Abstract: Since the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, the country has plunged into a deep political, economic, humanitarian, and security crisis. China’s engagement with post-coup Myanmar is multifaceted. While officially adhering to a policy of non-interference, Beijing has pursued a pragmatic approach to safeguard its interests, including investments under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), border security and access to the Indian Ocean. China has been maintaining ties with both the junta and select ethnic armed groups to ensure leverage across all fronts. Myanmar’s strategic value to China is further heightened by its role as a critical supplier of raw minerals including rare-earth and tin ore, both essential to high-technology and defense manufacturing. China’s cooperation with the military regime has deepened through new mechanisms, including the establishment of a joint security company to protect Chinese investments, as well as the deployment of a ceasefire monitoring team and border operations. At the same time, the China-Myanmar border has emerged as a major hub for cyber scam centers, many operated by transnational criminal networks and protected by regime-aligned border guard forces. China’s strategic intervention in post-coup Myanmar presents a complex mix of geopolitical ambition, economic necessity, and security entanglement. This makes Myanmar a critical case for understanding how Beijing engages with fragile states to advance its regional influence in the Indo-Pacific.

About the Speaker: Aung Thura Ko Ko is a visiting scholar at the Southeast Asia Program (SEAP) for the spring semester. He was previously a research fellow at the Pacific Forum, a U.S. policy think tank based in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, and an affiliate scholar at the East-West Center from 2024 to 2026. Aung previously worked at the University of Oxford’s Global Security Programme, and his research focuses on wartime and postwar governance, China–Myanmar relations, and Indo-Pacific regional security issues. He has over 15 years of professional experience, including six years with USAID, and has worked with a range of international and local organizations across policy, governance, humanitarian & development assistance, and peacebuilding in Myanmar. Aung has been actively engaged in international advocacy efforts supporting Myanmar’s democracy movement since the 2021 military coup.

For its Spring Semester performance, the Cornell Gamelan Ensemble returns to the atrium of Klarman Hall, whose magnificent acoustics resemble those of the grand pavilions called pendhapa where gamelan is played at Java’s royal palaces. The program features ladrang Siyem, a 1929 piece inspired by the Thai royal anthem, as a way of welcoming Assistant Professor Parkorn Wangpaiboonkit, who joined the music department last fall. Wangpaiboonkit and ensemble director Christopher J. Miller will provide comments to shed light on the historical and musical idiosyncrasies of the original Siamese melody and its thoroughly Javanese adaptation.

Tickling Giants is a documentary film featuring Bassem Youssef, known as the "Jon Stewart of Egypt. " The film offers a unique lens on political satire in Egypt in a period of political transition following the 2011 revolution.

Discussion moderated by Dina Bishara (Global Labor and Work, Cornell University) and Mohammed Elfeky (Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University).

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Come learn more about our winter study abroad in Cambodia. In collaboration with the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS), Cornell's Southeast Asia (SEAP, Einaudi) Study Abroad program in Cambodia will provide an in-depth focus on the cultural heritage of Cambodia both past and present. This winter course will focus on Cambodian heritage past and present — how it's been created in the past, including the city of Angkor, and how that heritage and history is understood and engaged today.