Re-interpreting China's Non-intervention Policy towards Myanmar

Leverage, Interest and Intervention

Bibliographic Data

ID8091955
AuthorsHak Yin Li (corresponding author), Yongnian Zheng
Year2009
Volume18
Issue61
Pages617-637
Publication date2009-08-12
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary China (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1067-0564 • E-ISSN: 1469-9400
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10670560903033901
OpenAlexW2068365877
LanguageEN
Citations received7

China's non-intervention policy has long been criticized for prolonging the rule of many authoritarian regimes. Myanmar has become one of the classic examples. As China is expected to become a responsible great power, her behavioral patterns have aroused many concerns. This paper aims to re-interpret China's non-intervention policy. While explaining various constraints on China's capability to intervene in the Myanmar government, it shows how China is making efforts to seek a new intervention policy in dealing with countries like Myanmar. It argues that China's insistence on a non-intervention policy does not mean that China does not want to influence other countries such as Myanmar. To assess Chinese leverage and its non-intervention policy toward Myanmar as well as to supplement the current limited academic discussion on Sino–Myanmar relations, in this paper we first examine Chinese leverage in Myanmar through Burmese local politics, such as the power struggle between the central government and local rebel governments. Second, we disaggregate the Chinese interests in Myanmar into different levels (regional, geo-strategic and international) and discuss how these interests affect China's non-intervention policy. Third, we argue that China has indeed tried to intervene in Myanmar politics, but in a softer manner that contrasts with the traditional Western hard interventions, such as economic sanctions and military interference

Authoritarianism · Burmese · China · Democracy · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Intervention (counseling · Leverage (statistics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Psychological intervention · Sanctions · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Law · Psychology

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub