Border conflict not likely to move China to do a Ukraine in Myanmar

THE big negative news in the Asean region is the effect on relations between China and Myanmar of what Agence France Press has described as the “bloody conflict in a remote corner of northern Myanmar [that] has spilled violently across the border with China, risking a rift with the mighty neighbor and threatening peace efforts with an array of rebels.”

Until now Myanmar and Burma have been the closest of friends. Myanmar has for decades been a dependency of China. It receives an inordinately large amount of aid from Communist Party-ruled China (which however does not rival what China spends on North Korea). In addition China pours billions of US dollars in investments into Myanmar.