Little time? At the end of the text there is a summary.
The United Nations is repeatedly accused of being inefficient and too often silent about political issues worldwide. That was different in the past year.
The UN published a report that could not have been clearer: The military in Myanmar was responsible for a genocide of the Muslim minority of the Rohingya in their own country, an end is not foreseeable.
More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled their home in neighboring Bangladesh since August 2017. More than a million Rohingya live in the largest refugee camp in the world. The images of emaciated families trying to escape on muddy roads went around the world.
photo gallery
7 pictures
Rohingya in Myanmar: Through the mud to BangladeshThe home of the Rohingya was and is the state of Rakhine in Myanmar. For decades, a large part of the Muslim minority has been living there, at times under special administration.
MIRROR ONLINE
Myanmar State of Rakhine
According to the World Bank, almost 80 percent of its inhabitants live in poverty - twice as many as in the rest of the country, whose gross domestic product per capita is even below that of Cambodia and Sudan. Education, medical care, social services - all that is missing in Rakhine. Now, however, the region has come into the focus of the Asian powers.
Ironically, the Japanese government wants to invest in Rakhine. In February, she held there for several days the first investment fair. According to Japanese Ambassador Ichiro Maruyama, investors were particularly interested in three emerging sectors:
- Agriculture,
- Tourism and
- small and medium-sized companies.
Ann Wang / Reuters
Advertising sign for the fair in Thandwe
The most important partner of the government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is actually: China. The emerging world power is Myanmar's main trading partner. For this reason, Beijing defends the government in Naypyidaw, which still consists of about a quarter of military personnel, against international criticism of the genocide against the Rohingya.
If it goes to China, as part of the gigantic infrastructure initiative "New Silk Road" will be realized several billion dollar projects in the neighboring country. But one of the mega-projects, the construction of the Myitsone Dam in the north of the country, is not progressing as desired by the Chinese government.
- Officially, environmental issues are cited as a reason.
- In fact, local residents and local parties have resisted, according to the South China Morning Post.
- Many residents are therefore afraid that Myanmar could become even more dependent on the overpowering partner.
- They may have thought in particular of Sri Lanka, which stands by the alliance with China in front of massive economic problems.
But setbacks like this are not stopping China. There is also an agreement on a port project in the raging state of Rakhine.
Japan wants to challenge China's supremacy in the region
However, observers see the stop to the dam construction as a sign that the Myanmar government is taking the fears seriously. The lately also relies on the second Asian great power: Japan.
The Tokyo government has been trying for some time to increase its influence in the region. Premier Shinzo Abe first met with French President Emmanuel Macron this week to forge an alliance against China in the Indo-Pacific.
"Myanmar's government is good at playing both sides against each other and getting the best from them," South East Asia expert Di Jifeng told the South China Morning Post.
It was not until the beginning of the year that the Tokyo government had topped up Rakhine's reconstruction aid by $ 20 million. However, Japan's main concern is economic: "Some countries blamed Myanmar's government for what happened in Rakhine, but most countries, including Japan, are interested in Myanmar's economic development and continued peace," Ambassador said Maruyama public.
Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International have accused Japan of "being on the wrong side of history" because of statements such as this one.
Japan should not join the countries that are silent on the conflict, but must work to ensure that those responsible for the crimes against the Rohingya minority are brought to justice.
But it does not look like that afterwards. When the UN condemned "systematic and far-reaching human rights violations in Rakhine" last year, the Tokyo emissary remained demonstrative.
In summary: Japan is trying to challenge the emerging world power in Asia - including in Myanmar. Both countries are interested in economic cooperation with the local government. Japan wants to invest mainly in Rakhine, in the homeland of the persecuted Rohingya. Tokyo is therefore accused of endorsing human rights violations in the country.