Sino-Myanmar Nexus: Regional Impact and US Strategy
Abstract
China is viewed as a strategic competitor of the United States (US) in the global environment. Three decades of economic reform have led to a comprehensive recasting of China s geostrategic priorities in its immediate periphery. China s relations with Myanmar have grown in the past two decades following internal political upheavals in the late 1980s that motivated the two countries to reach out to each other following international opprobrium. Myanmar s strategic location on a tri-junction between South Asia, Southeast Asia and China is potentially important for China to achieve its strategic presence in the Indian Ocean and to help fulfill its goal of becoming a great power in the 21st century. Realizing the overall scenario, the US reassessed its strategy towards Myanmar and the Asia-Pacific. The US is also quite supportive of Myanmar s recent democratization, which is perceived by China as part of the global American effort to complicate and constrain China s rise. Therefore, in view of China s long-term strategy and its growing strategic distrust of the US, it is essential for the US to reorient its strategy for the South and Southeast Asian region to ensure regional stability while maintaining its global hegemony.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA589026
Entities
People
- Shah Alam
Organizations
- United States Army War College