Although it is not tightly surrounded by a big country like Mongolia, its unique location dooms Myanmar to the embarrassing fate of being also a big country.
Faced with the danger that the slightest mistake can lead to disaster, Myanmar finally made its right choice after ups and downs.
It is said that on March 15, 2015, in Lincang, Yunnan, on the border of China and Myanmar, a large number of PLA land and air forces, a mighty army, and weapons and equipment such as Hongqi-12 air defense missiles were ready to attack, conveying a strong sense of oppression, and with the J-11 fighters cruising in the air, the situation on the China-Myanmar border suddenly became tense.
Although it is common for the PLA to carry out military mobilization on national territory, the direct reason for the PLA's military mobilization on the China-Myanmar border at such a time is that the turmoil in northern Myanmar has seriously violated our core interests!
Since March 8, during the exchange of fire between the Myanmar government forces and the "civilian land weapons", there have been many incidents in which Myanmar military aircraft crossed the border and artillery shells fell into China. The Burmese military bomb that fell into Chinese territory on the afternoon of March 13 killed four innocent civilians working in the sugar cane fields in Lincang City, Yunnan Province, and injured nine people.
In view of the fact that the turmoil in northern Myanmar seriously threatens the security and stability of the China-Myanmar border area and the safety of the lives and property of the border people, in addition to the solemn representations issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Myanmar side, the PLA has taken effective measures to strengthen the control and security protection of the China-Myanmar border, and made it clear that if similar situations occur again, the PLA will resolutely take decisive measures to deal with it.
The strong reaction of the People's Liberation Army greatly deterred both warring sides in northern Myanmar. But no matter how powerful the deterrent is, it cannot change the situation of black miasma in northern Myanmar. On the contrary, the situation in the region remains choppy to this day.
The emergence of various situations is closely related to the historical trajectory of Myanmar's "maverick".
Although Myanmar's history is far from ancient compared to neighboring countries such as China and India, the establishment of the Bagan Dynasty in 1044 gave Myanmar a civilized appearance.
But once Myanmar is "civilized", it is out of control. After the Yuan Dynasty destroyed the Bagan Dynasty in 1287, the Bago Dynasty, the Ava Dynasty, the Donggu Dynasty and the Gongbang Dynasty were established in Burma, each of which was a powerful force to be reckoned with in the Indochina Peninsula. Especially the Gongbang dynasty, even mingled with the Qing dynasty.
The strength of the country has greatly enhanced the national self-confidence of the Myanmar people, which is the root cause of the popularity of "great Burmese nationalism".
However, the high mountains of the Burmese status have brought the marginality and humility of other ethnic minorities, especially the mountainous areas of northern Myanmar.
Due to the limitations of the terrain, it is difficult to pay attention to whether it is the Central Plains Dynasty or Burma, and it is a transitional zone between the Central Plains Dynasty and the Indochina Peninsula regimes such as Burma. However, because the center of gravity of the Central Plains Dynasty was in the north, and the return of land to Yunguichuan and other places was basically completed until the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty was beyond the reach of the more remote northern Burma region for a long time.
In contrast, Myanmar has an innate advantage in spatial distance. But what really made Myanmar laugh last was the country that made Myanmar cry to tears.
Who would have thought that just when the Kampung dynasty rushed left and right to expand its territory, preparing to "work together across the century", the British colonists came to a "flood".
In fact, it is not accurate to say that there was a "flood", in fact, it was through 3 Anglo-Burmese wars that Britain finally got the fighting Burma and let it "mix" with British India.
However, compared with the submissive nature of the people of the subcontinent who "do not love arms and red makeup", the Burmese with strong self-esteem are certainly not willing to work for the British with joy like the Indians, so their resistance has risen one after another, seriously affecting the British opium business.
The fierce resistance of the Burmese exposed the shortcomings of the British troops. But the problem is that Britain is not only small in its own territory, but also far away, not to mention "partial mobilization", even "comprehensive mobilization" is far from quenching thirst, and the Indian soldiers who use it are not strong in voice and heavy in body odor, but they really can't do the Burmese with abundant martial virtue.
In the face of this unfavorable situation, after a short period of hard thinking, Britain creatively proposed the strategy of "divide and rule", as the world-famous "offshore balancer, mainland-stirring stick", Britain is very confident in the division and disintegration of Myanmar.
Although the Burmese dynasties did not rule northern Burma, the British claws that completed the industrial revolution were long enough to squeeze out the suzerainty of the Qing dynasty and become the only "king of kings" in northern Myanmar.
In order to suppress the resistance of Burma, especially the Burmese people, the British tried to raise the status of ethnic minorities in northern Myanmar, and implemented the model of "seven states and seven provinces" in northern Myanmar, granting Kayah, Karen, Kachin and Wa ethnic minorities leading military and political positions to compete with the Burmans.
Although with the efforts of the British, northern Burma basically became an inalienable part of the territory of British Burma, and after independence, Myanmar was completely inherited by Myanmar. However, the British deliberate division between the Burmese and the ethnic minorities in northern Burma laid the seeds for the longevity of ethnic separatism in Burma.
In order to prevent "retaliation" by the Burmans, the ethnic minorities in northern Myanmar cling to the British thighs and even believe in Christianity, which aggravated the tearing of Myanmar.
At the end of World War II, the British boom and bust, Myanmar finally freed itself from British rule in 1948, but soon the fierce civil war broke out in 1950 due to ethnic tensions.
Although a military junta was established for more than half a century after Ne Win's coup in 1962, it remained powerless against northern Burma. In the late stage of the Liberation War on the mainland, northern Myanmar poured in a large number of Kuomintang remnants, although they were vulnerable in the face of the PLA, but to deal with the local rabble can be described as a dimensionality reduction blow, so northern Myanmar has become a difficult problem for Myanmar to solve.
For Myanmar, although its own strength is strong, the ethnic minorities in northern Myanmar are not eating dry food, so if Myanmar wants "great unification", it can only rely on external forces. Among Myanmar's neighbors, Thailand, Laos and Bangladesh are not worth mentioning, although India has the ambition to inherit the so-called "British India" legacy and "preside" Myanmar's affairs, but it is too busy to take care of domestic divisions, and the six northeastern states are even more exhausted, and they are simply unable to intervene in Myanmar.
Therefore, Myanmar can only count on its northern neighbor.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Myanmar quickly recognized that as the first non-socialist country to recognize New China, China-Myanmar relations could be described as a good start. Subsequently, China and Myanmar successively resolved the problems of the remnants of the Kuomintang, the ownership of overseas Chinese and ethnic Chinese, and the demarcation of the border, laying a solid foundation for a good start in China-Myanmar relations.
But the question is, how strong should the People's Liberation Army, which makes the Kuomintang army a remnant defeated general, be able to defeat the Burmese regular army? Imagine how passive the situation in Myanmar would be if the People's Liberation Army (PLA) had been "since ancient times" in northern Myanmar?
Therefore, Myanmar is grateful for the new China's good-neighborly and friendly policy, but it has endless trepidation in its heart. Coupled with the special relationship between the Communist Party of Myanmar and us, China-Myanmar relations are even more difficult to resolve.
In 1967, under our influence, a large-scale anti-Chinese campaign broke out in Myanmar, which directly led to the collapse of Sino-Myanmar relations. Although Sino-Myanmar relations were restored four years later, they never went back.
After all, since the end of World War II, the international situation has always been turbulent. In the context of the hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union, contradictions can be described as all the time and everywhere, and Myanmar simply cannot be left alone.
Because of its close proximity to China, Myanmar has always attracted the attention of the United States and other Western countries. After all, since the outbreak of the Korean War, the United States has never given up its efforts to fan the flames in us, and Vietnam, Laos, Afghanistan, as long as there is the United States, there is the dirty appearance of the United States fearing that the world will not be chaotic.
So, in order to contain us, Myanmar is certainly not immune. Compared with countries such as North Korea and Vietnam, Myanmar is an important position for us to enter and exit the Indian Ocean and break the so-called "Malacca dilemma" created by the United States, and its strategic position is comparable to Pakistan's.
So, thinking about the U.S. infiltration of Pakistan, the U.S. cannot be indifferent to Myanmar. In fact, supporting Aung San Suu Kyi to power is a trick of the United States to establish a pro-American Burmese regime through the so-called "color revolution" and make Myanmar an important part of encircling us.
However, after Aung San Suu Kyi entered the stage of Myanmar's history with the help of Western countries and ended the era of the military government in Myanmar, she soon came to a "turn faster than a book."
After all, if the United States and other Western countries follow the path of the United States, a "democratic" Myanmar will fully respect the "human rights" of the people in northern Myanmar, and the problems in northern Myanmar will inevitably intensify. Coupled with the problems of the Rohingya that are difficult to return, the already smoky miasma of Myanmar society is bound to worsen.
Therefore, after coming to power, Aung San Suu Kyi stood with the Myanmar military as a former opponent with lightning speed, not only vigorously defending the military's policies, but also maintaining a high-pressure posture in northern Myanmar with the military. After all, in the current context, this is the best way to maintain the "unified" situation of Myanmar.
As a result, the United States and other Western countries, which felt fooled, did not wait for help, and immediately threw themselves into the struggle to attack Aung San Suu Kyi, which exacerbated the turmoil in Myanmar.
With Aung San Suu Kyi and even Myanmar on the blacklist of Western countries, the Myanmar top brass began to examine its position and finally made the strategic choice of "alienating the United States and pro-China".
It should be said that with the United States still a superpower standing out and Western countries still dominating the international community, Myanmar's choice is quite risky and will inevitably bear great pressure from Western countries. Think about Serbia today, and the pressure on Myanmar can be imagined.
But for Myanmar, such a choice is incomparably correct, and the benefits can be greater than the risks and pressures.
First of all, northern Myanmar is connected to our mountains and rivers, it can be said that we can directly determine the direction of northern Myanmar, and if Myanmar wants to achieve "great unification" in the true sense, we must be the decisive force;
Second, as our neighbors, we cannot allow the United States to spread wild in Burma without allowing the United States to invade Korea and Vietnam. This means that Myanmar has more security than Serbia;
Third, since Myanmar is largely about our security in and out of the Indian Ocean, we must pay more attention to Myanmar. And for the sake of our strategic security, we will certainly be willing to provide more support to Myanmar;
Finally, due to its location connected by mountains and rivers, Myanmar is undoubtedly a beneficiary of our increasingly close cooperation with ASEAN and the prosperity of the Belt and Road Initiative.
In addition, as our national power continues to increase, we also have the strength to influence our neighbors and protect our neighbors. In theory, the front of Sino-US confrontation is gradually moving from the China-Myanmar border to the coastline of Myanmar, and will inevitably move to the Indian Ocean in the future, making Myanmar an embarrassing fate of surviving in the cracks of major powers.
From today's perspective, even if the United States fully recedes in Myanmar and even in the Indian Ocean, Myanmar may not be able to truly solve the complicated problems in northern Myanmar. But it is precisely because of this that the cooperation between China and Myanmar has more common interests. After all, many problems are ultimately economic, and we have the capacity to help Myanmar solve them.
I believe that the future of Myanmar can continue to go further on the right path.
There are many omissions, please correct them.
I am Silent Night History, looking forward to your attention.