‘Ugly face’: U.S. and China trade barbs in Myanmar as South China Sea rift deepens

July 19 (Reuters) - China's embassy in Myanmar on Sunday
accused the United States of “outrageously smearing” the country
and driving a wedge with its Southeast Asian neighbors over the
contested South China Sea and Hong Kong, as tensions mount
between the superpowers.
Responding to U.S. claims Beijing was undermining the
sovereignty of its neighbors, the Chinese embassy said U.S.
agencies abroad were doing "disgusting things" to contain China
and had showed a "selfish, hypocritical, contemptible, and ugly
face".
The United States last week hardened its position on the
South China Sea, saying it would back countries in the region
that challenge Beijing's claim to about 90% of the strategic
waterway. In a statement on Saturday, the U.S. embassy in Yangon
called China's actions in the South China Sea and Hong Kong,
where Beijing has imposed tough new national security laws, part
of a "larger pattern to undermine the sovereignty of its
neighbors".
The U.S. statement drew parallels between China's actions in
the South China Sea and Hong Kong with large-scale Chinese
investments projects in Myanmar that the United States warned
could become debt-traps, along with trafficking of women from
Myanmar to China as brides, and the inflow of drugs from China
into Myanmar.
“This is how modern sovereignty is often lost - not through
dramatic, overt action, but through a cascade of smaller ones
that lead to its slow erosion over time," the U.S. embassy said.
In its rebuke, China said the statement showed a "sour
grapes" attitude by the United States towards "flourishing
China-Myanmar relations" and was "another farce on a global tour
by the U.S. authorities to shift the attention on domestic
problems and seek selfish political gains".
“The U.S. should first look in the mirror to see whether it
still looks like a major country now,” it said.
The Chinese embassy in Yangon did not answer phone calls
seeking further comment. The U.S. embassy was not immediately
available for comment.
Myanmar has increasingly become a battleground for influence
between the two countries since relations between the government
led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the West became
strained over its treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Author and historian Thant Myint-U told Reuters in an email
although the country was of negligible economic value to the
rivals, its strategic importance as a bridge between mainland
China and the Bay of Bengal was hard to ignore.
"Myanmar's instincts since independence in 1948 are to try
to be friends with everyone, but it's not clear that's going to
remain possible, in this coming period of increasingly febrile
superpower rivalry," he said.
"The sheer weight of China's giant industrial revolution
next door is already transforming Myanmar; if multi-billion
dollar infrastructure projects are added to the mix, the border
between the two countries will become increasingly difficult to
see," he said.
"It's important to remember that Myanmar was one of the few
countries in the world where the last Cold War led to proxy
armed fighting which in turn led to military dictatorship and
decades of self-imposed isolation."

(Editing by Lincoln Feast.)