Thread by @olliekarp

In today's #dailysoup, let's go to #Myanmar as I'll discuss about the military base at the Coco Islands, which is being built by the Chinese-influenced Burmese military junta.

More info in this 🧵.

1/16

The Coco Islands are a group of islands located at the Bay of Bengal, sandwiched between the Andaman Islands and Myanmar.

This group of islands comprise of two major islands, Great Coco and Little Coco, as well as a couple of small islands.

2/16

Moreover, the Coco Islands are located near the strategic Strait of Malacca, which is extremely essential as a strait connecting the Pacific and the Indian Oceans, and as an East-West nexus.

3/16

Discovered by Portuguese sailors in the 16th century, the group of islands were named as "Coco Islands" due to an abundance of coconuts there.

Fast forward to the 18th x 19th centuries when the British colonised India, the Coco Islands were converted into...

4/16

...a "penal colony", in which convicts from British India would be transported into the Coco Islands to "serve time" for their crimes, but however, due to the remoteness of the Coco Islands, their control was transferred to the British colonial government in Burma.

5/16

Fast forward to post-independence Myanmar, the Coco Islands became Burmese territory, and the dictatorship of Ne Win converted the Coco Islands into a Burmese penal colony, as well as a naval base for the Burmese military.

6/16

Then, in 1994, as Sino-Burmese relations became warm, China leased the Coco Islands from Myanmar in 1994.

In the 1990s, there were rumours that China was already building signals intelligence facilities in the Coco Islands. Meanwhile, a 2014 paper from an Indian...

7/16

...defence think tank noted that there are "reports of Chinese signal intelligence facilities in islands in the Bay of Bengal...including the Coco Islands".

However, satellite pictures found little evidence...

chathamhouse.org/publications/t…

8/16

...of Chinese signal intelligence facilities in the islands, while in the 2000s, the Indian chief of naval staff during that time, Arun Prakash, together with Myanmar's military junta, denied Chinese military presence in the Coco Islands military base.

9/16

However, recent satellite pictures reveal progressing activity in the construction of the base in the Coco Islands, with facilities including a runway, two hangars, a pier, a causeway, military base buildings, and even deforested areas, suggesting the base's extension.

10/16

As the Coco Islands base is being built by the Burmese military junta, there are concerns suggesting that China is helping Myanmar build the base coz Beijing has been exerting heavy influence on the junta after Naypyidaw got sanctioned due to its authoritarian record.

11/16

Besides influencing the junta, China's investments on Myanmar coz of its plans to "bypass the Strait of Malacca" through the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor and the infamous Belt and Road Initiative added to the concerns that China is helping Myanmar in building the base.

12/16

As the China-backed Burmese junta military base in the Coco Islands continues to be constructed, experts became concerned that a Chinese fortification of the Coco Islands would allow China to threaten lines of communication from...

news.com.au/technology/inn…

13/16

...other powers in the Indian Ocean, especially India, thus allowing China to threaten the geopolitical stability of the ocean, as well as the Strait of Malacca, especially when they are critical global trade routes.

14/16

Coz of the Coco Islands' location beside India's Andaman Islands, which house India's military facilities to defend the stability of the Indian Ocean, the base raised concerns that it would allow China to easily threaten Indian defences.

rfa.org/english/news/m…

15/16

Then, India showed intelligence suggesting Chinese workers helping Burmese junta workers build a "listening device" in the base to the Burmese junta government, but the junta denied such claims, building a situation similar to the Ream Naval Base.

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

16/16

Additional source(s):
- msn.com/en-us/news/wor…

Past entries: bit.ly/thedailysoup

Similar entries:
Entry #2 (Ream Naval Base) -

https://twitter.com/olliekarp/status/1628108129748787201?s=20

Entry #11 (Espacio Lejano Station) -

https://twitter.com/olliekarp/status/1631394618301358109?s=20

A little dessert to Entry #42 (Coco Islands), I'll discuss about some recent developments, clarifications, and additional information about the Coco Islands of #Myanmar.

Amidst concerns of Chinese involvement in the Coco Island base, India is monitoring developments,...

1/5

...while the Burmese junta continued to expand the runway, as well as build sheds and operate cargo planes.

While China continues to deny the claims of Chinese involvement in the Coco Islands, an SCMP article wrote about another point to claim that...

2/5

...Chinese workers are involved in helping the junta build the base when the article suggested that since Myanmar doesn't have enough financial resources to build modernised military equipment, China could be involved coz "its resources x motivation are superior to...

3/5

...Myanmar's". The article showed satellite images of "...telltale signs of military modernisation..." for a country as underdeveloped as Myanmar.

A Discord user indicated that a helicopter landing is present at the "Little Coco" island of the Coco Island group.

4/5

Meanwhile, a correction to tweet 7/16 of Entry #42 (Coco Islands):

Coco Islands being leased from Myanmar to China in 1994 is just an allegation.

However, coz of China's role in influencing the Burmese military, it's best for the Indo-Pacific to ready their defences.

5/5