Myanmar

Meth seizures in Thailand like this one have become commonplace as more drugs from Myanmar flow into and through the country.
Crime

Myanmar crisis pushes Asian meth seizures to new highs

Flow of drugs increases as armed rebels use sales to fund war efforts

23 July 2024
Myanmar has faced economic turmoil since the military takeover in February 2021 and subsequent civil unrest. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar's corporate crackdown grows beyond Japan retailer Aeon

Inflation and capital outflows push regime to tighten grip on economy

18 July 2024
Japanese auto parts maker Yazaki has found a way to maintain profitable operations at its plant in Myanmar. (Yazaki)
Myanmar Crisis

From auto sector to startups, Japan companies see green shoots in Myanmar

Abundance of unemployed engineers makes country attractive despite tensions

16 July 2024
Hiroshi Kasamatsu, merchandise division chief at Aeon Orange, and 10 Myanmar nationals have been held for allegedly selling rice at prices 50% to 70% higher than officially set ones.
International relations

Japan executive at Myanmar Aeon unit indicted for rice pricing violation

Aeon Orange senior official held at Yangon police station since June 30

12 July 2024
A U.N. expert's report says companies registered in Thailand are utilizing Thai banks to transfer weapons and related materials to Myanmar's military regime. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Myanmar Crisis

Thai banks say they lack staff to fully probe Myanmar weapon payments

Lenders respond to criticism, say they 'do not have this kind of investigators'

11 July 2024
A 7-year-old girl's shrapnel wound is dressed after Pasaung, a town in Karenni state in eastern Myanmar, was repeatedly bombed and set ablaze by the Myanmar Air Force on March 1. (Photo by Free Burma Rangers) 
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar military's bombing of civilians set for record year

Amnesty International and United Nations report failure of jet fuel sanctions

8 July 2024
A long queue at a fuel station in Yangon in December 2023 when severe shortages saw many people arriving at dawn to try and fill up.
Editor-in-Chief’s Picks

Letter from Nikkei Asia's editor: Myanmar's fuel dilemma

Shin Nakayama shares his weekly reflections and recommendations

5 July 2024
Myanmar's military regime is almost entirely dependent on imported fuel to kill and terrorize civilians, and to power all aspects of its war machine. With revenue from natural gas sales to Thailand and China falling off dramatically, this is proving an unaffordable vulnerability.  (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
The Big Story

Myanmar's reliance on imported fuel squeezes military as civilians suffer

Economic crisis likely to hit generals harder than sanctions as insurgents gain ground

3 July 2024
Aeon Orange is a joint venture by Japanese retailer Aeon and its partner in Myanmar. (Photo by Nikkei)
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar detains Aeon unit exec for high rice prices

Military regime targets big businesses as public frustration over economy mounts

2 July 2024
One of Aeon's stores in the Yangon area.
International relations

Japan supermarket chain Aeon says official detained in Myanmar

53-year-old employee held for alleged rice pricing violation

1 July 2024
Myanmar's military regime has accessed Chinese equipment, technology and support in its efforts to spy on internet users and censor the internet. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by AP, Reuters and Ken Kobayashi)
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar regime uses Chinese tech to surveil internet users, report says

VPN ban worsens repression and further sours the country's business environment

27 June 2024
Rifles confiscated by an armed group in Loikaw, Karenni state, in November 2023: Thai banks have become a key conduit for Myanmar's military regime and its weapons purchases. (Photo by Myo Satt Hla Thaw/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar military shifts arms financing to Thai banks from Singapore

Siam Commercial Bank and others urged to cut ties with Myanmar state-owned entities

26 June 2024
Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's return to Thailand has revived political tensions in the deeply polarized country. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Getty Images)
Politics

Thailand's political factions struggle to gain military influence

Pheu Thai leaders are on their guard about another possible coup attempt

21 June 2024
The China-led Myitsone dam project in Myanmar's Kachin state was designed to produce as much electricity as six nuclear reactors.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar revives stalled infrastructure projects with China and Russia

Military regime moves to woo key partners amid pressure at home

16 June 2024
Rohingya children at a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on May 2. 
International relations

Record-high 117m people displaced worldwide in 2023, UNHCR says

Myanmar's total jumped as clashes escalated; Afghanistan had the most refugees

13 June 2024
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, left, took part in a ceremony to mark the completion of the Bago River Bridge on June 8.
Myanmar Crisis

Bridge built by Yokogawa, Sumitomo handed to Myanmar regime

Japan has frozen new aid projects but work continues on older ones

13 June 2024
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra greets his supporters at Don Mueang airport in Bangkok upon his return to Thailand in August 2023. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Comment

What fuels Thai ex-PM Thaksin's drive to broker peace in Myanmar?

Former populist leader seems eager to remake his image for political gain

13 June 2024
People fleeing Myanmar run across a bridge at the border village of Zokhawthar, Champhai district, in India's northeastern state of Mizoram, on Nov. 15, 2023.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar GDP to stagnate as conscription chases away workers: World Bank

Economic size remains smaller than when military ousted Suu Kyi's government

12 June 2024
Young men play in the Tanintharyi River in Tagu, Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar, in March. Despite the ever-present threat of violence from an increasingly desperate military regime, daily life continues in many resistance strongholds. (All photos by Valeria Mongelli)
Tea Leaves

Life lessons from airstrikes in resistance-controlled Myanmar

In Tanintharyi, civilians learn to wait and cope with bombing campaigns

12 June 2024
 Offices and residential buildings crowd in Bangkok. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Myanmar Crisis

Arrests spook Myanmar condo buyers shifting wealth to Thailand

Myanmar clients behind only Chinese in Thai market in Q1

11 June 2024
Chinese forces hold exercises near the Myanmar border in November 2023. (Screenshot from PLA Southern Theater Command WeChat channel)
Opinion

China will not give up on Myanmar's military

Fresh elections seen as best way out of stalemated conflict

10 June 2024
NLD co-founder Tin Oo shortly after the bloody military takeover by the State Law and Order and Restoration Council on Sept. 18, 1988. "Our lives are wrapped in leaf," he told a correspondent at the time. (Photo by Dominic Faulder)
Obituaries

Myanmar's Thura Tin Oo, an officer and a gentleman from another age

The last in a line of former military officers who tried but failed to bring change

8 June 2024
Tin Oo, a patron of Myanmar's National League for Democracy, appears at a ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the party, in Yangon in September 2013.
Obituaries

Myanmar's NLD co-founder and Suu Kyi ally Tin Oo dies at 97

Key figure in democracy movement spent 10 years as political prisoner

1 June 2024
Rohingya refugees try to balance on a capsized boat in the waters off West Aceh, Indonesia, on March 21.
Editor-in-Chief’s Picks

Letter from Nikkei Asia's editor: Nowhere to go

Shin Nakayama shares his weekly reflections and recommendations

31 May 2024
Myanmar troops retreat amid fighting around the border town of Myawaddy on April 11: Resistance groups are building state structures and delivering public services in "liberated areas."  
Opinion

West must come to terms with Myanmar's fragmentation

Resistance forces need international help with providing governance for millions

30 May 2024