President Thein Sein, a former military general and protégé of dictator Snr Gen Than Shwe, is on a three-day state visit to China to pay a formal courtesy call to the leaders in Beijing and to cement what is fast becoming a strong relationship.
Indeed, we should not forget the historical relationship between the two countries: in 1949, Burma was one of the first countries to recognize the People's Republic of China.
But that doesn't mean that the relationship has always been smooth sailing.
Anti-Chinese riots were widespread in Burma in 1967, while for its part, China played an active role in supporting communist insurgents in Burma.
We must not forget that Beijing has at times played tough with the incompetent generals of Burma, most notably during the Kokang Crisis in August 2009 when Beijing reprimanded Burma over the instability at their common border when some 37,000 refugees fled into Chinese territory.
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Aung Zaw is founder and editor of the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at [email protected].
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Beijing was reportedly enraged, and Burma quickly dispatched high-ranking officials to mend the fence.
On the issue of trade and investment, China plays a key role—extracting natural resources from Burma's ethnic states.
China made huge investments in hydropower, oil and gas, totaling $8.17 billion, Xinhua reported last year, citing the regime’s own statistics.
Indeed, by the end of March this year, China's investment in Burma has risen to US $15.5 billion from $12.3 billion at the end of 2010.
There is no doubt that the Chinese invasion of Burma is visible in the growing numbers of Chinese migrants and businessmen in Burma's second largest city, Mandalay, as well as in Shan and Kachin States where they have opened shops and businesses, and regularly buy land.
It is believed that over the last 20 years, hundreds of thousands of Chinese have migrated to Burma. Many of them have obtained Burmese nationality cards through corrupt immigration officials. China's persistent presence in Burma is significant—many local Burmese have begun learning Mandarin to help secure jobs, prompting a joke in Burma that the future leaders of the country will be fluent in Chinese next time they visit Beijing.
Shortly after the Burmese military crushed a pro-democracy movement 22 years ago, China was one of the first neighboring countries to back the newly installed junta, providing it with arms, jet fighters, naval ships and ammunition. Since then, its unwavering support for the regime in Burma has only grown.
Before 1988, China had supported and financed hardcore Burmese communist insurgents that waged bloody civil war against the Burmese regime.
China’s strategic shift toward Burma shows a more pragmatic approach than its previous ideological war.
Indeed, sadly, the policy shift does nothing more than preserve the brutal regime in Burma, and plays a destructive role toward Burma’s embattled democracy movement.
Outside of Burma, Beijing’s policy toward Naypyidaw has raised heated debate between pro-sanctions and anti-sanctions groups. The argument now is that it is time to counter China's growing political and business clout in Burma. Western companies and governments feel that this is all just a case of too little, too late—time to follow Beijing’s footsteps.
Li Junhua, the current Chinese ambassador to Burma, told Xinhua news agency that Thein Sein’s state visit would certainly push the two countries' strategic and mutually beneficial cooperation toward a new high.
Burma’s military leaders often call China their “most important friendly neighbor,” and they can now continue to develop their strategic relations with Beijing after putting to bed November's general election.
But it takes two to tango—Beijing realized that Naypyidaw has much to offer.
Burma has offered strategic access to the Bay of Bengal. Underlining this deepening strategic cooperation, Chinese naval ships last year made a port call for the first time in Burmese territorial waters.