The News
Myanmar’s junta extended its state of emergency for six months as it struggles to contain a more than three-year armed rebellion. The country’s military government further delayed elections until next year, reportedly blaming “terrorist acts.” After the junta seized power in 2021, powerful ethnic minority militias joined forces with Myanmar’s main opposition, taking over wide swathes of territory in recent months; the government is now estimated to control less than half the country.
The instability is frustrating China, which wants to protect oil and gas pipelines that run through northern Myanmar, The Diplomat wrote. Beijing wants an election as soon as possible to “shore up the junta as a viable, if weak, central government,” said one Myanmar specialist.