Six months after Myanmar coup, battle for diplomatic recognition

In Myanmar, generals who seized power and the shadow government of deposed legislators are jostling for UN credentials.

Yangon/Taipei – In Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon, people are scrambling for hospital beds and looking for oxygen for their COVID-hit family members and friends. Bodies are piling up in cemeteries. With economic desperation and a deadly virus ravaging the population, neither the military, despite its de facto power, nor the parallel government, with its international influence, has managed to turn the tide of the pandemic or break the political deadlock. The military, or Tatmadaw, has sought to control the country in the wake of the February 1 coup, which triggered mass protests and a civil disobedience movement. More than 900 people have been killed and thousands arrested.