapetaung and
Kyesintaung, and Tagaung Taung mines in Sagaing paid an estimated USD 725
million to the military during the 2020-21 financial year.
Wanbao is a subsidiary of the Chinese state-owned defense firm China North
Industries Corporation. In July 2021, the US sanctioned Wanbao Mining and its
entities for supporting Myanmar’s military regime. (ANI)