Rights watchdog Justice For Myanmar (JFM) on Friday called for sanctions on the Chinese state-owned defense corporation Norinco for arming Myanmar’s regime.
The rights group called on China to stop sending weapons and surveillance technology to the regime.
“China must end its complicity in the military’s atrocities,” it said.
Mandalay People’s Defense Force seized Norinco ammunition from junta bases in Madaya and Patheingyi townships in Mandalay Region on July 20.
The PDF released photos of several Norinco crates sent to the junta’s Chief of Defense Industries.
JFM said Norinco GBP128 mine-clearing line charges, which can breach a minefield under combat conditions, were in the crates.
The charges were reportedly supplied to the junta under a 2017 contract with the military’s weapon factories.
Norinco is the parent company of Wanbao, which runs a controversial copper mine in Salingyi Township, Sagaing Region. The conglomerate is reportedly arming the junta in return for permission to extract copper.
JFM said Norinco is a key weapons and technology supplier to Myanmar’s military, supporting both direct sales and domestic arms production.
In 2017, Norinco and the military pledged to expand defense cooperation and it continues to provide defense products and services for the junta.
A United Nations report in May 2023 said a Norinco subsidiary, China Wanbao Engineering, supplied Myanmar’s military with US$5–10 million worth of goods between February 2021 and December 2022.
A leaked 2022 letter revealed plans to supply the navy with advanced missile systems, launchers and targeting equipment. Between 2020 and 2022, Norinco exported weapons-manufacturing material to the junta’s arms producer, known as KaPaSa.
In 2018–19, Norinco technicians worked in Magwe Region to help the military produce anti-aircraft weapons. The firm supplied an MBT-2000 tank simulator for the military training school in Kyaukse, according to the JFM’s statement.
Anti-Chinese sentiment is growing in Myanmar as Beijing supports the junta and interferes in the country’s internal affairs.
Beijing is pressuring armed groups along its border to stop fighting the regime. In April, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army returned the northern Shan State capital Lashio to the regime, under Chinese pressure.
The article appeared in irrawaddy
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