The Burmese Democracy Movement and the Dongfeng Truck

As quickly as the pro-democracy movement blossomed and gained worldwide support and attention, the military junta just as quickly snuffed it out. The military needed to transport its troops quickly and en masse to population centers such as Yangon and Mandalay, where tens of thousands of monks and their supporters protested. That meant, of course, lots and lots of reliable and available troop transport vehicles.

Almost every image of troops in cities had the trucks they rode into town in in the background. Here's one.
And another.
These trucks are everywhere...

...transporting uniformed thugs and killers.

Where the heck did the Myanmar military get all these trucks? From the People's Republic of China. And just how many did the Chinese "sell" to the Myanmar military? Well,...
In 1997, the Chinese sold 1,000 Dongfeng EQ2102 3 1/2 ton 6x6s pictured above to the Burmese military. The military was so pleased with them, it bought another 3,000 units from Red China in 2002.
Myanmar bought 4,000 of the above Dongfeng EQ1093 in 1992.

And it all started when the military bought 4,000 of these Dongfeng EQ1091 5 ton 4x2s in the mid-1990s when the domestically assembled Hinos proved too unreliable.

I wonder whose side the PEOPLES' Republic of China is on? The junta or the people?

CKY