“China’s gas pipeline will be burned,” chanted a group of protesters in Burma (also known as Myanmar) this week on the route of a Chinese pipeline. Hailed by the Chinese regime as a symbol of “mutually beneficial cooperation”, the pipeline has become a target for public anger over perceptions Beijing is backing the junta that seized power in a Feb. 1 coup. The rise in anti-China sentiment has raised questions in Burma business circles and in China, not only over the surge of Chinese investment in recent years but for billions of dollars earmarked for a strategic neighbor on Beijing’s “Belt and Road” infrastructure plan. China is a one-party state ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). China’s own citizens frequently protest the government due to a lack of an independent legal system and rights protections. However, due to threats to the safety of their families, information about the suffering of the …