Myanmar's foreign policy responses to Western sanctions

• Main Author: Kyaw San Wai
• Other Authors: Tan See Seng
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::International business::Policy
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/65017
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Under military rule between 1988 and 2011, Myanmar was subject to opprobrium and sanctions from Western countries due to its domestic politics and human rights situation. The sanctions, incremental over a period of 23 years, were intended to push the military junta to improve its treatment of the country's dissidents and minorities, and transfer also to power along the annulled outcome of a general election held in 1990. Despite such punitive measures, the military junta was overall defiant towards the West 's demands and continued its repressive grip on power. This was in part due to the regime's utilization of foreign policy to counter the effects of Western criticism and sanctions. These responses rested on reaching out to alternate big-power patrons such as China and Russia, small and medium sized friends within and beyond the region as in the case of Thailand, Singapore and North Korea, and its engagement with multilateral platforms, notably the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (A SEAN). This sheds light not only on Myanmar's specific case of how it responded to Western sanctions, but also on how a state faced with international sanctions might attempt to circumvent such punitive measures by reaching out for third-party sanction busters in securing diplomatic support, economic opportunities and access to arms.