Australia sanctions Myanmar junta banks, but not its mining enterprises

Australia imposed sanctions on five entities with ties to Myanmar’s junta on Thursday, but not on the military-controlled enterprises in the mining sector, in which Australian companies are heavily engaged. Two regime banks, the Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and the Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB), were targeted by the restrictions, issued on the third anniversary of the country’s military coup. The Asia Sun Group, Asia Sun Trading Co Ltd, and Cargo Link Petroleum Logistics Co Ltd were also singled out by Australia for providing jet fuel to the Myanmar military, which it requires to carry out airstrikes that have repeatedly targeted civilians. A statement from the office of Australian foreign affairs minister Penny Wong said that the sanctions were “a response to the regime's ongoing repression of the people of Myanmar, escalating violence, and the continuing deterioration of the political, humanitarian and security situation.” The action, it said, would “send a clear message of Australia’s deep concern for the regime’s ongoing actions, and its continued disregard for international efforts [...] to seek a resolution to the crisis.” A major report published on Tuesday by activist group Justice for Myanmar (JFM) outlined how 10 Australian company networks have, since the coup, continued carrying out mining exploration and extraction activities in Myanmar or acted as service providers in the sector, describing their engagement as having an “outsized footprint” on the industry. JFM said that these companies’ continued presence in Myanmar provides revenue for the military junta, which exploits and profits from the country’s mineral deposits, many of which are located in areas where its troops are committing grave human rights violations. The activist group called on Australia to sanction regime-controlled agencies in the mining sector along with these entities’ leadership, including the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation and its subsidiary departments, the No. 1 and 2 Mining Enterprises, as well as the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and foreign private companies that provide the junta with funds, arms, equipment or jet fuel. On Thursday, the UK announced sanctions on two military divisions, as well as two junta mining bodies identified by JFM—the No. 1 and 2 Mining Enterprises—following similar action taken against the agencies by the US, EU, and Canada in 2022 and 2023. JFM reported last December that Greenway Mining Group Limited, a Chinese company incorporated in the Cayman Islands, a known British tax haven, had earned millions of dollars in recent years by mining lead and silver in Myanmar, and had reportedly been attempting to upgrade its operations since the coup. Greenway had also allegedly paid revenue to the No. 1 Mining Enterprise as part of the terms of its partnership, the activist group said; JFM demanded that the UK “sanction all key junta entities and individuals in the mining sector.” JFM spokesperson Yadanar Maung told Myanmar Now on Thursday that the group “welcomed” both the UK’s sanctions on the two mining enterprises—which receive profits from projects undertaken with private companies—as well as Australia’s sanctions on military banks. “This is important to cut the flow of funds to the junta, which it needs to wage its campaign of terror,” she explained. “However, sanctions really need to be better coordinated and cover whole networks of companies and individuals enabling junta atrocities.” Australia, the spokesperson pointed out, “still has a long way to go to simply catch up with the sanctions already imposed by its allies.” “[The country] should urgently follow the UK, US, EU, and Canada in sanctioning junta-controlled mining entities given the continued Australian involvement in that sector,” Yadanar Maung said. The US also introduced new sanctions against two junta-linked businesses on Wednesday: the Shwe Byain Phyu Group—which has already been sanctioned by Canada—for selling fuel to the military, and Five Star Line, a shipping company owned by a military conglomerate, for providing materials for the domestic arms industry. Shwe Byain Phyu’s founder and chairman Thein Win Zaw, along with his wife and two adult children, were also added to the list of specially designated nationals. Tasneem Roc, manager of the Australia-based advocacy group Myanmar Campaign Network, pointed out that prior to the most recent round of Australian sanctions—which previously targeted 16 individual members of the junta and two military conglomerates—represented only two percent of such global measures against the coup regime. In a Myanmar Campaign Network statement issued on Thursday in response to Australia’s most recent measures, Roc called the targeting of the junta banks a “crucial step” but warned the country to “stay vigilant as the junta seeks new channels to bypass these measures.” “To truly weaken the junta’s grip and halt its cycle of violence, we must impose sanctions on entire networks of individuals and companies within Myanmar’s natural resource sectors and the aviation fuel supply chain,” she said. On Thursday, the Australian government appeared to have made small changes to its online advisory for its nationals conducting business in Myanmar. It identified the country as being subject to sanctions, and added a brief section about business standards, instructing investors to “do due diligence,” and ensure that all dealings in the country adhere to guidelines set forward by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to “help reduce abuses of human rights, modern slavery, money laundering and bribery” at home and abroad. More action is required, JFM’s Yadanar Maung told Myanmar Now, who called the recent updates “a step in the right direction but still glaringly insufficient.” “Australia needs a robust business advisory that informs companies of the steps to avoid risks from business with the military junta, pointing to NUG policies and guidance,” she said, referring to the publicly mandated National Unity Government, as opposed to the junta. Both MFTB and MICB—the banks sanctioned by Australia on Thursday—were also sanctioned by the US in June 2023. “The UK should also follow the US and Australia in sanctioning MFTB and MICB,” JFM’s Yadanar Maung added. Last year, the American treasury department described the banks as “instrumental in facilitating the regime’s use of foreign currency to procure arms and jet fuel abroad and to access international markets using offshore accounts.” Myanmar Now reported that the banks had, at that time, specialised in dollar and euro-denominated transactions, and had reportedly opened accounts for international organisations such as the Japan International Development Agency and United Nations affiliates, as well as handled international purchases made by private companies and those made by the regime itself. Junta spokesperson Gen Zaw Min Tun said that the US restrictions were based on “unfounded accusations” and that the Americans were “trying to restrict the flow of revenue into the country.”

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