Chinese life in Myanmar today
<p>Over the past few decades, while Western democracies sought to limit the range of links that their people had with Myanmar, the Chinese government adopted a proactive policy of engaging with Myanmar and encouraged its own people to do the same. This policy created a position of leadership for some Chinese in the Myanmar economy, and also gave Chinese governments, whether in Yunnan or Beijing, a better chance to exert influence over the military rulers of Myanmar.</p>
Therefore, the idea that Myanmar was ‘closed’ or ‘isolated’ during the years from the 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy protestors until the general election of 2010 misses the many significant changes that occurred in Myanmar society during those years. Arguably the most important set of changes centred on the new migrations of Chinese to Myanmar, as many as 2 million may have made the journey. Their impact on Myanmar society has been felt in a number of different areas, most acutely in the economy but also in the creation of newly flexible spaces for the creation of identity, the re-imagination of culture and the public display of wealth.
The prevailing narrative of Myanmar’s disconnection from the world during these decades is true merely for the Western democracies that imposed some level of sanction on the Myanmar government and its affiliates. The story of Myanmar’s interactions with its neighbours, including Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, are not readily explained by those trends. China, even more strikingly, has played a major role in Myanmar’s recent evolution, especially with respect to the number of its citizens and former citizens living in the country. As a group, they require careful consideration during a period when ideas about citizenship and belonging remain heavily contested.
Yet there are limits to Chinese power-projection into Myanmar and there have occasionally been tense relations between the Chinese and other Myanmar residents. This history is particularly important given the changes that are re-shaping Myanmar and leading to the relative diminution of Chinese influence. Since 2011, any Chinese ‘stranglehold’ on Myanmar has been loosened by more assertive Myanmar foreign policy efforts, and a deliberate Myanmar strategy of working to embrace a wider range of foreign partners. The ongoing transformation of Myanmar’s domestic political and economic conditions will challenge Myanmar’s Chinese residents in a numbers of ways. Without doubt, the ‘transitional’ period brings new opportunities to the country’s more than 2 million ethnically Chinese residents, especially as the economy continues to grow at a healthy rate.
Yet this relatively optimistic tone is not the only aspect of local political life that deserves attention. The Chinese fit uneasily into Myanmar’s official categories of national belonging and their Sinopolitan instincts are a potential vulnerability in this regard. With the exception of the Kokang Chinese in northeastern Shan State, who have ‘national race’ status in Myanmar, there is no obvious and legal pathway for regularising Chinese identity in the country. The Chinese are not considered indigenous to Myanmar, and this is a potential obstacle to their long-term success in Myanmar society.
The challenges for Myanmar’s Muslim population, and particularly those who identify as Rohingya, reinforce the need for careful awareness when it comes to the character of belonging in what is supposed to be a determinedly multi-ethnic system. For those Chinese who still feel a strong pull towards those areas of Asia where their Sinopolitanism is an advantage, the door will remain open to future changes of direction. The Chinese in Myanmar have flourished because they have been prepared to move and adapt. Their future success may well require such flexibility and continued adjustment.
Nicholas Farrelly, Director, ANU Myanmar Research Centre, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Australia (nicholas.farrelly@anu.edu.au).
Stephanie Olinga-Shannon is an independent researcher. Most recently she worked with refugees and migrants in torture and trauma rehabilitation research (stephanie.olingashannon@gmail.com).