The Evolution of Relations between Myanmar and China in the 1990s: Results and Assessments

Southeast Asia: Actual Problems of Development. 2020. Vol. 3. No. 48. P. 145–155.

Wai Yan Phyo Naing

The article gives insights in relations between Myanmar and China after Myanmar’s generals seized power through a coup d'état in September 1988. As a result of repressions and the failed power transition to the opposi- tion in 1990, the US and Europe imposed harsh economic sanctions on My- anmar’s military government. This forced the Yangon to establish closer po- litical and economic ties with Beijing. The author outlines the specificity of cooperation between Myanmar and China along the political-military, the economic and the social tracks with the focus upon discrepancies between the official and the grass-root levels. In the author’s opinion, the growing imbal- ance between these dimensions accounted for the key vulnerability factor in the dialogue between the two countries.

Keywords: international sanctions, bilateral trade, political ties, Chinese migrant workers, Myanmar-China relations