Remarks by H. E. U Linn Myaing at the Briefing Session with Students of

the National Young Leaders Conference (NYLC) – Spring 2003

March 19, 2003

Ladies and Gentlemen,

            I would like to welcome you to the Embassy of the Union of Myanmar.  My colleagues and I are really pleased to be able to be part of the National Young Leaders Conference sponsored by the Congressional Youth Leadership Council and are honoured to make the acquaintance of a group of such young talented future leaders of the world.

            Since one of the many areas of your study program involves the “Role of Diplomacy in the International Arena”, we look forward to having a very interesting exchange of views with you on this subject.  But first of all, let me give you a brief introduction to our country, Myanmar and its contemporary history, before touching on the Myanmar Foreign Policy, the role Myanmar is playing in the international scene and the work of our Embassy here in Washington D.C.  I feel the background knowledge of a country is essential in trying to understand its foreign policy.

            The official name of my country is now “Myanmar” and I’m sure that many of you are puzzled by this.  Actually, the first reference to the term Myanmar can be found on a stone inscription in one of the temples of Bagan built in the 12^th century A.D.  It was only after the annexation of the country by the British colonialists in the late 19^th century that the country came to be known as Burma, presumably due to the fact that the majority of the inhabitants belong to the ethnic group Bamar.  All through the period that the country was referred to as Burma, we in our own language have always used Myanmar as the name of our country.

            In Myanmar, there are 8 major national races or ethnic groups, namely Kachin, Kayah, Kayin, Chin, Mon, Bamar, Rakhine and Shan.  The term Myanmar encompasses all the national races living in the country and not only to the Bamar race in contrast to the name Burma, which actually is an Anglicized name based on Bamar.  As such, the Government restored the original usage of the name of the country to its rightful status in 1989 with the aim of breaking away from the colonial past and embracing all the ethnic groups living in Myanmar under a unified banner. The United Nations was informed of the new name and the country is recognized as Myanmar in the U.N.

            Myanmar, with a land area comparable to that of Texas, is the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia and is sandwiched between Asia’s two most populated and largest countries-China and India.  It also forms a land bridge between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  Mountain ranges form a natural border with its neighbours, Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand while it meets the Andaman Sea with 1300 miles of coastline to the South and Southwest.

            Among the many mountainous regions around the country are found snow capped mountains in the north, among which one is the highest peak in Southeast Asia.  The mountains, the semi-desert region in the Central Plain, the rich delta area to the South and the over 800 islands large and small along the long coastline, all provide an abundance of natural resources for the people.  Myanmar is one of the few countries in the region with over 50% of its land still covered by forests.

This land with such diverse topography and natural resources attracted inhabitants from the north centuries ago and the first city states appeared in the 2^nd century BC. It was in the 11^th century AD that the first Myanmar Empire was formed by King Anawrahta after unifying the smaller city states of Mon, Shan and Rakhine.  The kingdom was able to prosper and to remain free and independent for nearly 200 years until the Mongol hordes of Kublai Khan destroyed the city of Bagan.

            The Empire disintegrated once again to smaller states until King Bayintnaung managed to unify the country again from 1552 to 1581 as the Second Myanmar Empire while King Alaungpaya ruled the Third Myanmar Empire in the 18^th century.

            During the reigns of these three great kings, Myanmar was strong and prosperous and managed  to be independent.  However, in the early 19^th century, the potential and the rich resources of the country did not go unnoticed by the colonial powers.  After 3 Anglo-Myanmar wars, the whole of Myanmar was annexed by the British and became a part of the British Empire.  The last Myanmar King was deposed in 1885 and exiled to India while Myanmar ceased to exist as a Kingdom.

            After the Second World War broke out, Myanmar suffered twice as a major battle ground leaving the land and its resources destroyed.  When independence was finally regained in January 1948, the whole infrastructure of the country was in need of reconstruction.  Unfortunately this was prevented by insurgencies that broke out throughout the country, on ideological, political, racial and religious grounds, the resulting legacy of a colonial administration of a divide and rule policy that favoured different groups over others.  It got to the point of the then democratically elected government, besieged on all sides, being dubbed as the “Rangoon Government” because it could exert no effective authority beyond the city limits.  In addition, the remnants of the Koumingtan Army from China tried to gain a toehold in the Northeast of the country.

            However, we did manage to save the Union from disintegration and subsequently, different types of Government emerged.  Due to the weaknesses in the State Constitution drawn up under the British rule, the governments that were formed according to the constitution could not deal with the threat of the disintegration of the Union and it led to the emergence of a new State Constitution with a one party system and an centrally planned economy.  Since this did not produce results that the people expected, after 26 years of practice, it also collapsed with the upheaval of the masses in 1988.  This was a time that saw mass looting and general lawlessness that led to public lynchings by beheading amongst other things.

            The Armed Forces of the Union, born out of our independence movement, and which historically has saved the Union twice from disintegration was once again compelled to assume the responsibility of the State.  The present Government managed to restore law and order, peace and stability in the country and has taken measures to build a peaceful, prosperous and modern democratic state, to benefit all the peoples residing in the Union.  Political parties of different shades and opinions have been allowed to form within the bounds of law in preparation for a multiparty democracy.

            I would now like to turn to the foreign policy of Myanmar and the role that Myanmar is playing in international and regional arenas.

            Cold War was beginning as Myanmar regained her independence and at that point, the top priority was economic, infrastructure and social reconstruction.  We believed that only by staying out of the conflicts in the region could we achieve our goals.  Therefore Myanmar adopted an independent and nonaligned foreign policy.  Myanmar participates actively in activities for world peace, opposed any kind of war, imperialism and colonialism, and maintains friendly relations with all countries in accordance with 5 principles of peaceful coexistence whose essence is mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.  These principles of peaceful coexistence still remain the major cornerstone of the Foreign Policy of Myanmar.

            Myanmar became the 58^th member of the United Nations, 3 months after regaining independence and since then, has been working as a responsible member of the organization with relevant agencies for the development of the country, as well as for the betterment of the whole world.

            U Thant of Myanmar led the United Nations for nearly 10 years during the difficult Cold War era, contributing immensely to the prevalence of peace throughout the world and to the development of the organization.

            Not only does Myanmar actively participate in the affairs of the world in the UN context, she is also contributing in any way she can for the advancement of the developing countries by being a founding member of the nonaligned movement.  We are convinced that the developing countries could cooperate politically, economically and socially in the framework of the movement.

            Myanmar always puts great emphasis on the promotion of bilateral relations with the countries in Asia.  In 1967, when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was founded, Myanmar was invited to be a founding member of the association.  But due to the national policy at that time and international and regional situations, Myanmar declined the offer.  However, when the country opened up again, both politically and economically in 1988, it become possible for Myanmar to join ASEAN.  Subsequently in 1997, we became a full-fledged member of ASEAN and is now participating fully in the activities of ASEAN, including the US-ASEAN Dialogue.

            Also to pursue economic cooperation with the South Asian countries, Myanmar joined BIST-EC, the economic cooperation group comprising of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand in 1997, thus changing the name to BIMST-EC (Bangladesh-India-Myanmar-Sri Lanka-Thailand-Economic Cooperation).

            As Myanmar possesses a strategic location in the region, in addition to being a land bridge between South and Southeast Asia, it plays an important role in the development of the economy as well as for the security of the region.  She also possesses an abundance of natural resources and has the potential to be a major food supplier to other countries.

            At present, Myanmar enjoys friendly relations with 88 countries with which it has established diplomatic relations.  We have 30 diplomatic missions at Ambassadorial level throughout the world.

            No single independent nation can exist by itself and therefore has to befriend other countries by establishing official diplomatic relations.  Following the establishment of diplomatic relations between two countries, there is an exchange of visits at the ministerial level which should eventually culminate in the exchange of state visits.  These visits strengthen friendly bilateral ties and enhance mutual understanding.  Close and cordial personal contacts between leaders are conducive to long lasting cordial relationships between countries.  The leaders of Myanmar have made official goodwill visits to foreign countries and have received many leaders from around the world as well.

            The Myanmar Embassy here in Washington was opened after establishing diplomatic relations with the United States on September 19, 1947.  In our organization here at the Embassy, we have the Ambassador as Head of Mission.  Under him is the Deputy Head of Mission or the DCM.  We have four other diplomats who serve under the Ambassador and DCM and run three sections in the embassy which are:

(1)               The Political and Information Section, which deals the political matters and the dissemination of information.

(2)               The Administrative and Economic Section, which deals with the administration of the Embassy as well as commercial and trade matters.

(3)               The Consular Section, which deals with consular matters such as issuing of visas and support for expatriate Myanmar citizens.

All of us at the Embassy are representing Myanmar in the United States and we protect the interests of our country as well as our nationals residing here, within limits permitted by International Law.  We try to promote friendly relations between the two countries as well as developing economic, cultural and scientific relations.

Thank you for your kind attention and I will be glad to answer any questions.