China‑backed refinery lets regime bypass jet fuel sanctions
Myanmar’s military regime has restarted the Thanlyin No.1 Oil Refinery near Yangon, allowing it to bypass jet fuel sanctions and sustain its deadly air raids on the civilian population. According to Nikkei Asia, Phase 1 is designed to produce 150,000 metric tons of jet fuel annually, roughly equal to Myanmar’s import volume last year.
The refinery, operated by Myanma Petrochemical Enterprise (MPE), was taken offline in 2017 but rebuilt after the 2021 coup. The engineering, procurement and construction contract was awarded to Peiyang Chemical Engineering Service Corporation (PCCS), a Singapore-registered subsidiary of Peiyang Chemical Equipment in Tianjin.
Anhui Tiankang Group supplied nearly 400 measuring devices for the various chemical processes, coordinated by Tianjin Sainuo Oil & Gas Technology. Some modules were fabricated in China and shipped via Singapore to Thilawa Port.
The regime says the project will reduce foreign currency outflow and stabilize supply. It has heavily relied on air power since 2022, killing thousands of civilians, and this dependency has only increased as the territory it controls continues to shrink. In the most recent atrocity, 50 civilians died and nearly 60 were injured when the regime bombed a busy market in Rakhine’s Kyauktaw.
China becomes biggest buyer of Myanmar’s blood timber
China has become the dominant buyer of Myanmar’s timber since the 2021 coup, according to UN Comtrade data cited by Australia’s Wood Central.
Last year, China’s purchases climbed to US$147.3 million, nearly double the pre-coup total of $78 million, while Western imports collapsed from roughly the same amount to just $1.2 million worth, according to Forest Trends, a Washington‑based non‑profit that monitors global forest trade and conservation finance.
The group’s analysis shows China’s share of Myanmar’s reported wood exports rose from 25.5 percent in 2019 to a peak of $228.7 million in 2024, nearly 80 percent of the total, before settling at 74.1% in 2025. Nearly three‑quarters of China’s imports since the coup were bound for companies registered in Yunnan Province.
Myanmar’s total reported wood exports rose from $304.3 million in 2019 to $370.6 million in 2022 but then fell to $198.9 million last year after the regime lost control over most of the border with Yunnan in Shan and Kachin states. But China continues to import timber through border crossings now controlled by ethnic armed groups.
Western buyers’ share now accounts for just 0.6 of Myanmar’s blood timber, but Forest Trends warns that the decline does not necessarily mean sanctions are working. Instead, the group believes much is “re-exported” to the West after “transiting through China,” though the flow is harder to trace.
Kokang scam warlord sentenced to death
A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced three leaders of Myanmar’s notorious Wei clan to death as Beijing continues its public reckoning with the Kokang scam syndicates. The Quanzhou Intermediate People’s Court convicted Wei Huairen and two others of running violent fraud compounds that trafficked Chinese nationals, forced them into online scams, and murdered at least two victims.
According to Chinese state media, the Wei family’s network generated 12.2 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion) through online scams, drug trafficking, illegal casinos, and prostitution. Courts also handed life sentences to three associates and prison terms to 55 others, describing the gang as the “most violent criminal force in northern Myanmar.”
The Wei clan was one of four family crime syndicates in Kokang, which is now controlled by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). Wei Huairen was the chief of the regime-aligned Kokang Border Guard Force (BGF), in which capacity he created a much-emulated model of quasi-official armed protection of online fraud parks. The ruling follows earlier executions of Ming and Bai clan members.
Beijing renews outreach to Myanmar’s party leaders
The director‑general of the Chines Communist Party’s International Liaison Department, Peng Xiubin, met leaders of nine Myanmar political parties in Yangon on Tuesday, though none associated with the bona-fide opposition.
Present at the meeting were the usual suspects from the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) as well as a few co-opted ethnic political parties like the Arakan Front Party (AFP) and Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP). Discussions focused on “bilateral ties” and Myanmar’s “peace and reconciliation,” according to participants.
SNDP chair Sai Aik Pao told the Popular News propaganda outlet that he urged Peng to help the central regime regain control over the Muse–Mandalay trade corridor, pushing out the MNDAA and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
“China has influence” over those armed groups, he was quoted as saying.
While the USDP remains at the center of party-to-party ties, China also often flies other party leaders to Kunming and Beijing for “study tours” and “cooperation forums.” Shortly after the regime announced its planned elections last year, the department hosted a delegation of several Myanmar political parties in Beijing.
Shan groups warn against MNDAA’s ‘Sinicization’
Eight Shan civil society and youth groups published an open letter to the MNDAA on Oct. 9, warning that its boorish cultural and administrative practices in northern Shan State threaten ethnic coexistence and China–Myanmar border stability.
The letter warns that the MNDAA’s military control is only temporary and urges it to respect local ethnic traditions, languages, and rights. The groups accuse the Chinese-speaking group of erasing Shan, Ta’ang and Burmese scripts from public signboards and replacing them with Chinese characters. They argue that imposing Chinese-style governance and financial systems without consultation undermines trust and risks fueling resistance.
Such actions could even jeopardize the future of the China–Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), the letter warns, referring to the pet project of the MNDAA’s paymasters in Beijing.
Ta’ang civil society groups have similarly condemned the MNDAA’s actions. In April, six Ta’ang organizations said replacing Ta’ang signs with Chinese amounted to erasing an ethnic identity—a violation of international human rights law.
The MNDAA is busy consolidating its control of all major trade corridors linking to Yunnan Province.
Compiled by Thurein Lynn