Asia Times: China, Myanmar reinforce ties


	December 15, 2001	atimes.com

China

China, Myanmar reinforce ties

YANGON - Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit this week underscores Beijing's desire to retain its position as the most influential foreign power in Myanmar and to remain one of its few allies. The official visit, a milestone for China-Myanmar relations, gives a much-needed boost to the international image of Myanmar's military regime.

Jiang, who apart from signing economic and oil deals with Yangon went on a recreational visit of the country, is the first Chinese president to visit Myanmar since the current regime came to power in 1988. He leaves for Beijing on Saturday.

Sino-Myanmar relations have gained greater attention since the suppression of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising by Myanmar's military government. Since then, China has become a major arms supplier to Myanmar and the two countries have had closer ties. China's induction this month into the World Trade Organization (WTO) also bodes well for Myanmar's lackluster economy.

Sino-Myanmar relations, however, have a history that dates back decades. M C Tun or U Chit Tun, a well-known Myanmar journalist who died recently, wrote in 1973 in the Far Eastern Economic Review magazine that Myanmar "has had many 'firsts' with China: It was the first nation outside the communist bloc to recognize the People's Republic [1949], the first to conclude a Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Non-Aggression, the first to achieve a boundary settlement with China [1961], and one of the first to patch up relations with Peking [Beijing] after the Cultural Revolution."

Since the 1950s, Chinese and Myanmar leaders have reciprocated state visits to one another and a pawphaw, or fraternal relationship, has endured. Since the military government took power in 1988, Myanmar - as Burma was officially renamed by the junta - has been seen as a pariah state in the eyes of many governments that have offered little in terms of economic support. "The generals needed a friend, and it was China," said a veteran Yangon-based analyst. "It was a marriage of convenience."

China stuck by Myanmar after the regime crushed the 1988 pro-democracy uprising - often compared to Beijing's own Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. Beijing also does not participate in the international criticism of the junta over its refusal to accept the general-election victory of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 1990.

Myanmar's recent reliance on China, however, has more to do with trade and economics than maintaining fraternal bonds.

Sino-Myanmar trade growing
Trade between China and Myanmar got a boost a decade ago when Beijing encouraged the southern provinces, especially Yunnan, to look southward to Myanmar. Beijing was concerned that the living standards in the country's southern hinterland was falling behind the more prosperous eastern seaboard area, which benefited from trading with Hong Kong, Vietnam and, indirectly, Taiwan.

Bilateral trade has kept growing this year, and China has become Myanmar's third-largest trade partner, after Singapore and Thailand. During the first 10 months of this year, bilateral trade volume amounted to US$499 million, registering 3.1 percent year-on-year growth, says the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC).

China's exports to Myanmar from January to October this year reached $385 million, up 1.9 percent; and imports reached $113 million, up 6.7 percent. The major products China exported to Myanmar included electrical and mechanical goods and textile and high-tech products.

By the end of 2000, there were 752 contract agreements between Chinese and Myanmar companies, with a value of $1.786 billion. In the first 10 months of 2001, Chinese companies signed 87 project deals, totaling $186 million.

Development and the drug trade
China has also funded substantial infrastructural development in Myanmar, including deep-sea ports, roads and airports, largely through low-interest loans. Apart from giving Chinese producers better access to Myanmar itself, China's central planners also see these moves as providing a transit system for Chinese products to potential export markets further afield, in South Asia, the Middle East and even Europe.

But improved road links, especially in northern Myanmar, have also benefited the narcotic smugglers. The production and distribution of amphetamines has risen substantially in the past few years. United Nations anti-narcotics experts estimate that 60 percent of these tablets end up in China.

China is also a major transit route for the drug smugglers from Myanmar's Golden Triangle. Increased addiction among Chinese living along the drug routes has prompted Beijing to see the eradication of drug production and trafficking as a major issue.

More friends for Myanmar
Although Jiang's visit will no doubt boost the junta's image, the generals are quite different now than they were 13 years ago. According to one analyst, "They now have more friends and they have been trying to return to the world community." For one, Myanmar is now a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Over the past three years, Myanmar's top leaders have not only been carrying out visits to other ASEAN countries but have taken a number of international visits as well. Myanmar's top brass traveled to numerous East Asian countries, including India and Pakistan. Foreign Minister Win Aung also visited Cuba, Russia and Yugoslavia last year in hopes of establishing much-needed friendships abroad.

But another reason for Jiang's visit appears to be the active foreign policy with New Delhi that Myanmar has been cultivating. In the early 1990s, Myanmar was not happy with India as it was openly condemning the regime for its crackdown on the pro-democracy movement and offering political asylum to dissidents who had fled to the Indian border. In 1996, however, Delhi became concerned with China's increasing influence in Myanmar and has since silenced its open condemnations of the regime. Since that time, it has been trying to improve relations with Yangon to counter the Chinese. As a result, relations between Yangon and New Delhi have normalized.

India and Myanmar share more than 1,600 kilometers of border and have been exchanging official visits for the past six years. The two countries' armies have also pledged to improve military cooperation along the border. Bilateral trade reached $295 million in 2000.

"Before, Burma had only one friend. Now it has more and this makes the Chinese nervous," a political observer in Yangon commented, requesting anonymity. Thus, he said, analysts in Yangon were not too surprised to see Jiang in the capital this week. In the past, Myanmar "had little choice but to embrace the Chinese. Now they have more options," he added.

Myanmar's leaders now know how to play the region's two largest countries - China and India - off each other.

More interesting, Myanmar's search for arms and supplies has also diversified. Last year, Myanmar turned down $1 million in credit from Beijing for military purchases. Yangon said it was not happy with earlier deliveries and complained about the quality of Chinese systems. However, Yangon's air force still receives training in Beijing.

Prosperity the priority
Meanwhile, back in Yangon, many residents are aware of Jiang's visit and say they are impressed with China's prosperity and modern technology. "There are Myanmese who want their country to follow China's economic policy," said one resident. "We have been living in poverty for decades and we have to learn to change."

"What I hope is that our leaders can learn from China's prosperity and economic reform. We need to get rich," said a businessman in his 50s on Yangon's Merchant Street.

Indeed, Maung Aye, the Myanmar regime's second-in-command, told Chinese leaders in Beijing last year that his country wanted to follow China's lead and open up to the world.

Added the merchant: "I will say 90 percent of people here do not care about democracy but they want to survive and live without worrying about tomorrow."

(Asia Times Online/Inter Press Service/Asia Pulse)