China， Myanmar Carry Close Bond From Past into Future

By Li Chengyang

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China， Myanmar Carry Close Bond From Past into Future

By Li Chengyang

Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her delegation in Beijing on June 11， 2015.

Myanmar is an important neighbor for China. Friendly relations have been the dominant trend in bilateral exchanges for about 2,000 years. Pioneers of both sides expanded economic cooperation and cultural exchanges along the Southern Silk Road. After Myanmar gained independence, relations have stood the test of rapid changes in global afairs, and become even stronger than ever. In the future, the relationship has even brighter prospects.

Pawkphaw Friendship

China and Myanmar are linked by the same mountains and rivers and their peoples are of the same roots. Myanmar ethnic groups, such as Bamar, Shan, Kachin, Karen, Rakhine, Chin, Lisu, Naga and Kayah, share the same origins with Han Chinese in their use of derivatives of the Sino-Tibetan language. Both are of Mongolian descent. In many tales concerning the origin of Myanmar people, the dominant ethnic group, mainstream historians and anthropologists believed they moved to their present location from the territory of the Qiang ethnic group in southern Gansu via Sichuan and Yunnan.According to a legend in The Three Dragon Eggs, the frst volume of an iconic Myanmar history book called The Glass Palace Chronicle, Pyusawhti - the founding Emperor of the Kingdom of Pagan - and his Queen from China were descendants of the solar deity and the dragon princess, making them siblings. Tis is how the name “Pawkphaw”, used in reference to overseas Chinese living in Myanmar, originated.

China and Myanmar long ago began economic and cultural exchanges. According to the Records of the Grand Historian：Biographies of Southwest Foreigners and studies of the famous Chinese scholar Ji Xianlin, the Southern Silk Road, from Chengdu to India and Afghanistan via Yunnan and Myanmar, existed more than 2,000 years ago. People of both countries engaged in economic and cultural exchanges through this road. In the year 802, Prince Shwenadaw of the Pyu City-state, the earliest entity of Myanmar, led a mission including 35 musicians to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty （618-907）, along this route. Their performance caused a sensation at the time and was the subject of works by famous poets such as Bai Juyi, Yuan Zhen and Hu Zhijun, handed down to this day. A TV play, The Legend of the Dancing Prince, co-produced by CCTV, the Publicity Department of the CPC Yunnan Provincial Committee, the Culture and Minister of Information of Myanmar and the Myanmar Motion Picture Enterprise, was broadcast in Myanmar in 2014, to a warm response. Other Chinese historical records show many dynasties besides Bagan sent envoys to China to foster cordial relations.

Historically, Myanmar has served as an important passageway for Buddhist exchanges among China, India and Sri Lanka. Acharya, once prevailing in Dali of Yunnan, was similarly popular with Ayi Gyi in Myanmar before the 11th century. Teravada Buddhism, still popular in Xishuangbanna and Dehong Autonomous Prefecture today, was introduced from Myanmar between the 6th and 7th centuries. Tere are still Myanmar temples preserved in Xishuangbanna stafed by Myanmar monks.

With the increase of overseas Chinese in Myanmar, people there started to call them Pawkphaw early in the 19th Century, and continue to use the term to this day.

Example of Peaceful Coexistence

China has maintained good-neighborly relations with Myanmar for a long time. Myanmar was among the first countries to give recognition to the PRC. Tey established formal diplomatic relations on June 8, 1950, advocating the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and agreeing to make them the basic principles for international relations in June 1954. At the the Asian-African Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia in April 1955, Myanmar proposed that all participating countries should handle international relations on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and the spirit of the UN Charter. To this day, the principles are still the norms governing international relations for developing countries.

China and Myanmar took the lead in peaceful settlement of border disputes. Tey started friendly negotiation in the spirit of mutual understanding and mutual accommodation in the mid-1950s, signed the Agreement on Border Issues of China and Myanmar in January 1960, and officially signed the Boundary Treaty between the Union of Myanmar and the People's Republic of China in October of that year. Tis was the first border agreement the PRC signed with neighboring countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and it cemented bilateral relations. Moreover, it set a good example for countries of the world that border disputes could be settled through friendly negotiations.

High-level visits between China and Myanmar have become more frequent than ever. In the 40 years from the independence of Myanmar to 1988, high-level visits and exchanges at other levels were often called visits between relatives. Of these, Premier Zhou Enlai's nine and General Ne Win's 12 visits became a much-told tale in the history of China-Myanmar relations. Images of Premier Zhou dressed in Myanmar clothing and participating in the Water-Sprinkling Festival deeply impressed Myanmar people.

The cooperation between China and Myanmar saw progress in many felds early on. In the mid and late-1950s, both countries agreed to establish consulates in various cities, and successively signed agreements on aviation, highway transportation, post and telecommunications, trade, technology, economic aid, and goods exchanges and payments. In the early 1960s, China successively built a paper mill, textile mill, sugar mill, gourmet powder factory and others, totaling more than 10 projects in Myanmar.

Model of Cooperation

For years, China and Myanmar have conducted comprehensive cooperation in political, economic, military and cultural fields, making great progress. Major leaders of two sides exchanged many visits, and strengthened their communications and coordination while attending major international conferences together. Then Chinese vice-president Xi Jinping paid an official visit to Myanmar December 19-20, 2009, and witnessed the signing of many cooperative agreements. The Myanmar side always uphold the One-China policy, committed to never to establish official relations with Taiwan and have contact with the Tibetan Dalai clique at any time. The Chinese side has always expressed its respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Myanmar； opposed foreign powers' interference in the internal afairs of Myanmar and the sanction on Myanmar imposed byWestern countries. For example, it voted against the resolution on the Myanmar issue proposed by the US and UK at the UN in January 2007.

Economic cooperation has been upgraded to a new level. Te years between 1988 and 2010 saw the most rapid growth. According to incomplete statistics, both sides signed more than 100 economic cooperative agreements in this period. China ofered the most assistance and loans and also made the largest amount of investment in Myanmar. By the end of 2010, the Chinese mainland had invested more than US$10 billion. Te bilateral trade volume amounted to US$4.4 billion in 2010, when China became the second largest trade partner afer Tailand. To tackle power supply shortages, China helped build the Punglung Hydropower Station with installed capacity of 28 MW, completed in 2004； and it built the Shweli River Hydropower Station under the build-operate-transfer mode,which was complete in 2009. Meanwhile, many major investment projects undertaken by China, such as the Tagaung Taung Nickel mining project, China-Myanmar gas pipeline and Letpadaung Copper Mine were started. Moreover, China gave help in constructing many processing factories in the country.

Exchanges and cooperation in diplomatic, cultural and border management fields have been further improved. Both countries reached agreements on reopening their Consulates General in 1993. The Myanmar Consulate General in Kunming and its Chinese counterpart in Mandalay opened in September 1993 and August 1994 respectively, and the Myanmar Consulate General in Nanning was ofcially opened in October 2009. In March 1997, both sides signed an Agreement on Border Areas Management and Cooperation between China and Myanmar, before starting pragmatic cooperation to fight drug trafficking and illegal migration. From 2006, China strengthened support for Chinese enterprises in their efforts for substitute crops. By the end of 2010, over 133,400 hectares were planted with alternative crops by Chinese enterprises in the northern part of Myanmar, which efectively eliminated poppy felds.

Buddhism is an important bond for people exchanges between China and Myanmar. China's Buddha tooth relic went a tour in Myanmar from October 1955 to June 1956, which attracted more than 1 million Myanmar Buddhists paying homage. It made

two subsequent tours in 1994 and 1996 respectively, and was warmly welcomed by the Myanmar government and people. During its fourth tour in Myanmar in November 2011, major leaders of Myanmar paid homage. Te benefaction for China's Buddha tooth from Myanmar was used to build a pagoda in the shape of the Shwedagon Pagoda in the White Horse Temple in Luoyang, and inaugurate the Myanmar-style Pagoda & consecration ceremony. Above all, China-Myanmar cooperation has reached a peak in terms of both range and depth. This could serve as a model of pragmatic cooperation between China and neighboring countries.

Transformation and Development

Following changes in the Myanmar political environment, China also made a diplomatic transition. The first step was to promote people exchanges, instead of the former mode of relying solely on government relations. Represented by the China-Myanmar Friendship Association, various civil organizations, media, think tanks and universities began to make exchanges and cooperation with all sectors of Myanmar society. The second step was to establish formal contact with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy（NLD）, and invite many delegations of NLD and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself to visit China. The third step was to change the condition in which China's investment was over-concentrated on resources development in Myanmar. Chinese enterprises have made great efforts to live up to their social responsibilities, and the relations between Chinese-owned enterprises and local people improved remarkably.

In the last five years, there have been many highlights on the development of China-Myanmar relations. High-level visits between two sides continue to be frequent. Since 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has met his Myanmar counterpart six times - in Beijing, Nanning, Sanya and Jakarta respectively. Besides, Min Aung Hlaing, the current commander-in-chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces, came to China many times, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also paid an ofcial visit to Myanmar in November 2014. The two sides signed the Joint Statement Between The Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the People's Republic of China on Establishing a Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership in May 2011, and China became the frst all-round cooperative partner of Myanmar. The Myanmar government strongly supports China's Belt and Road Initiative and has joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Both countries continued to deepen cooperation in economic, religious and sports felds. China became the largest trade partner of Myanmar in 2012. In 2014, the bilateral trade volume reached US$24.97 billion, increasing by 144.9 percent over 2013. By the end of February 2016, China had invested in 126 projects in Myanmar, the investment volume reaching US$19 billion, exceeding Singapore, the second largest investor, by US$7 billion. Moreover, China provided necessary help for Myanmar to host the 27th Southeast Asian Games, during which the Myanmar delegation made a historic breakthrough by ranking second in the number of gold medals.

Opening a New Page

On November 8, 2015, Myanmar held the second general election afer its political transformation. Te NLD led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi gained a sweeping victory over the Union Solidarity and Development Party （USDP）. In February 2016, the first meeting of the second term of Myanmar federal parliament was held in Naypyidaw. On March 15, U Htin Kyaw was elected as the new President, and U Myint Swe and U Henry Van Htee Yu became vice-presidents. Te new administration was sworn in at the end of March. We believe China-Myanmarrelations have a bright future.

Cars jointly produced by Chinaand Myanmar on display in a Yangon showroom in 2011.

Chinese doctors perform cataract procedures on a patient at Yangon's medical center in May 2012. The campaign， known as “See the Light Again”， gave free surgeries to cataract patients in Myanmar.

The difference of social system and ideology was not and will not be the key factors impacting China-Myanmar relations. National interests, especially national security, stability and development, should be the greatest common concern between the two countries. The good-neighborly relationship and cooperation are benefcial for both sides.

China supports the political choices of the Myanmar people and is paying high attention to the development of China-Myanmar relations. At his meeting with NLD president Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on June 11, 2015, President Xi Jinping said China had always viewed bilateral relations from a strategic height and a longterm perspective, supported Myanmar to maintain its sovereignty and territorial integrity, respected Myanmar's choice of development path, supported Myanmar's ethnic reconciliation, and firmly promoted China-Myanmar traditional friendship and pragmatic cooperation. Tis will be the basic principle and guideline for China to development relations with Myanmar under the new historical conditions.

As a pragmatic nationalist politician, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi showed a clear and accurate understanding of China-Myanmar relations. She said at the same meeting：Myanmar and China are neighbors, which is not a matter of choice. “It is crucial to build friendship between us,” she said.

In an interview on November 17, 2015 with Xinhua News Agency, she declared： “As neighbors, the two countries have no reason not to be friends.”

She also stressed： “Neighboring countries have issues sometimes. But issues are not unsolvable. Any issues could be overcome if we respect and cherish each other.”

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as the NLD president and spiritual leader, will play a key role in the politics of Myanmar.

President U Htin Kyaw has much interest in China's cultural and economic development. His father U Min Thu Wun made an everlasting contribution to literature exchanges between two countries. He compiled and published Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Death of Lu Xun in 1956. He visited China as a member of the University of Yangon academic delegation in 1961. Later, he translated and published many poems, including many about China-Myanmar friendship written by then Chinese Vice Premier Chen Yi, and the Music of Pyu City-state by the ancient poet Bai Juyi. His renowned novel Ceremony for Earlobe Piercing was issued in the Chinese language journal for World Literature in the early 1960s. His another representative work Uncle Aung Cheats was a must-read for Myanmar language-major students in China. Hence, we have reasons to believe that China-Myanmar relations will upgrade to a new level during the term of President U Htin Kyaw.

Overall, China and Myanmar will engage in more pragmatic cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and will build a community with common interests and common destiny if both governments and people cherished the traditional Pawkphaw friendship.

The author of this article is President of and a Researcher at the Yunnan University Myanmar Institute.