Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. ix, 240 pp. (Tables, graphs.) US$29.95, paper. ISBN 978-0-19-006078-7.
In many realms, formation and advancement of the nation-state take on unilateral, centrifugal, and even top-down approaches to achieving cohesion and unity among citizens. Geopolitics, however, will tell that there are areas where state dominance is not able to prevail, leaving room for foreign factors to intersect and create dynamics in cultural and economic arenas. Asymmetrical Neighbors provides insights into how local landscapes have evolved differently and vibrantly in Myanmar’s borders with China and Thailand.
The central argument that the author, Enze Han, pitches in this book is that Myanmar has lost its firm grip on its borders with China and Thailand, embodying asymmetrical relations and engendering uneven repercussions. Han’s appropriation of the concept of the “neighbourhood effect” helps unveil how China and Thailand—as neighbour states which are much bigger by political, military, and economic measures—have greater bearings on conditions in the borders and on the many ethnic groups straddling the national boundaries.
There are two merits of the methodology that make this book an illuminating account of the dynamics and complexities evolving at the borders of these three countries. First is the adoption of a comparative historical approach to trace how various national ideologies and discourses have been unfolding from the past into the present circumstances of borderland areas that Myanmar, China, and Thailand have contested. Second is the textual analysis on archival materials in English, Chinese, Burmese, and Thai languages, which Han took time and pains to search in the United States, United Kingdom, Myanmar, Thailand, mainland China, and Taiwan.
The presentation of the lines of inquiry and argument is made in neat and consistent patterns throughout the book. There are nine chapters in total, with the first as the introduction and the ninth the conclusion. Each and every chapter starts with an anecdote about what Han observed and encountered in his field research, followed by structured discussion and analysis of statistics and information derived from various primary sources.
Chapter 2 sets up the foundation for the theory of the neighbourhood effect. Drawing on empirical data such as taxation, education, and health provisions, Han compares and contrasts the differences between the three nations. Indeed, it is the diversity and disparity in terms of state capacity and approach that have given rise to the neighbourhood effect, which the strong nations of China and Thailand have exercised upon the communities at Myanmar’s borders.
Chapter 3 is a historical account of how far the Tai principalities and mountain people have changed from being an organic socioeconomic system over time until the first few years after World War II. Evidently, the penetration of British colonialism had demarcated borders and boundaries in compliance with post-Westphalia international laws, which garnered reactions from China and Thailand, and affected diversity in how the local people at the borders identified with states and nations.
The focal point of chapter 4 is a section on the Kuomintang (KMT) army, which retreated into Shan State in the border region after the Chinese Communist Party established the People’s Republic of China (PRC). As the study reveals, the KMT presence in the area led to the militarization of many ethnic minority groups, who subsequently fought for autonomy, and even independence, from Burma. On other fronts, the KMT became a force to counter communism. Recruited by the Thailand government, with the support of the US, the KMT was instrumental in border patrol against China and as participants in the campaigns against communist insurgency in Thailand. In Yunnan, the KMT army attempted a few invasions into the province and was eventually repelled outright by the PRC. Chapter 5 sheds light on Chinese communism, another destabilizing factor apart from the KMT army. The Chinese communist influences are not even ones, varying from the Sino-Burmese borders to the Sino-Thai borders. As Han rightfully points out, “the trauma of colonialism made communism a more popular ideology in Burma than in Thailand” (91). Thus, before the end of the Cold War, the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) had a pronounced foothold, while the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) had minimal impact. Within China’s territory, Yunnan was completely integrated into the PRC through the Cultural Revolution and the arrival of urban Red Guards who helped consolidate minorities into the national framework.
Chapter 6 reveals how economic dynamics have further reinforced the asymmetrical relations of the three states. There has been labour migration to Thailand from Myanmar, particularly involving minorities from Shan State. Natural resource products go from Myanmar to China and Thailand, whereas these two neighbour states export goods to Myanmar. As a result, the gravity of local economy tilts towards northern Thailand and southern Yunnan province, away from Myanmar.
The focus of chapter 7 is nation building, which has witnessed differences between the three states in terms of advancing nationalist ideologies and providing contexts to ethnicity—either inclusive or exclusive. The Chinese government recognizes 56 ethnic groups with institutional provisions. Regarding all its citizens only as Thai, the Thailand government has also made irredentist claims to pan-Tai ethnic groups in Myanmar and China. The Myanmar government officially recognizes 135 ethnic groups and has established seven ethnic states, but it has restricted ethnic cultural expression, banned ethnic schools, and repressed ethnic groups in their fight for self-determination. It is no wonder that Han reveals that “many ethnic minority groups across the border see China as the place where ethnic minorities are better treated than Myanmar” (18).
Chapter 8 offers updates of the ongoing ethnic conflicts along the Sino-Myanmar borders. The various ethnic rebel groups have not only caused much hindrance to Myanmar’s nation building, but have also brought about many implications and uncertainties to the diplomatic relations Myanmar has with China.
This book is essential for understanding borderlands. Han has dived head first into the multiple layers and terrains of Myanmar’s borders with China and Thailand. The study succinctly reveals that China and Thailand, as two asymmetrical neighbours, have brought about tremendous implications to the process of state formation and nation building of Myanmar in its borders.
Yow Cheun Hoe
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore