A Study On Determinants In Resolving Sino-Burmese And Sino-Indian Border Disputes

For Chinese government, the disputes of Sino-Burmese and Sino-Indian borders are very complex in the 1950s. They are similar and interrelated, but the results of them are quite different. Applying the methods of comparative analysis and drawing support from a group of new archives published by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of People's Republic of China, I am trying to explore the determinants in resolving Sino-Burmese and Sino-Indian borders disputes, such as Geopolitics, Internal Politics, International Factors and Mutual Trust.The two borders disputes which occurred during the same period (from 1950s to 1960s) are natural relevant and similar. Because of the extreme complexity of border issues, Chinese leaders hope to build a"paradigm"by resolving Sino-Burmese border dispute for others, especially for Sino-Indian border dispute. In order to get more experiences when deal with the similar issues with other countries, Zhou Enlai investigated Sino-Burmese border issue and presided over China-Burma negotiations personally. He had explored a mode based on mutual concession and peaceful negotiation by the two sides. However, Sino-Indian border dispute included more geopolitical and ideological conflicts while Sino-Burmese border dispute included less. In the end, unlike Chinese leaders hoped, the unique development of Sino-Indian border dispute made that model workless.Geopolitics played a key role in making the two border disputes entirely different. There is no obvious geopolitical conflict between Burma and China. Besides, the leaders of the two sides did not deal with Sino-Burmese border issue with geopolitical conflict angle of view. And that is the fundamental reason for Sino-Burmese border dispute could be settled by peaceful negotiation. On the country, there exist furious geopolitical competition between China and India. This made Sino-Indian border dispute had been strengthened and expanded. At the strong interference by Internal Politics and International Factors, the border dispute became beyond control by the two governments. The leaders of the two countries extremely distrusted each other. The relationship between them worsened after 1959, and eventually pushed Sino-Indian border dispute into the war.