Aung San Suu Kyi's political career could end after the coup, while Myanmar's military will rely on China to deal with international pressure.

The Burmese army on the morning of February 1 arrested State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and senior officials in the ruling party of the Myanmar National Union for Democracy (NLD) "in response to the accusation.

After many Western countries voiced their opposition to what they called a "coup" to overthrow this democratically elected government, Myanmar's military pledged to hand over power to the winner of the general election.

In the process, the Myanmar army took control of the country through a state of emergency and all power is now transferred to Prime Minister Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Larry Jagan, an expert on Myanmar, said that the arrest and deprivation of Suu Kyi's power was the key point in the army's "bloodless" mutiny plan and that could end his political career.

"I think this is basically the end of Aung San Suu Kyi's political career. Anyway, she is already old, there are many questions about her health. Suu Kyi's future is quite bleak.

Jagan emphasized that Myanmar's military has little faith in Suu Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi, considered a beacon for human rights, spent 15 years under house arrest from 1989 to 2010. Her struggle to bring democracy to Myanmar, which is ruled by the military.

In November 2015, she led the NLD to a resounding victory in Myanmar's first public elections in 25 years.

Since becoming State Advisor, however, Suu Kyi's reputation as a leader has been largely affected by the way she handled the Rohingya humanitarian crisis.

In 2017, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Muslim Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh because of a military raid, after several deadly attacks on police stations in Rakhine state,

Myanmar currently faces a genocide lawsuit at the International Court of Justice, while the International Criminal Court is investigating the country for crimes against humanity.

Her defense of the army from her actions against the Rohingya at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Netherlands, last year was considered a "drop of water" that caused Suu Kyi's international reputation to collapse.

Diplomats and lawmakers say Aung San Suu Kyi's declining image has diluted Western support for her as Myanmar's leader, but governments will still urge her release.

Laetitia van den Assum, a retired Dutch diplomat in Southeast Asia who has regularly met with Suu Kyi for almost 15 years, says her democratic iconography has been "almost irreversible".

Meanwhile, a senior EU diplomat in Jakarta said her image could be improved through the coup, as it "restored her status as a man of justice"

Song Qingrun, an associate professor from the Beijing University of Foreign Studies, said that Myanmar's future after the coup could be "complicated" and unpredictable.

The expert pointed out that last year's election showed that Suu Kyi's NLD party was still widely supported.

He added that Myanmar's military would also face pressure from several Western countries.

But it pointed out that the Myanmar military also faced some domestic challenges.

Gerard McCarthy, from the Asian Studies Institute at the National University of Singapore, warns that having the Myanmar military in power for a year "will leave international partners other than China away from them, damaging interests.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Asia, pointed out that this move puts Myanmar at risk of once again becoming "a nation that has been chashed by the international community", while at the same time

"I don't think the people of Myanmar will accept this," he added.

In response to the Burmese army's campaign against the Rohingya, the US punished many high-ranking military leaders, including Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Melissa Crouch, a Myanmar expert at the University of New South Wales, said the generals could see such alliances with China as a potential counterbalance to any wave of international outrage.

Tamas Wells, an expert from the University of Melbourne, says Myanmar's military leadership "has learned to cope in the face of international criticism".

The biggest challenge facing the military will come from within the country, Wells said, and will depend on the military's ability to control activists and a significantly more empowered middle class from 2015.

"In Myanmar there are people making a lot of money, they will pressure the military leadership not to disrupt ongoing growth and stability in urban areas," Wells said.

"The people of Myanmar will still support Suu Kyi after the coup", said political analyst Min Zaw Oo in Yangon.

But he added that her future and Myanmar's transition to democracy are "uncertain".