In the Name of Pauk-Phaw
In the Name of Pauk-Phaw

Author: Maung Aung Myoe

Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 9814345172

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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.

Soldiers and Diplomacy in Burma
Soldiers and Diplomacy in Burma

Author: Renaud Egreteau

Publisher: NUS Press

Published: 2013-06-10

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13: 9971696738

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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.

Britain and Sihanouk's Cambodia
Britain and Sihanouk's Cambodia

Author: Nicholas Tarling

Publisher: NUS Press

Published: 2014-07-01

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13: 9971697076

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Diplomatic relations between Cambodia and Britain at the height of the Cold War provide unique insights into the overall foreign policies of both nations. King Norodom Sihanouk's strategy of preserving the independence and integrity of Cambodia through a policy of neutrality grew ever more challenging as the Cold War heated up in Indochina and conflict in Vietnam became a proxy war between the superpowers. Despite its alliance with the United States, Britain's diplomatic objectives in the region largely aligned with Cambodia's, and British criticism of US policy towards Cambodia was a problem in the alliance. British diplomatic records present a fascinating window into Cambodian decision-making, and the rationale behind Sihanouk's sometimes apparently irrational policies. The reports yield new insights into Sihanouk's efforts to sustain Cambodia's integrity vis-ˆ-vis its more powerful neighbours. Equally, a fine-grained analysis of British-Cambodia relations reveals much about the dynamics of British foreign policy in the period. Britain's ultimate dependence on its powerful American ally limited its influence in the region. After 1967, indeed, it ceased to have a strategic role. Over the period, British frustrations grew, even as it remained consistent in its foreign policy objectives and approaches.

Neutrality in Southeast Asia
Neutrality in Southeast Asia

Author: Nicholas Tarling

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-10-04

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 1134840861

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This book analyses the notion of neutrality to the politics of the state in Southeast Asia. Distinguishing among neutrality, neutralism and neutralisation, it asks what relation do the concepts bear to the independence of states, and how do they relate to other forms of inter-state relations and to participation in international organizations. The author considers concepts of neutrality and the policy of non-alignment as they were developed in South and Southeast Asia. Using case studies of a variety of Asian countries, including India, Burma, Cambodia and other countries in Southeast Asia, he discusses the novel notion of a regional form of neutralisation as a means of decolonising the region and examines the relevance neutralism has in current international politics and what might it have in the future. This new work by one of the most foremost historians on Southeast Asia is of interest to scholars in the field of Asian History, Politics, International Relations and Strategic Studies.

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

Published: 2020-09-08

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9811578168

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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.

India--Myanmar Relations
India--Myanmar Relations

Author: Rajiv Bhatia

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-08-11

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1317399153

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This book provides a comprehensive evaluation of India's multi-faceted relations with Myanmar. It unravels the mysteries of the complex polity of Myanmar as it undergoes transition through democracy after long military rule. Based on meticulous research and understanding, the volume traces the trajectory of India–Myanmar associations from ancient times to the present day, and offers a fascinating story in the backdrop of the region’s geopolitics. An in-depth analysis of ‘India–Myanmar–China Triangle’ brings out the strategic stakes involved. It will be of great interest to researchers and scholars of international relations, peace and conflict studies, defence and strategic studies, politics, South and Southeast Asian studies, as well as policy-makers and political think tanks.

Diaspora's Homeland
Diaspora's Homeland

Author: Shelly Chan

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2018-03-15

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 0822372037

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In Diaspora’s Homeland Shelly Chan provides a broad historical study of how the mass migration of more than twenty million Chinese overseas influenced China’s politics, economics, and culture. Chan develops the concept of “diaspora moments”—a series of recurring disjunctions in which migrant temporalities come into tension with local, national, and global ones—to map the multiple historical geographies in which the Chinese homeland and diaspora emerge. Chan describes several distinct moments, including the lifting of the Qing emigration ban in 1893, intellectual debates in the 1920s and 1930s about whether Chinese emigration constituted colonization and whether Confucianism should be the basis for a modern Chinese identity, as well as the intersection of gender, returns, and Communist campaigns in the 1950s and 1960s. Adopting a transnational frame, Chan narrates Chinese history through a reconceptualization of diaspora to show how mass migration helped establish China as a nation-state within a global system.

Mapping Chinese Rangoon
Mapping Chinese Rangoon

Author: Jayde Lin Roberts

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2016-06-01

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 0295806591

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Mapping Chinese Rangoon is both an intimate exploration of the Sino-Burmese, people of Chinese descent who identify with and choose to remain in Burma/Myanmar, and an illumination of twenty-first-century Burma during its emergence from decades of military-imposed isolation. This spatial ethnography examines how the Sino-Burmese have lived in between states, cognizant of the insecurity in their unclear political status but aware of the social and economic possibilities in this gray zone between two oppressive regimes. For the Sino-Burmese in Rangoon, the labels of Chinese and Tayout (the Burmese equivalent of Chinese) fail to recognize the linguistic and cultural differences between the separate groups that have settled in the city—Hokkien, Cantonese, and Hakka—and conflate this diverse population with the state actions of the People’s Republic of China and the supposed dominance of the overseas Chinese network. In this first English-language study of the Sino-Burmese, Mapping Chinese Rangoon examines the concepts of ethnicity, territory, and nation in an area where ethnicity is inextricably tied to state violence.

Dividing ASEAN and Conquering the South China Sea
Dividing ASEAN and Conquering the South China Sea

Author: Daniel C. O’Neill

Publisher: Hong Kong University Press

Published: 2018-09-04

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 9888455966

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The “ASEAN Way” is based on the principle of consensus; any individual member state effectively has a veto over any proposal with which it disagrees. Dividing ASEAN and Conquering the South China Sea analyzes how China uses its influence to divide ASEAN countries in order to prevent them from acting collectively to resolve their territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea. Using comparative case studies of China’s relations with Cambodia, the Philippines, and Myanmar, O’Neill argues that the regime type in the country with which China is interacting plays an important role in enhancing or constraining China’s ability to influence the governments of developing states within ASEAN and globally. Authoritarian institutions facilitate Chinese influence while democratic institutions inhibit that influence. O’Neill argues that as long as ASEAN includes developing, authoritarian regimes, and given that the United States and other global powers are unlikely to risk any serious conflict over each push of China’s maritime boundaries, little by little, China will assert its sovereignty over the South China Sea. Nevertheless, noting the long-term, global trend of states democratizing, he contends that if China chooses to engage in more sophisticated bilateral politics, such as providing incentives to a broader range of interest groups in democratic states, then China will have more success in projecting its power globally. “Professor O’Neill’s well-crafted and theoretically sound assessment of China successfully dividing ASEAN in pursuit of claims in the South China Sea also shows important variations in China’s regional influence dependent notably on the degree of authoritarianism and democracy in Southeast Asian governments.”—Robert Sutter, professor of practice of international affairs, George Washington University “There are plenty of books looking at various aspects of the South China Sea issue, but I am not aware of any that duplicates the approach of this book. It is a useful addition to our understanding, both of the specific issue and of the broader theoretical implications which it raises.”—Richard Rigby, professor and executive director, China Institute, the Australian National University

China's Backyard
China's Backyard

Author: Jason Morris-Jung

Publisher: Flipside Digital Content Company Inc.

Published: 2018-05-24

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 981478611X

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In this multi-disciplinary and multi-sited volume, the authors challenge reductionist and oversimplifying approaches to understanding China's engagement with Southeast Asia. Productively viewing these interactions through a "e;resource lens"e;, the editor has transcended disciplinary and area studies divides in order to assemble a dynamic and diverse group of scholars with extensive experience across Southeast Asia and in China, all while bringing together perspectives from resource economics, policy analysis, international relations, human geography, political ecology, history, sociology and anthropology. The result is an important collection that not only offers empirically detailed studies of Chinese energy and resource investments in Southeast Asia, but which attends to the complex and often ambivalent ways in which such investments have become both a source of anxiety and aspiration for different stakeholders in the region.