Soldiers and Diplomacy in Burma

Soldiers and Diplomacy in Burma
Author: Renaud Egreteau
Publisher: NUS Press
Total Pages: 562
Release: 2013-06-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9971696738

Soldiers and Diplomacy addresses the key question of the ongoing role of the military in BurmaÍs foreign policy. The authors, a political scientist and a former top Asia editor for the BBC, provide a fresh perspective on BurmaÍs foreign and security policies, which have shifted between pro-active diplomacies of neutralism and non-alignment, and autarkical policies of isolation and xenophobic nationalism. They argue that important elements of continuity underlie BurmaÍs striking postcolonial policy changes and contrasting diplomatic practices. Among the defining factors here are the formidable dominance of the Burmese armed forces over state structure, the enduring domestic political conundrum and the peculiar geography of a country located at the crossroads of India, China and Southeast Asia. Egreteau and Jagan argue that the Burmese military still has the tools needed to retain their praetorian influence over the countryÍs foreign policy in the post-junta context of the 2010s. For international policymakers, potential foreign investors and BurmaÍs immediate neighbors, this will have strong implications in terms of the countryÍs foreign policy approach.

In the Name of Pauk-Phaw

In the Name of Pauk-Phaw
Author: Maung Aung Myoe
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2011
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9814345172

Since its independence in January 1948, Myanmar has tried to find a way to deal with (at one time) ideologically hostile and traditionally chauvinistic China which has pursued a foreign policy aimed at restoring its perceived influence in Myanmar. To counter China's attempts to influence Myanmar's foreign policy options has always been a challenge for the Myanmar government. Since the 1950s, successive Myanmar governments have realized that Myanmar's bilateral relations with the People's Republic of China should best be conducted in the context of promoting the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, the Bandung spirit and the Pauk-Phaw (kinsfolk) friendship. The term Pauk-Phaw is exclusively devoted to denote the special nature of the Sino-Myanmar relationship. This work argues that Myanmar's relationship with China is asymmetric but Myanmar skilfully plays the "China Card" and it enjoys considerable space in its conduct of foreign relations. So long as both sides fulfill the obligations that come under "Pauk-Phaw" friendship, the relationship will remain smooth. Myanmar has constantly repositioned her relations with China to her best advantage. Myanmar's China policy has always been placed somewhere in between balancing and bandwagoning, and the juxtaposition of accommodating China's regional strategic interests and resisting Chinese influence and interference in Myanmar's internal affairs has been a hallmark of Myanmar's China policy. This is likely to remain unchanged.

Modern China's Foreign Policy

Modern China's Foreign Policy
Author: Werner Levi
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 413
Release: 1953-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 081665817X

Modern China's Foreign Policy was first published in 1953. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. What are China's objectives in world affairs and what course will she pursue to achieve her goals? These are the questions of vital concern to the Western democracies, questions that can be approached intelligently only from a knowledge of how China's foreign policy has developed. In this illuminating and carefully documented book, Professor Levi analyzes china's attitudes and actions toward the rest of the world and clarifies many motivations behind her behavior, past and present. He traces the development of her foreign relations from the beginning of the modern era of Chinese contacts with Westerners, a little more than hundred years ago. The emphasis, however, is on the twentieth century, and particularly on the years since the peace settlements of World War I. The complex balance of relationships between China and the United States, on the one hand, and China and the Soviet Union, on the other, since the end of World War II is discussed in detail. Communist doctrine, notwithstanding its apparent rigidity, is shown to be a conveniently adjustable tool, capable of adaptation to the needs and strategies of present-day China. An integral part of the account is the attempt to single out and interpret the internal forces -- cultural, social, and economic -- that have influenced and shaped China's external policies. Thus, it is shown that the determinants of China's foreign policy have often been pressures and complexities within the country and that and understanding of the Chinese people and their traditions is essential to nations in their dealings with China.

The Wa of Myanmar and China's Quest for Global Dominance

The Wa of Myanmar and China's Quest for Global Dominance
Author: Bertil Lintner
Publisher:
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2021-03
Genre: Burma
ISBN: 9786162151705

The United Wa State Army (UWSA) is a nonstate armed group that administers an autonomous zone in the difficult-to-reach Wa Hills of eastern Myanmar. As China expands its geopolitical interests across Asia through the Belt and Road Initiative, the Wa have come to play a pivotal role in Beijing's efforts to extend its influence in Myanmar. In a book relevant to current debates about geopolitics in Asia, the illicit drug trade, Myanmar's decades-long civil wars, and ongoing efforts to negotiate a settlement, Bertil Lintner, the only foreign journalist to visit the Wa areas when they were controlled by the Communist Party of Burma, traces the history of the Wa Hills and the struggles of its people, providing a rare look at the UWSA.

International Pressures, Strategic Preference, and Myanmar’s China Policy since 1988

International Pressures, Strategic Preference, and Myanmar’s China Policy since 1988
Author: Nian Peng
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2020-09-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9811578168

This book mainly explored the driving forces and evolvement of Myanmar’s China policy since 1988 by adopting a neo-classical realist apporach, an emerging theoretical paradigm aiming at analyzing state’s foreign behaviour by connecting systemic and unit variables which refers to external environments and domestic restraints respectively. It is the first book that seeks to give a theoretical explanation of Myanmar’s diplomacy, thereby bridging the gap from basic research to the deep one with theories. It also introduced the concept of strategic preference and argued that the competing strategic preference that the Burmese leaders have, namely “integration” and “isolation”, determines Myanmar’s responses to China in the Post-Cold War era, which not only demonstrates the neo-classical realism as an useful instrument of looking into state’s foreign policy and deepens the understanding on Myanmar-China relations.The main content of this book is divided into seven parts, in which the first chapter introduces the background, the present study on Myanmar’s China policy and China’s Myanmar policy, the analytical framework, and the arrangement of the content. Chapter 2 focuses on the roots and changes of Myanmar’s competing strategic preference as well as its influences on Myanmar’s foreign policy. The following four chapters examine the international pressures and benefits imposed by systemic imperatives, and Burmese leaders’ specific strategic preference since 1988, and investigate Myanmar’s policy towards China in different periods. Finally, it provides a comprehensive conclusion that outlines and reviews the origins and evolution of Myanmar’s China policy, and predicts its future directions.This book is suitable for the graduates and experts who are interested in international relations, the Asian studies and neo-classical realism in particular, and Myanmar politics and foreign relations, as well as China’s relation with neighboring countries.

China's Foreign Relations and the Survival of Autocracies

China's Foreign Relations and the Survival of Autocracies
Author: Julia Bader
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2014-10-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1135105294

The Chinese government has frequently been criticized for propping up anti-democratic governments. This book investigates the rise of China as an emerging authoritarian power. By comparing China’s bilateral relations to three Asian developing countries – Burma, Cambodia and Mongolia – it examines how China targets specific groups of actors in autocracies versus non-autocracies. It illustrates how the Chinese non-interference policy translates into support for incumbent leaders in autocratic countries and how the Chinese government has thereby profited from exploiting secretive decision making in autocracies to realize its own external interests such as achieving access to natural resources. In a statistical analysis of the patterns of Chinese external cooperation and their impact on the survival of autocratic leaders, the book finds some evidence that China is more likely to target autocracies with economic cooperation. However, only some forms of bilateral interaction are found to increase the prospect of survival for autocratic leaders. This important contribution to the understanding of both external factors of authoritarian endurance and China’s foreign relations, a field of study still lacking systematic investigation, will be of great interest to students and researchers in Development Studies, Asian Studies, International Relations, and International Political Economy.

Myanmar's Foreign Policy

Myanmar's Foreign Policy
Author: Jurgen Haacke
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2006
Genre: Burma
ISBN: 9780415407267

This Adelphi Paper examines Myanmar's foreign policy, which is predicated on state-building and development, as well as on defending the regime's priority of establishing an enduring constitution over democratization.

Modern China-Myanmar Relations

Modern China-Myanmar Relations
Author: David I. Steinberg
Publisher: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012
Genre: History
ISBN: 9788776940966

This volume examines the changing relations between China and Burma/Myanmar since Burmese independence in 1948 and the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Using Chinese sources, it documents the negotiations and settlement of outstanding issues such as the border demarcation, the Chinese Nationalist forces in Burma, the status of the overseas Chinese residents, and the Burma Communist Party. The study documents the Sino-Burmese riots of 1967, the improvement of relations, culminating in the close bilateral association since 1988-89. It analyses in detail Myanmar's changing role in Chinese strategy, concentrating on trade and investment relations, oil, gas, hydroelectric power, natural resources and improved transportation. It outlines military cooperation, narcotics control, and migration while emphasizing Indian and ASEAN concerns and responses. The volume outlines a set of policy dilemmas facing the central and provincial Chinese authorities, the Myanmar government and Burmese ethnic minorities, while analysing dilemmas for the United States, India, ASEAN and Japan in responding to the changed interdependent Sino-Burmese relationship.

Southeast Asia in China's Foreign Policy

Southeast Asia in China's Foreign Policy
Author: Joseph A. Camilleri
Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian
Total Pages: 49
Release: 1975
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Attention will be paid not so much on China's relations with individual Southeast Asian countries, as on the role and importance of the region in China's overall foreign policy. The intention is to highlight certain general themes rather than present a detailed analysis of evolving bilateral relationships. Southeast Asia cannot of course be considered as a unified or homogenous entity. In fact, its special relevance to Chinese foreign policy lies not simply in its proximity to China, but especially in the variety of political systems and diplomatic alignments which it compromises. As a microcosm of the international system, Southeast Asia reflects China's policies and attitudes not only to the regional subsystem but also to the Third World as a whole and to the global balance of power.