Most nations of the world have hailed the transition and the West has even loosened its purse strings by lifting the sanctions that have in the first place pushed Yangon .into the Dragon’s hug.

However, the new dawn in Myanmar is not to not the liking of Beijing. It is not hiding its views; the state run media has gone to the town warning that the democratic change may prove to be is not a one-fit solution to the myriad problems confronting the resource rich but economically poor nation.

A commentary entitled “Democracy no panacea for Myanmar’s woes” in the Communist Party-run Global Times acknowledged that the recent reforms by the quasi-civilian government of President Thein Sein are bringing “unprecedented hope for the nation’s prospects.”

But it said “Western-style democracy” doesn’t fit Myanmar and cautioned that hasty reform could “provide chances for all kinds of extremists.”

The daily projected the recent conflict between Buddhists and Muslims in western Myanmar that has left dozens dead and tens of thousands displaced as a pointer to the dangers lurking ahead.

Such conflicts “may get worse and run out of control” if Myanmar is too heavily influenced by the West or excessively relies on Western models of government, the commentary warned.

Juxtaposing the events in Myanmar with the post-Tahrir Square revolution in Egypt, the Global Times said the recent unrest in Egypt is an example of what can happen when a country enacts democratic reforms. It said elections in Egypt “may further split the society and even trigger more religious conflict.”

The Chinese daily took a dig at Aung San Suu Kyi, who is seen as the new face of Myanmar saying that Myanmar’s ethnic problems cannot be fixed by “the appearance of one or two democracy leaders.  The release of Suu Kyi from long years of house arrest in 2010 and the facilitation of her election to the country’s parliament are the two major reforms of the quasi- military government.

The Global Times questioned whether Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy could help achieve ethnic reconciliation. And said the Nobel laureate “didn’t seem to have a solution” for the recent violence in Myanmar.

Noting that the ethnic problems are complex and are a colonial legacy, the daily said the regime is not able to solve them. Reason?  Reason is that the government is “weak, divided”   This is a strong indictment of a government, which Beijing has been projecting as its friend and benefactor all these years.

There is no doubt the situation in the Rakhine state of western Myanmar is bad. Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya are locked in fierce clashes particularly in the village of Yathedaung, about 65 kilometres from Sittwe, the state capital.

Admittedly, the faultlines are deep, very deep indeed if we go by recent history. Buddhist Rakhines consider the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, and refer to them as “Bengalis”..

Bangladesh is home to an estimated 300,000 Rohingyas while about 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar; according to the United Nations, they are one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.

The latest violence claimed more than 80 lives, seventy-one of them in just one week. The trigger for a wave of unrest came on May 28 with the rape and murder of a 26-year-old Buddhist Rakhine woman, Thida Htwe, allegedly by three young Rohingya Muslim men. Another round of vengeance took place on June 8 when more than 1,000 angry Muslim Rohingya in Maungdaw township, by the Bangladeshi border, swept through 22 predominantly Buddhist villages after their Friday prayers, attacking residents and burning houses.

The authorities have since tried to defuse the situation and the guilty men have been given death sentence.  Going by reports from Yangon, the situation is now under control in most parts of Rakhine, where emergency rule was clamped on June 10. Trouble spots have been placed under curfew.