A Study On Economic Assistance Policy From The United States To Burma (1947-1958)

This paper mainly uses the primary archives of National Archives Ⅱ of the United States,the National Archives of Myanmar,the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China,the British Documents on Foreign Affairs,Selected Historical Archives of the Soviet Union and the Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru,aiming to expounding the motivation,process and influence of the economic assistance from the United States to Burma during 1947 to 1958.This paper reveals the characteristics of the post-war cold war pattern in Southeast Asia and its impact on the process of economic assistance from the United States to Burma.Meanwhile,it analyzes the domestic factors of the United States and Burma,the recipient country,and the role of the policy orientation of the leaders of the two countries in the formulation and implementation of economic assistance policy from the United States to Burma.The first chapter discusses Truman administration and the interim administration of Burma signed the agreement on the surplus property between the United States and Burma on February 28,1947.The Second World War led to the weakening of the national strength of the traditional colonial powers in Southeast Asia,such as Britain,France and the Netherlands.After the war,the colonies in Southeast Asia set off national liberation movements one after another,and the colonial system in Southeast Asia collapsed.At the same time,the United States was strong after the war.On this basis,the United States actively pursued global leadership.On the one hand,it hoped that the colonial people in Southeast Asia,such as Burma,would weaken the international status of Britain,the former world leader in Southeast Asia,by launching a national liberation movement.On the other hand,Truman administration also needed to unite with Britain to fight against the Soviet Union.The United States had to slow down its foreign policy of weakening Britain’s influence in Southeast Asia,so the attitude of the United States towards the national liberation movement launched by the colonial people in Southeast Asia such as Burma was relatively indifferent after the war.However,in order to achieve the goal of competing for world hegemony,the United States must expand its influence in Burma and other Southeast Asian regions.Therefore,Truman administration signed the agreement on surplus property with the interim administration of Burma on February 28,1947.According to the agreement,the United States needed to resell jeeps and military trucks that stayed in Burma during the war to Burma.Because Burma lacked dollar cash,the Truman administration provided Burma with a 20-years long-term loan worth 5 million dollars.At the same time,in order to expand its influence in Burma,Truman administration used 5 million dollars loan for Burma’s economic construction,thus enhancing the international influence of the United States in Burma.The second chapter discusses Truman administration and U Nu administration signed the agreement on economic cooperation between the United States and Burma on September 13,1950.At the beginning of the cold war,the United States chosed Europe as the center of its diplomatic strategy.Therefore,after Truman administration and U Nu administration signed the agreement on surplus property between the United States and Burma on February 28,1947,the relations of economic trade between the United States and Burma were at a low level.The founding of the People’s Republic of China,the alliance between China and the Soviet Union,the outbreak of the Korean War and the war between China and the United States on the Korean battlefield made Truman administration realize that the national interests of the United States in Southeast Asia would be damaged,so it began to pay more attention to Burma and other emerging nations in Southeast Asia.At the beginning of1950,by sending the Jessup and Griffin missions to visit Burma,the United States and Burma held many consultations on the issue of economic assistance.The Truman administration and the U Nu administration officially signed the agreement on economic cooperation between the United States and Burma on September 13,1950.According to the agreement,Burma received more than US 10 million dollars in economic assistance from the United States.In the process of receiving economic assistance from the United States according to the agreement on economic cooperation between the United States and Burma,the United States still secretly supported the KMT in northern Burma.In order to maintain national security,Burma foreign minister Sao Hkun Hkio asked the United States to terminate the agreement on economic cooperation between the United States and Burma on March 17,1953.After many unsuccessful negotiations,the Eisenhower administration had to accept the advice of the U Nu administration and terminate the implementation of the agreement on economic cooperation between the United States and Burma on June 30,1953.However,the American economic experts who had been sent to Burma still stayed in Burma for economic assistance after the termination of the agreement on economic cooperation between the United States and Burma.The United States had invested in construction projects in Burma having been continued before June 30,1953.The three chapter discusses Eisenhower administration and U Ba Swe administration signed the agreement on rice for technicians agreement between the United States and Burma on June 30,1956.During the British colonial rule,Burma formed a malformed economic development structure with rice planting as the main industry.After independence,the economic structure of Burma had not been rationalized.After the end of the Korean War,the global demand for rice declined,and a large number of unsalable rice appeared in Burma.Under the situation that rice export had become the main source of foreign exchange for Burma administration,the national economy of Burma was in trouble.Therefore,the U Nu administration suggested that the United States,which was also an important rice exporter in Asia,reducing its rice exports in Asia and providing economic assistance to Burma.The Department of agriculture of the United States and American interest groups of farmers were unwilling to compromise on the issue of economic benefits,which restricts the Eisenhower administration to formulate and implement the economic assistance policy to Burma.With the realization of the exchange of visits between Soviet and Burmese politicians at the end of 1955,and the increasing scale of economic assistance from China,the Soviet Union and other socialist countries to Burma,Eisenhower administration had to accept the agreement on rice for technicians between the United States and Burma proposed by the U Nu administration,and provided technical assistance to Burma at the expense of the American economic interests.When Mikoyan visited Burma on April 1956 and the Soviet Union provided more large-scale economic assistance to Burma,the United States increased its assistance to Burma by 100000 dollars.The Eisenhower administration and the U Nu administration officially signed the agreement on rice for technicians agreement between the United States and Burma on June 30,1956,which improved the relations between the United States and Burma.The forth chapter discusses Eisenhower administration and U Nu administration signed the agreement on agricultural trade between the United States and Burma on February 8,1956,the agreement on loan assistance between the United States and Burma on March 21,1957 and the agreement on renewal of the loan assistance agreement between the United States and Burma on May 28,1958.The national economic development of Burma was hindered because of the unsalable rice in 1955.In order to solve the problem of unsalable rice and economic development,U Nu administration proposed to the United States to exchange Burma’s rice for dollar cash loan.Burma’s export of rice,rubber,minerals and other strategic materials to China,Soviet Union and other socialist countries violated the Battle Act passed by the Congress of the United States,resulting in the failure of Eisenhower administration to provide loan assistance to Burma.Faced with the increasingly close economic and trade cooperation between China,the Soviet Union and other socialist countries and Burma,Eisenhower administration instructed the Department of agriculture of the United States to export agricultural products needed for economic development to Burma according to Public Law 480 and allowed the U Nu administration to settle accounts in Kyats,and then used about 80% of Kyats for Burma economic construction.After many negotiations,the Eisenhower administration and the U Nu administration signed the agreement on agricultural trade between the United States and Burma on February 8,1956.Although the agreement on agricultural trade between the United States and Burma had eased the pressure of Burma’s economic development,it had not achieved the goal of providing loan assistance to Burma.With the closer economic relationship between Burma and socialist countries from 1956 to1958,the Congress of the United States finally relaxed the restrictions of the Battle Act on Burma,so the United States and Burma signed the agreement on loan assistance between the United States and Burma on March 21,1957 and the agreement on renewal loan assistance between the United Sates and Burma on May28,1958,respectively,thus enhancing the influence of the United States in Burma to a certain extent.The conclusion of the paper summarizes and analyzes the historical process of the United States willing to provide economic assistance to Burma at the expense of its own economic interests under the background of the deepening cold war in Southeast Asia during 1947 to 1958.It reflects that the characteristics of the cold war pattern in Southeast Asia during 1947 to 1958,the differences of the strategic culture between the United States and Burma,the degree of ideological factors that affect the leaders of the United States and Burma in the decision-making,the Congress of the United States and the domestic interest groups of the United States jointly affect the formulation and implementation of the economic assistance policy for Burma.