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Last Thursday, the United States Treasury announced a list of sanctions targeting 10 individuals and three companies in light of the military takeover in Myanmar.
U.S. imposes targeted sanctions on Myanmar military elites
U.S. President Joe Biden called for the coup to be reversed, and the release of civilian leaders including Myanmar's political icon, Aung San Suu Kyi.
The sanctions put in place by the U.S. specifically target military leaders who directed the coup, their business interests and close family members, as well as officials connected with the military (Tatmadaw), according to Nikkei.
The sanctions are not comprehensive countrywide sanctions nor do they appear to be the same old sanctions programme imposed on Myanmar in the past, which had severely crippled the Myanmar economy, impacting the civilian population greatly.
Targeting individuals such as General Min Aung Hlaing and the current acting president Myint Swe, the sanctions have also been imposed on corporations that are deemed as entities owned or controlled by the military.
Under the sanctions, all U.S.-located or U.S.-held property belonging to these individuals and corporations will be frozen.
They will also be denied the use of U.S. goods, software, and technology, including non-U.S. goods containing significant amount of American content, reported Nikkei.
Sanctions may have limited effect due to military leaders' enormous wealth
Despite the targeted sanctions by the U.S., observers said that the military chiefs still have access to enormous wealth lying within their conglomerates, reported The Japan Times.
According to a report by Justice For Myanmar, the military controls two conglomerates -- the Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL) and the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) -- which in turn hold at least 133 companies that are completely or partially overseen by military leaders.
Jade and ruby mining makes up massive portion of wealth
The diversity of the companies range from tobacco, textiles, beer, to tourism and banking.
However, a significant portion of the military's wealth come from the jade and ruby trade, which are businesses mainly owned by the junta.
According to a 2019 report by the United Nations Human Rights Council (OHCHR), around 90 per cent of all jade bought and sold in the world in any given year originates from Myanmar.
"The significant involvement of Tatmadaw companies in the jade and ruby industries means that there is a high risk that revenue from the sale of jade and rubies benefits the Tatmadaw," said the report.
The value of the Myanmar jade trade is estimated to be as high as US$31 billion (S$41 billion) -- nearly half of Myanmar's official GDP of US$69 billion (S$91 billion).
Myanmar Imperial Jade Co. Ltd, one of the three businesses sanctioned by the U.S., reportedly holds the largest number of jade mining licenses in the country.
Singapore key to cutting off military leaders' wealth?
The company, a subsidiary of MEHL, has partnerships with countries including China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, reported The Japan Times.
While businesses are taking the time to re-evaluate their partnerships with the military-controlled corporations, only a few foreign companies have announced they are reconsidering their operations in the Myanmar, including Singapore-based oil company Puma.
Debbie Stothard, an activist from the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), pushed for more penalties by international leaders to cut off the military leaders' access to their wealth, reported The Japan Times.
She urged international companies to break all partnerships with the regime, and added that Singapore, the largest foreign investor in Myanmar, was key to this.
Stothard claimed that "some top Burmese officials have had a lot of personal investments and bank accounts in Singapore since the mid-2000s", and mentioned that the trend has accelerated in recent years, according to The Japan Times.
Analysts advise caution against hasty retaliatory measures
However, despite activists' calls for swift retaliatory measures against the military leaders, analysts cautioned against being hasty to throttle the businesses, which could plunge the country's economy.
Reminding that the Tatmadaw is no stranger to sanctions, and having ran Myanmar under crippling embargoes and sanctions for decades, the military "will be prepared to do so again", Myanmar-based political analyst Richard Horsey told The Japan Times.
Derek Mitchell, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Myanmar from 2012 to 2016 -- the first to hold the position since the country's political opening -- said the U.S. doesn't have much leverage over the situation either.
He added that the key lies in American allies, which is a difficult path, as some of them have a lot of investments in Myanmar, reported BBC.
"We don't want to go back to the old-style sanctions. The sanctions need to be very carefully crafted to go after money, weapons, prestige - all the things, the military values," Mitchell said.
He opined that the Tatmadaw fears the country's overdependence on a large country like China, adding that sufficient pressure might be able to coerce them into changing their actions.
He said: "We have to demonstrate that there is a cost, that if you want balance in your relationships, you're not going to get it this way. The military must understand this."
But in pursuing the course of sanctions, political analysts such as Richard Horsey cautioned that countries need to tread carefully in its disapproval to avoid punishing the civilian population for their leaders' acts.
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Top image via Getty, Wikipedia Commons