Saturday, October 06, 2007

How much influence has China over Burma?


William Overholt

Very little, says William Overholt, director of the Rand 's center for Asian Pacific policy and Chinabiz Speaker in the Los Angeles Times.

"They actually have very limited leverage, as all foreigners do," said William Overholt, who advised the pro-democracy coalition of 21 tribal groups that created the Provisional Revolutionary Government in Burma in 1989 and is now director of Rand's Center for Asia Pacific Policy. "The whole theory of this government is to cut itself off from the world so no one can influence it."
More in the LA Times. For those who have been following the conflict in North-Korea, the argument must not come as a surprise. Initially, China was also assumed to be in a position to change North-Korea's policies, politely or with economic sanctions. But its leverage proved to be much less than the US, as North-Korea was mainly eager to get the United States as a player in the talks. Also here it took a while before the China-experts could really made themselves heard in the political drumbeating.

1 comment:

bobby fletcher said...

Thank you. For once an expat not linking Burma to 2008 Olympics. How refreshing.

I'll tell you who's got leverage - George Soros' OSI who's bankrolling this little uprise, and NED funded quasi-government organization Einstein Institute run by CIA intelops Col. Rober Helvey.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Albert_Einstein_Institution

The Burmese democracy activists have openly acknowleged receiving support from OSI.