'The rock that can't be moved': China's revised geostrategies in Myanmar

Since 2011, Myanmar has undertaken a series of domestic and foreign policy reforms, including democratisation and peacebuilding, before and after the watershed November 2015 elections in the country. These reform processes have called into question whether China, which has been Myanmar's domina...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPacific review Vol. 32; no. 1; pp. 37 - 55
Main Author Lanteigne, Marc
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 02.01.2019
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
belt and road
bounded rationality
China
Democratization
Elections
Foreign policy
geostrategy
International community
Military regimes
Myanmar
Power
Rationality
Reforms
Resilience
resilience networks
Zero sum games
China
Myanmar (Burma)
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Summary:Since 2011, Myanmar has undertaken a series of domestic and foreign policy reforms, including democratisation and peacebuilding, before and after the watershed November 2015 elections in the country. These reform processes have called into question whether China, which has been Myanmar's dominant great power neighbour throughout the previous era of military government in the country formerly known as Burma, would find its strategic position eroding as Myanmar further opens to the international community. However, the concept of China 'losing' diplomatic ground to other actors, including the West, in Myanmar implies a zero-sum game that does not adequately address Beijing's still-formidable geostrategic presence vis-à-vis its southern neighbour. China has now started to implement a more multi-faceted, 'resilience network'-building approach to maintaining its special status in Myanmar's foreign policy, a situation which will persist as Myanmar continues its uncertain path towards further reform.
ISSN:0951-2748
1470-1332
DOI:10.1080/09512748.2017.1419276