![China-backed election raises fears of 'negative peace' in Myanmar](https://gdb.voanews.com/73F2F365-14C3-41B7-91D9-1DB66CA139E3.jpg)
China-backed election raises fears of 'negative peace' in Myanmar
Voice of America
FILE - A census counter places a sticker at the entrance of a house after collecting information there, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on Oct. 1, 2024. The country is holding a national census to compile voter lists for a general election to be held in 2025. FILE - Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun listens during the ASEAN-China defense ministers' meeting in Vientiane, Laos, on Nov. 20, 2024. FILE - Members of an ethnic armed forces group known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance check an army armored vehicle the group allegedly seized from Myanmar's army outpost on a hill in Hsenwi township in Shan state on Nov. 24, 2023.
As Myanmar’s military government prepares for elections in 2025, attention turns to neighboring China, which, critics say, is pressuring Southeast Asian nations to treat the vote as a solution to Myanmar’s ongoing political crisis.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250212193417.jpg)
A man weeds with a hoe at his farm just outside Harare on Feb. 12, 2025. Using hand tools has been the norm since most experienced commercial farmers were driven off their land by the government. Women pick weeds from a groundnuts field in Filabusi district of Zimbabwe, about 500 kilometers from Harare, in December 2024.