US Policy Toward Burma Since 1988

Since1988when a coup sent the military to power in Myanmar, the U.S. haspursued a policy to isolate and impose sanctions against Burmese government. For20years, although America’s policies towards Myanmar have been repeated, generallysanctions are the main part. Nevertheless,20-year’s sanctions have achieved little asexpected, when Obama took office in2009, he tried to adjust the policy towardsMyanmar in order to meet the America’s national interest.This paper focuses on America’s policy towards Myanmar since1988. Chapterone made a brief introduction of America’s policy towards Myanmar before1988.Chapter two chose three critical time points, which were, Myanmar’s militarygovernment came to power in1988, the outbreak of the Myanmar "5·30" incident in2003, and Barack Obama came to power in2009, and then analyzed the evolution ofthe Myanmar policy of the United States based on these three time points. Chapterthree scratched the factors affecting U.S. policy to Myanmar from two aspects.Chapter four made a conclusion of the whole thesis and then assessed the effects ofthe policies. After all, the improvement of U.S.—Myanmar relations is the trend. Inface of the improvement of U.S.—Myanmar relations, China should maintain apeaceful state of mind, and continue to develop a good relationship with all parties inMyanmar. China should help Myanmar get rid of poverty and backwardness in properways, and at the same time prevent Myanmar becoming a strategic point of contentionbetween China and the United States in Southeast Asia.