5/22/25, 12:10 PM Burma Junta Adopts China’s Digital Blueprint for Repression – ENG.MIZZIMA.COM May 14, no passport applications were accepted without a UID. Those who try to circumvent the system face severe consequences. In November 2024, at least 23 people were arrested for forging UID cards.  The UID system is analogous to China’s social credit system, which uses centralized digital records to monitor and control individual behavior. In China, social credit scores, linked to citizens’ biometric IDs, can determine access to air and rail travel, banking, education, and government services. Those who fall afoul of state-defined norms may find themselves blacklisted and digitally isolated. Similarly, Burma’s UID system links biometric data to daily necessities and government entitlements, enabling the junta to deny access or impose penalties based on perceived disloyalty or noncompliance, using data as a tool of political control. The Burma regime has also weaponized this system against civil servants who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), issuing nearly 300,000 arrest warrants and using biometric crosschecking to block their escape. Citizens who fall afoul of the regime, whether through suspected disloyalty, digital absence, or forged documents, can be cut off from food, money, and communication. In tandem with biometric surveillance and data-based exclusion, the junta has also relied on internet shutdowns to control the flow of information. It has used these blackouts to prevent news from getting in or out of the country and to block citizens from organizing or communicating with resistance forces. At least 329 shutdowns have been imposed over the past four years, particularly in conflict zones like Chin, Sagaing, Rakhine, and Karenni. All 330 of the country’s townships have experienced some form of communication blackout. These disruptions, often timed with airstrikes, have left communities disconnected and unable to report attacks. According to Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition, Burma led the world in intentional internet disruptions in 2024, with 85 documented shutdowns, 31 tied to human rights violations and 17 coinciding with military offensives. Compounding the repression, infrastructure destruction, fuel shortages, and power cuts have left nearly a third of the country in persistent digital darkness. In 2025, international pressure has mounted: calling for sanctions on military-linked telecoms like Mytel, Atom, and MPT; an end to technology transfers from China, India, and the West; and greater support for secure, censorship-resistant communications. Burma’s adoption of China’s digital model has strengthened the junta’s ability to suppress dissent and control the population, undermining the resistance revolution. As long as Beijing continues exporting these tools, digital repression in Burma will intensify, making resistance more difficult and an end to the war more distant. Antonio Graceffo is an economist and China expert who has reported extensively on Burma. Tagged China, Myanmar junta  https://eng.mizzima.com/2025/05/20/22523?fbclid=IwY2xjawKbl-JleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFjWmFDSzNFTk9TMHVQYkpuAR78bcFtc-1UAGkye2oPrpEvu… 4/8