The Chinese consulate in Myanmar’s second-largest city was slightly damaged by an explosive device, but there were no casualties, the military, independent media and a resident of the city said on Saturday.
No public claim of responsibility was made for Friday’s attack in Mandalay. China is a key ally of Myanmar’s military, which came to power after ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, but is now fighting fiercely against resistance forces challenging his rule.
The military said in a statement sent to reporters on Saturday night that the roof tiles of the two-story Chinese consulate were damaged by an explosion on Friday afternoon.
Security forces are investigating to arrest the “terrorists” behind the blast, the statement said.
The army is engaged in national battles against pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic minority militias. It was forced to go on the defensive late last year when ethnic armed groups inflicted heavy losses on it in the country’s northeast, seizing important territory along the border with China.
These gains, made by armed ethnic groups that have individually maintained their own good relations with China, have weakened the military’s position across the country, causing Beijing to worry about the stability of the military government.
China has reportedly sought to have some of the more powerful ethnic minority groups with which it maintains good ties to discourage groups that have seized territory in the northeast from continuing an offensive they launched last October.
China is widely believed to have initially given its tacit approval to the offensive, which is seen as a way to curb rampant crime, particularly large-scale online fraud carried out in enclaves that also include human trafficking. The criminal enterprises were run largely by ethnic Chinese, unnerving Beijing.
China, along with Russia, is a major supplier of arms to Myanmar’s military. It is also Myanmar’s largest trading partner and has invested billions of dollars in Myanmar’s mines, oil and gas pipelines and other infrastructure.
The military government is shunned and sanctioned by many Western nations for its takeover in 2021 and for gross human rights abuses.
Myanmar’s independent media reported that Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, head of the ruling military council, will travel to China in the coming weeks for the first time since taking power
Independent online media outlets including The Irrawaddy and Khit Thit on Saturday also reported on the bomb attack on the Chinese consulate in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi town.
A Chanmyathazi resident living near the consulate told The Associated Press that already tight security around the site had been tightened, with nearby roads closed after the explosion. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared being arrested by the military.
The shadow government of national unity, the main group coordinating the opposition to military rule, condemned the attack on the consulate in a statement, saying it would firmly oppose any action that could spark racial and religious conflict.
