By Ramya P S
Myanmar’s domestic politics are central to China’s strategic interests, and are testing Beijing’s core principles.
Myanmar’s political transition has spawned debates and deliberations in policymaking circles and strategic communities across the world. The economic and strategic spinoff of the political changes has generated immense attention and interest. Not least in China.
As recently as 2011, prior to its “opening up,” Myanmar was not only considered cut off from international engagement, it was mostly seen as a Chinese vassal state. Yet the history of China-Myanmar relations reveals that the “Pauk-Phaw (PDF)” (fraternal) era has in fact been rather checkered. Under U Nu’s presidency (1948-1962), bilateral relations have been described as “cautious but friendly.” Myanmar’s initial cautiousness towards its much larger neighbor was an outcome of an incursion by the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) in 1952. The incursion was designed to cut off Kuomintang forces trying to attack China from Myanmar’s northern Shan state. In 1954 however, the “Pauk-Phaw” phase began, based on the tenets of peaceful coexistence.
In the 1960s, relations hit a rocky patch with anti-China protests in the then capital, Rangoon (Yangon). The protests were a reaction to the active support China provided to the Burmese Communist Party (BCP) and other insurgent groups in the northern reaches of Myanmar bordering China. The Chinese support was seen as an extension of the excesses of the Cultural Revolution and caused anti-China sentiment within Myanmar.
By the late 1980s, bilateral relations were gaining traction. China’s leader Deng Xiaoping’s visit to Myanmar, President Ne Win’s assistance in China’s bid to improve relations with Cambodia, and the end of Chinese funding of the BCP all led to stronger ties. Significantly, during this period internal politics within Myanmar were also undergoing a shift. The policy of isolationism followed by Ne Win led to deteriorating economic conditions at the domestic level, resulting in anti-government protests in 1988. A military regime subsequently took over, as Ne Win’s influence receded.
The advent of the military junta in 1988 marked a shift in relations between China and Myanmar. Several factors, external and internal, encouraged closer ties. The military junta was not recognized by the international community because of its use of force against civilians during the 1988 protests. Moreover, the military regime overruled the 1990 election results, which favored the National League for Democracy (NLD) headed by Aung San Suu Kyi. This led to sanctions against the state and a collapse in international support. Meanwhile, China itself was being condemned for its brutal putdown of the Tiananmen Square protests, which had their corollary in the “8.8.88” peoples uprising in Myanmar. The disintegration of the BCP in Myanmar in 1989 removed a major impediment to bilateral relations. What followed has been described as a “Sino-Burmese military entente (PDF).” Relations subsequently strengthened markedly, to the point that Myanmar has been called a “vassal” state of China.
The decision by the military regime to open up Myanmar (albeit economically more than politically) has, by and large, been seen as a reaction to the country’s over-dependence on China and the latter’s allies. Proponents of this argument point to the Myitsone dam. The project has prompted protests against the Chinese developers so intense that President Thein Sein elected to cancel it. The issue of the controversial dam is presently uncertain, with China contesting the legality of the cancellation.
Read the full story at The Diplomat