Myanmar military, Chinese government to establish joint security company

Myanmar’s military junta this week announced plans to create a private security firm, which will employ and manage armed personnel within Myanmar, in partnership with the Chinese government. The announcement, which appeared in a military-controlled newspaper on Tuesday, said the military council had formed a working committee to prepare for the formation of the joint company. The initiative for a private security company was first proposed by Chinese officials to protect the Chinese government and citizens’ investments in Myanmar, according to the announcement. Maj-Gen Toe Yi, a deputy minister of Myanmar’s military-controlling home affairs ministry, will serve as chair of the 14-member committee. The committee also includes other officials from the military-controlled administration, such as the permanent secretary for home affairs, a deputy police commissioner general, a deputy director general of the post and telecomunications department, and a representative of the judge advocate general’s office. Although it was first formed on October 22, the announcement in the regime-run newspaper six weeks later was the military council’s first public statement about the committee. According to the junta’s statement, the committee is tasked with assessing whether to include provisions in the military’s memorandum of understanding with the Chinese government regarding import permissions and controls on the use of weapons, communication devices, and other equipment to be imported from abroad. The Myanmar junta signing an amended contract with Chinese investors for the implementation of the deep-sea port in the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone in Naypyitaw in December 2023 (Photo: Junta ministry of information) Its other responsibilities include identifying potential conflicts that may arise regarding sovereignty and constitutionality, the statement said. Posts on pro-junta propaganda social media channels have said the purpose of the planned joint is to provide guards to protect Chinese investments in Belt and Road Initiative projects underway in Myanmar. However, according to a source connected to the security sector in Rakhine State, who requested anonymity, more than 50 Chinese armed personnel have already been sent to Kyaukphyu Township, Rakhine State—the site of various Chinese-backed development and construction projects—for at least six months. These troops arrived in two batches in May and June of this year and are now working in shifts to protect the multimillion-dollar deep-sea port project on Kyaukphyu Township’s Maday Island, as well as hydropower project sites in Ohn Taw village some ten miles west of the port and a mile south of Kyaukphyu, the source said. The first batch of troops arrived in May, flown in by the airline Air KBZ (still commonly referred to as such despite its rebrand as Mingalar Aviation Services), while the second batch arrived on an Mi-17 Myanmar military helicopter, according to the same source. “They brought equipment with them. Security-related items. I went to the airport when they said important cargo was expected to arrive, and I saw the Chinese men there,” the source recalled. “The security equipment containers were different from the others... The army said they needed to land at the airport briefly because security equipment and important items were arriving.” The source was among a group who went to welcome the Chinese armed personnel who arrived on the Mi-17 helicopter, but said it was unclear exactly what kind of equipment they had brought with them. “They were well-trained, standing at attention. No one was allowed to handle their items,” the source added, also remarking on their efficiency: “They unloaded everything themselves from the Mi-17 by hand, without even using carts. If something was big enough to need two people to carry it, no more than two people carried it.” After the Chinese troops arrived, they reportedly helped renovate the fence protecting the island’s construction sites and fortify the junta police station. Intense battles have raged in Rakhine State since the Arakan Army, the state’s most powerful ethnic armed organisation, launched an offensive against the Myanmar military last November. Pe Than, a retired Rakhine State politician, condemned the Myanmar junta’s and Chinese government’s shared plans on his Facebook page, questioning the pretext of protecting investments in the Chinese development projects. “While saying they will protect Chinese investments here, what they’ll do is form a security company and protect them together with the Myanmar army. What might China do to contain the AA offensive? There are reasons to be concerned that Chinese troops will be stationed in Rakhine,” Pe Than wrote.

Myanmar military, Chinese government to establish joint security company

While the partnership is ostensibly meant to manage security guards protecting Chinese Belt and Road projects in Myanmar, sources suspect the real motive is to deploy Chinese armed personnel to help the military contain anti-junta forces

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