Shot caller: China's influence grows in Myanmar

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  Hello, Rosie Bloor here,

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  co-host of The Intelligence,

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  our daily news and current affairs podcast.

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  You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist read aloud.

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  We hope you enjoy it.

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  In March, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar,

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  in which 3,740 people died.

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  Yet the earthquake is not the main humanitarian crisis in that troubled country.

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  Since Myanmar's military junta brutally took control in a coup in 2021,

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  nearly 10,000 civilians have been killed.

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  The UN estimates 3 million have been displaced and over 2 million are on the brink of famine.

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  The economy has shrunk by a fifth.

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  and is estimated to be around half the size of its pre-coup trajectory.

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  All this has made Myanmar a hub of lawlessness in Asia.

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  Illicit drug production, human trafficking,

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  and a huge scam industry are booming.

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  Much of the world has paid scant attention to Myanmar since the coup.

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  Western countries,

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  which did the most to encourage democracy there in the decade up to 2021,

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  have been consumed with crises in Ukraine and Gaza.

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