Su Mon Thazin Aung

Su Mon Thazin Aung

Associate Fellow, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute

Dr Su Mon Thazin Aung is an associate fellow with the Myanmar Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. She also works as a director of capacity-building at the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar, an independent, non-partisan and non-governmental think tank in Myanmar.

Demonstrators hold placards with pictures of Aung San Suu Kyi as they protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, 22 February 2021. (Stringer/File Photo/Reuters)

What do the official Chinese media’s mixed messages on the Myanmar coup mean?

China’s willingness to side with the Myanmar military and the SAC regime has been evident since the immediate aftermath of the February 2021 coup, despite its apparently mixed messages, say researchers Su Mon Thazin Aung and Nan Lwin. Through its state media, China has in fact consistently transmitted messages largely in favour of the military takeover of its smaller neighbour and sought to pin anti-Chinese sentiment in Myanmar on the West's moves.