Inside Myanmar with Jason Tower of the USIP

What happened in Myawaddy as the junta saddles up with China.

By Luke Hunt
September 30, 2024

Jason Tower is the country director of the Burma Program at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), where he closely follows Myanmar’s civil war, human trafficking, and the industrialization of scam compounds, which have spread across Southeast Asia in recent years.

He holds unique insights into what is happening on the ground in Myanmar and has authored several reports for USIP over recent years, which include dire warnings about the conflict and the impact this is having on the civilian population.

A veteran with two decades of experience in regional security, Tower also sounded the alarm on the growth of human trafficking and scam compounds in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, which are “rapidly evolving into the most powerful criminal network of the modern era.”

Tower spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt at length about the fall of Myawaddy to anti-regime forces in April and what actually happened afterwards in regards to the Karen National Union and the local Border Force Guard and why many in the rebel camps felt betrayed.

He also talks about the spectacular failures of the military on the battlefield and China’s expanding role in the conflict as it shores up its own financial and strategic interests – including its oil and gas pipeline that cuts across the country – by drawing ever closer to the junta and its leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

This includes the complex relationship between the Arakan Army and the Rohingya in Rakhine state where the fighting has been brutal in recent months with the military desperately trying to hang on to what few areas it still controls.