Myanmar looks westward

By Wang Bozun Source:Global Times Published: 2016/6/30 21:53:01

Ties with China re-examined as US offers new possibilities


US President Barack Obama (left) and Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi make their way from a press conference at her residence in Yangon on November 14, 2014. Photo: CFP


Sino-Myanmar ties have been fading in recent years as Myanmar has gradually turned toward the US, ditching the military junta in favor of democratic reforms and canceling or suspending mega-projects previously carried out with Chinese aid. 

According to Li Chenyang, president of the Myanmar Research Institute of Yunnan University, the turn has been clearly reflected in recent media coverage.

 "I've seen a term often used in Myanmese media, 'partnership,' reflecting the relationship the new leader Aung San Suu Kyi wants to build with the US," Li told the Global Times.

Myanmar-US ties were tightened when US President Barack Obama became the first sitting president ever to visit Myanmar in November 2012. During that visit, he met with then president Thein Sein and stated that the US stood ready to help the people of Myanmar as they emerge from decades of isolation.

Two years later, Obama paid a second visit to Myanmar to attend the East Asia Summit, which he met Thein Sein again as well as Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar's former president and leader of the previously banned National League for Democracy (NLD) who endured decades under house arrest.

Jurgen Haacke, an associate of the LSE's South-East Asia Center, argued in a November article that Myanmar has derived "much-desired international legitimacy' from the US policy shift toward Naypyidaw.

The shift has propelled Myanmar's reintegration into international society, and opened up access to international financial institutions, though some of the sanctions imposed on the once-pariah nation have not yet been fully lifted.

Li argues that these new security and finance ties are critical in determining which powers will influence the country most. "Judging from this, the US has more influence on Myanmar than other countries, I think this is the reason they chose the US," Li noted.

In November 2015, Suu Kyi pledged "special attention" to the relationship with China, but also added that foreign investment needed to win over a skeptical Myanmar public. Chinese projects in Myanmar are often tainted by their association with the former dictatorship, and local resistance to them has been strong, forcing Chinese companies to invest in serious PR efforts to attempt to repair their damaged interests.

Dam suspension

The Myitsone Dam project was intended to be a showcase for China-Myanmar cooperation, with a massive dam and a hydroelectric power station at the confluence of the Mali and N'mai rivers. As well as filling a much-needed energy gap in a country where much of the population still goes without power, the remaining energy could be sold to neighboring countries, including China.

Construction on the dam began in December 2009, but was suspended unilaterally by then president Thein Sein in September 2011 as part of the country's democratic transition, due to its wide unpopularity in Myanmar. Chinese analysts attributed this largely to "communication" problems, while Myanmar media blamed perceived environmental difficulties, fears that the dam would disrupt a critical hydrological region, and a failure to reach out to local people whose lives would be disrupted.

Peng Fang, the vice-president of the China-Myanmar Friendship Association, told the Global times that he had communication problems when he discussed the Myitsone project with Myanmar's then vice foreign minister when the later visited China in 2015 to seek help with a disastrous flood.

"I told him 'The project is not just about power generation, there are three more benefits - irrigation, navigation and flood control. The flood could have been controlled if the Myitsone project has been completed, your government should tell the public about all of the benefits,'" said Peng, emphasizing the importance of public communication.

Peng said that foreign policy issues were not the highest priority for the new NLD government, which still needs to solve problems such as how to alter the constitution to allow Suu Kyi, who is ineligible under a current provision that forbids the president to have foreign relatives.

But two issues that dominate Myanmar politics, improving the economy and pushing the peace process forward, will inevitably affect ties with its giant neighbor, especially in war-torn border areas where ethnic minority populations dominate.

The continued suspension of the project still strains the relationship between the two countries. But Li opined that the long-term course of the country was unlikely to see "significant changes." "China is Myanmar's biggest neighbor, so it won't switch from friend to enemy overnight," he argued, adding that the course of any change would be smooth and fundamentally good relations would continue.

Li suggested that China and Chinese firms should improve their working methods in Myanmar; rather than just enthusiasm, they need to have a critical eye.  "It is not appropriate if we just blindly please them. "We should offer our sincerity and also reserve our judgment," he said.

Peng suggested that when China communicates with Myanmar, no matter in dialogue between governments or NGOs, China must find out a better way to comprehensively tell its story.

"Recent years have witnessed some ups and downs after some big projects between the two countries were being pushed on. So to improve communication between two countries' NGOs and enterprises could be a helpful way, and NGOs in China should try more to 'go out,' especially should take the opportunity of One Belt and One Road initiative," added Shi Guoghui, vice secretary-general of the China NGO Network for International Exchanges.



Posted in: Asia-Pacific

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