ABSTRACT
Myanmar’s relations with the West – the EU, the UK, and the US – since 1988 have been fractious and conflictual, underpinned by policies of evertightening economic and financial sanctions, public vilification campaigns aimed at Myanmar’s military leaders by an assortment of international NGOs, externally based democracy activist groups and cyber attacks from the Burmese Diaspora. Given Myanmar’s geopolitical situation, strong economic relations with neighbouring countries, China, India and Thailand, as well as Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, and strategic international linkages both in the Asian region and beyond, it seems highly unlikely that Washington strategists would be unaware of the inefficacy of the sanctions policies. Summing up the strategic importance of a stable Myanmar for the region, Mohan Malik observed that the country ‘will remain an important factor in the regional security calculations of its neighbours in the early 21st century’.
