Modern China-Myanmar Relations: Dilemmas of Mutual Dependence

by David I Steinberg and Hongwei Fan
Reviewed by Bertil Lintner

CHIANG MAI, Thailand - Myanmar's ongoing charm offensive with the West, and the West's warm response to the overtures, is without doubt being driven more by China than by a sudden democratic awakening among the country's ruling military elite. Nor are Western powers, despite their rhetoric and posturing, placing progress on democracy and human rights at the top of their policy priorities. There is hypocrisy on both sides.

It was a whirlwind 17 days for Burma/Myanmar opposition leader and international human rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi on her first post-imprisonment tour of America. Her packed schedule included a meeting with president Obama, being presented the Congressional Medal of Honor, discussions and lectures at Yale and Harvard, and addressing Burmese communities across the country to a rock star's welcome.

By: Sai Wansai
Wednesday, 03 October 2012

During the last two weeks, it seems as though Burma’s political epicentre has moved to the U.S., particularly around New York and Washington D.C., with big names like Aung San Suu Kyi, President Thein Sein and Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) leader Hkun Htun Oo descending on U.S. soil one after another. While Suu Kyi and Hkun Htun Oo were actually there to receive awards, the President’s purpose was, first and foremost to deliver speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, and as a presidential spokesman puts it, to make use of the golden opportunity of branding and marketing Burma. Of course, Suu Kyi was also tasked with the lobbying for removal of sanctions, whereas the President’s job was to sell his domestic reform program to the international community. Apart from that, all three were engaged in building awareness of the current internal situation, each on its own outlook, in relation to the unfolding political scenarios within Burma.

Reinhard Hohler, Chiang Mai (28.09.2012)

In the context of the official celebration of World Tourism Day 2012, Myanmar’s Ministry of Hotels & Tourism organized a special program in the morning of September 27 at the Myanmar International Convention Centre (MICC) at Nay Pyi Taw.

Though the Burmese junta is claiming that they are trail-blazers totally different from and exceedingly superior to former ruling parties of Burma, they still have to use the Kaba-aye Cave built by U Nu's government for religious purposes; follow Ne Win's order on Burmese language spellings of "one"; hold on to the "theory of human evolution originating from Pondaung" sold by Khin Nyunt; and still employ Saw Maung's official count of "135 races of Burma." Now let's see if there are really 135 ethnic groups in our country.

Coercion, counter-movement and brokerage: How an engagement with the local politics of drugs in Burma’s eastern borderlands offers alternative perspectives on global counter-narcotics strategies.

By: Sai Wansai
Wednesday, 12 September 2012

On 08 August, BBC, Burmese program, reported Deputy Defence Minister Colonel Aung Thaw accused Kachin Independence Organization/Army (KIO/KIA) that peace could not be achieved, due to the insistence that political dialogue has to come first before ceasefire agreement could be reached.

By: Sai Wansai
Wednesday, 12 September 2012

On 08 August, BBC, Burmese program, reported Deputy Defence Minister Colonel Aung Thaw accused Kachin Independence Organization/Army (KIO/KIA) that peace could not be achieved, due to the insistence that political dialogue has to come first before ceasefire agreement could be reached.