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China delivering vaccines to both junta and rebel groups in Myanmar

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MUSE, MYANMAR : Delivering vaccines to Myanmar's junta, but also to rebel groups that are the generals' sworn enemies, China is playing both sides to fight the coronavirus and strengthen its hand in the messy politics of its southern neighbour.

Beijing has already handed over nearly 13 million doses to the generals, who ousted former leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February and plunged Myanmar and its healthcare system into chaos.

The junta has appeared powerless to halt the spread of the virus, spooking authorities on the other side of its porous 2,000km frontier with China, where officials are waging a "zero case" war on Covid-19.

So Beijing has quietly shipped thousands of vaccines, medical workers and construction materials for quarantine centres, multiple rebel groups said.

Chinese Red Cross staff "come to help us sometimes... to help us prevent the Covid-19 pandemic", said Colonel Naw Bu, spokesman for the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

"But they did not come to stay here," added the colonel, whose group - numbering thousands - controls territory in Myanmar's northern jade-rich hills.

"They just came for a while and went back."

As a third wave ripped through lowland Myanmar in July, the KIA inoculated 10,000 people in its Laiza headquarters with Chinese jabs, Col Naw Bu said. Health workers had also crossed over from China to deliver masks and hand sanitiser, he added.

It is a scene familiar along the porous border.

The Shan State Progress Party rebel group has vaccinated 1,000 people in areas under its control with Chinese vaccines, a spokesman said.

It had ordered a total of half a million, he added.

Meanwhile, in the border town of Muse, men work on a new quarantine centre that will house up to 1,000 beds for traders keen to resume business with the country's giant Covid-wary neighbour. - AFP

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