%0 Journal Article
%T China¨CBurma Geopolitical Relations in the Cold War
%A Hongwei FAN
%J Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs
%D 2012
%I German Institute of Global and Area Studies, (GIGA)
%X This paper explores the historical role of geography in the Sino¨CBurmese relationship in the context of the Cold War, both before and after the Chinese¨CAmerican d¨¦tente and rapprochement in the 1970s. It describes Burma¡¯s fear and distrust of China throughout the Cold War, during which it maintained a policy of neutrality and non-alignment. Burma¡¯s geographic location, sandwiched between its giant neighbours India and China, led it to adopt a realist paradigm and pursue an independent foreign policy. Charac-terizing China¡¯s threat to Burmese national security as ¡°grave¡± during its period of revolutionary export, the article notes that Burma was cowed into deference and that it deliberately avoided antagonizing China. It also looks at the history of China¡¯s attempts to break out of U.S. encirclement after the Korean War and its successful establishment of Burma as an important buffer state. After the U.S.¨CChina rapprochement in 1972, however, Bur-ma¡¯s geographical significance for Beijing declined. In this context, Burma¡¯s closed-door policy of isolation further lessened its strategic importance for China. Since 1988, however, Burma¡¯s strategic importance to China has been on the rise once again, as it plays a greater role as China¡¯s land bridge to the Indian Ocean and in its energy security and expansion of trade and exports.
%K Political Science
%K PR China
%K Burma
%K cold war
%K foreign policy
%K geography
%K 300
%K 320
%K 327
%K PR China
%K Burma
%K 1950-2011
%U http://hup.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jsaa/article/view/510