What happened?\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Sunday, the Southeast Asian nation of Burma staged one of its first elections since a military coup in 2021. That takeover reversed an imperfect but tangible democratic opening for the country, saw brutal crackdowns<\/a> on protesting citizens, and sparked an ongoing civil war. Meanwhile, neighboring China \u2013 the United States\u2019 key geostrategic adversary in the region (perhaps the world) \u2013 seeks to \u201cmanage the chaos<\/a>\u201d and maintain supply chains of rare earth minerals from Burma.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Why it matters\u00a0<\/p>\n Burma\u2019s military government is running sham<\/a> elections in hopes of stabilizing the country it threw into chaos in 2021. It also seeks the veneer of public legitimacy their rule has lacked these past five years since seizing power from the civilian-elected government. Many citizens, however, understand<\/a> that political opposition has been largely banned and others report voting out of fear. And regardless of the outcome, the country \u2013 less than half of which is controlled by the junta as it battles various armed ethnic groups \u2013 will continue to be fractured.\u00a0<\/p>\n Through all this, though, the Chinese Communist Party fills the influence vacuum left by Washington\u2019s absence. When America retreats from its role as a champion for freedom, it allows Beijing to leverage the instability by developing relations with various Burmese power brokers to secure access to strategic ports and rare earth minerals. These are all things that fuel China\u2019s global competition with the United States.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Bottomline\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n