Myanmar earthquake: Why the junta has turned away aid (Su Mon Thant – The Interpreter)

As monsoon rains loom, the Myanmar junta’s selective acceptance of international aid following a devastating earthquake in March – welcoming assistance from allies such as China, India and Russia, while rejecting Taiwan’s 126-member rescue team – has deepened the humanitarian crisis. The aftermath has again exposed the regime’s prioritisation of political control over citizen lives. It leaves urgent questions about equitable aid distribution in a nation fractured by civil war – a pattern that echoes the junta’s response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008 when it initially rejected UN aid.

Myanmar earthquake: Why the junta has turned away aid | Lowy Institute