This article can be found here.
September 3, 2009
Lately, I've been investing a lot of interest in the turmoil currently occurring in Asia. It is a part of the world that I have paid the least amount of attention, but is increasingly becoming a larger part of my life as an American, the peoples most indebted to this region's resources and monetary backing. For instance, I never knew that Myanmar and China shared an alliance because I believed China to be heavily isolated due to its communist government, or that within Myanmar, a 20 year cease fire between ethnic rebels and their national government has just been broken. The United Wa State Army has joined the defeated rebels, the Kokong, and confidently promised the occurrence of a governmental coup.
The author, Michael Wines, writes of increased differences between these two Asian allies, contributed to the "hostile attitude Burma has". Instead, I believe the Communist Chinese Government is reacting to the fact that Myanmar is turning into a Democratic nation and are holding their first elections after the past 20 years of conflict. In fact, "the Chinese gave money and arms to ethnic groups, including the Wa and Kokang rebels, on Myanmar’s side of the border that were allied with the Burmese Communist Party." The only thing holding these two nations together, for now, are their trade agreements. Since the Chinese are still open to trade with the ethnic rebel groups, a lot of their people are escaping the conflict to China's border.
Lately, I've been investing a lot of interest in the turmoil currently occurring in Asia. It is a part of the world that I have paid the least amount of attention, but is increasingly becoming a larger part of my life as an American, the peoples most indebted to this region's resources and monetary backing. For instance, I never knew that Myanmar and China shared an alliance because I believed China to be heavily isolated due to its communist government, or that within Myanmar, a 20 year cease fire between ethnic rebels and their national government has just been broken. The United Wa State Army has joined the defeated rebels, the Kokong, and confidently promised the occurrence of a governmental coup.The author, Michael Wines, writes of increased differences between these two Asian allies, contributed to the "hostile attitude Burma has". Instead, I believe the Communist Chinese Government is reacting to the fact that Myanmar is turning into a Democratic nation and are holding their first elections after the past 20 years of conflict. In fact, "the Chinese gave money and arms to ethnic groups, including the Wa and Kokang rebels, on Myanmar’s side of the border that were allied with the Burmese Communist Party." The only thing holding these two nations together, for now, are their trade agreements. Since the Chinese are still open to trade with the ethnic rebel groups, a lot of their people are escaping the conflict to China's border.
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