| Since the end of the Second World War,even though the world war has been effectively controlled,regional and partial wars have never ceased to occur.Therefore,the possibility of world war has never been lifted making security still the most important issue that every government must consider.According to realists scholars,international politics is still a kind of "jungle politics" that follows the law of the jungle where only power can guarantee the security of the state.The greater power has the higher security factor.In order to ensure security,the great powers and powerful states will do everything possible to pursue power politics,even practice of hegemony.This will inevitably lead to wars between big powers and lead to political tragedies.For a small and medium-size state,in order to ensure its security and survival,it can either choose the strategy of aligning with the state that it sees as primary threat(bandwagoning)or forming alliances with other powerful states against the primary threat(balancing).In other words,the so-called international politics can always only be the politics of big powers competing for supremacy and small countries depending upon them for their security.As a small and medium-size country,Myanmar has a long history of more than 1,000 years,but it has never formed alliances with other big powers.Since Myanmar's independence in 1948,it has adhered to a neutral and non-aligned foreign policy.However,due to the changing situation at home and abroad and the differenccs in the governance strategy of the ruling government in different periods,the neutral foreign policy of the Burmese Government also has taken different forms,and has produced diverse foreign policy behavior.Between 1948 and 1962,Myanmar implemented active,non-aligned and neutral diplomacy.Between 1962 and 1988,Myanmar gradually moved towards isolated neutral diplomacy.After 1988,as a result of changes in domestic politics and sanctions by Western democracies,Myanmar's neutral diplomacy began to turn into an eastern dependent diplomacy.From 1988 to 2010,when the military government was sanctioned by the West,Myanmar gradually disappeared on the international stage.In order to enable Myanmar to obtain broad space for activities and promote national interests on the international arena,Myanmar began the process of democratic transformation in 2011.Since Myanmar's democratic transition,while maintaining "normal" relations with Western countries,Myanmar has also actively maintained a comprehensive strategic partnership with China,in addition to maintaining close relations with India and ASEAN.ASEAN.China,India and the United States are all committed to the peaceful development of Myanmar.As Myanmar strengthens its extensive contacts with the relevant countries,the trend of competition between China and the United States in Myanmar is becoming more and more obvious.No matter how important Myanmar's strategic geopolitical status is,if Myanmar does not put forward its strategic dealings with these big powers carefully,it will not be able to achieve sustained benefits.Therefore,the new government of Myanmar led by the NLD(National League for Democracy),based on the calculation of the objectives and interests of national diversification,carefully planned foreign visits after taking office,thereby,maintaining the balance of Myanmar's diplomatic relations.After the democratization of Myanmar,its domestic affairs and foreign policy have been influenced by democratic values.At the beginning of the democratic transition,U Their Sein's government's foreign policy objectives were based on three waves of reform:political reform,socio-economic reform and administrative reform.After this transition period,the foreign policy goal of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi government has been to solve the internal conflicts and needs caused by democratization:national reconciliation,internal peace and the regime of political parties.The elected government realized that although Myanmar's traditional neutral diplomacy did not harm the national interests,it could not guarantee a peaceful solution to the current domestic security dilemma and the past policy is not in line with current national interests.Moreover,neutrality itself lacks economic pragmatism,and Myanmar's national interests often conflict with those of the Non-Aligned Movement.Myanmar has failed to transcend such narrow and selfish considerations.This raised the needs to establish partnerships with the external friends.However,while doing so,some countries have attempted to take advantage of the current plight of the Myanmar Government to attract Myanmar to ally with it.Therefore,except for neutral diplomacy,the democratically elected goverrnment now has two options:partnership or alliance.The advantage of the alliance strategy is that it can help the country pursue more national interests than the neutral strategy.The policy of alliance is for the benefit of individuals or specific groups,which runs counter to the justice and democratization of the basic norms of international relations.The principle of alliance is not only to attract some countries,but also to isolate other countries,which is inconsistent with the principle of neutrality.The purpose of neutrality is to ensure its maximum independence,autonomy and flexibility,not to limit its own space of activity.The basic goal of partnership is peaceful development.It opposes bullying the small by the big,oppression of the poor by the rich,bullying the weak by the strong and interference in the internal affairs of other countries.The insistence is on making friends widely and developing peacefully on the basis of equality.Both the neutral policy and the partnership policy adhere to the principle of non-alignment and peaceful development.They do not target any third country,ensure the independence of the country,do not interfere on internal matters of other countries and do not harm their interests.The commonalities of the basic principles of the two policies make it easy for neutral countries to choose the policy of partnership.Since Myanmar's independence,the leaders of Myanmar main political parties have considered and implemented neutral diplomacy based on the geographical and historical factors of Myanmar,which is the most appropriate foreign policy for Myanmar.Although Myanmar's foreign policy has begun to face changes since the democratic transition its diplomacy has not cut off its ties with the original policy of neutrality but is in the process of gradual transformation that also integrate the notion of partnership in its dealings with other countries.The partnership is within a clear time frame and within a region,where the two sides form a specific relationship around a particular project that is mutually beneficial,and where the partner countries maintain a more flexible and freer link,and there is no firm commitment,especially military commitment.Since Myanmar's political transformation in 2011,according to the diversified needs of the country,Myanmar's neutral policy has gradually begun to implement its partnership strategy,with the main diplomatic targets being China,India,ASEAN and the United States.The Sino-Myanmar partnership will help to solve the biggest challenges facing the new Myanmar government:national reconciliation,domestic peace and economic development.The India-Myanmar Partnership is helpful to the religious and human rights issues in Myanmar,which has not yet been fully democratized,and has a certain impact on Myanmar's economic reform.The ASEAN-Myanmar partnership has been conducive to Myanmar's economic development.The U.S.-Myanmar partnership has had a major impact on Myanmar's democratic transformation.In addition,the establishment of the U.S.-Myanmar partnership has helped expand Myanmar's partnership with other countries,such as after the normalization of U.S.-Myanmar relations,Japan and Myanmar will be able to establish the same relationship,and Myanmar's relations with Western countries will also be normalized.Based on the theory of alliance and the development of Myanmar's traditional neutral foreign relations,this paper studies the post-democratization foreign policy of Myanmar.The second part of the paper elaborates the related concepts and theories of alliance and partnership.The third part is a historical review of Myanmar's foreign relations and its neutral foreign policy since independence.The fourth part mainly explores the situation of Myanmar's diplomatic relations since 2011 and the challenges of Myanmar's neutral diplomacy after democratization,and specifically analyses the general situation of Myanmar's diplomatic relations with ASEAN,China,India and the United States,as well as the possibility of partnership.The fifth part mainly analyses the advantages and disadvantages of the partnership policy in Myanmar,and based on the analysis of theory and reality,gives practical suggestions to guide Myanmar's current foreign policy. |
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