The Relations of Middle Eastern Countries with Myanmar: The Challenge of Increasing Influence through Strategic and/or Economic Ties Amid the Persecution of the Muslim Rohingyas

Abstract

The Relations of Middle Eastern Countries with Myanmar:The Challenge of Increasing Influence through Strategic and/or Economic Ties Amid the Persecution of the Muslim Rohingyas Michael B. Bishku (bio) Introduction Myanmar, known as Burma until June 18, 1989, received its independence from Britain on January 4, 1948, and, unlike India, never joined the Commonwealth. It has been either under direct military rule or that institution's strong influence since 1962. From that time until at least the late 1970s, it was "almost completely sealed off from the rest of the world." General Ne Win's regime "was reluctant to allow any foreigners into the country, and had a passion for keeping foreign influences at a minimum."1 As a result, the country's economic situation deteriorated greatly and Burma began seeking investment from abroad, something that would have adequate success by the early 2000s. Burma's powerful neighbors were the [End Page 22] first approached and were quite receptive.2 As conditions did not improve, by 1988 there was civilian unrest which the military quashed with the use of torture, arrests, and the killings of thousands. While an election was held in 1990 resulting in a landslide win for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), the military refused to hand over power. Nevertheless, Myanmar, which had been reluctant to join the Association of Asian Nations (ASEAN), an organization of states in Southeast Asia, during the Cold War, was admitted to the group in 1997. Today, even after the 2021 coup by Myanmar's army, most of ASEAN's other members, along with China and India, are the biggest foreign investors in Myanmar, with China and Singapore at the very top.3 Over the years, the United States, Britain, the European Union, Australia and Canada have imposed economic sanctions and arms embargos against Myanmar due to the human rights violations committed by the military, but eased them when political conditions improved.4 Those sanctions, corruption, and bureaucratic restrictions have discouraged some countries from investing in Myanmar. In 2012, Suu Kyi – who had been under house arrest for more than two-thirds of the time between 1989 and 2010 – and members of the NLD were elected to a limited number of seats in parliament, with that institution (and the country) still firmly under the control of the military. Also, in 2012, sectarian violence broke out in Rakhine (formerly Arakan) state – bordering Bangladesh – between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, the latter having been persecuted since General Ne Win's regime and effectively becoming stateless in 1982 when the Burmese government did not include them as one of 135 official ethnic groups. Since 2016, there has been an insurgency led by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, in which civilians have borne the [End Page 23] brunt of Myanmar's military actions. Meanwhile, in parliamentary elections in 2015 and 2020, Suu Kyi's NLD won landslide votes, but she was barred from becoming president, as her family members were British citizens; instead, she had to settle for the newly created post of state counsellor, a Myanmar version of prime minister. Although, in December 2019, Suu Kyi denied that the military's actions against the Rohingyas was genocide at the International Court of Justice,5 just over a year later, in February 2021, she was removed from office in a military coup and subsequently convicted of corruption, with other charges still pending. Myanmar is once again facing Western economic sanctions. While Middle Eastern states have periodically expressed concern for the welfare of the Rohingyas and criticism of Myanmar's policy in Rakhine state, the Arab Gulf states nevertheless have shown the greatest interest in increasing economic ties with Myanmar. Following the coup against Suu Kyi's government in 2021, Iran has reportedly provided Myanmar with military assistance. While there has been some academic study of Israel's relations with Burma/Myanmar, especially during the early years when that country was under civilian rule,6 no significant attention has been given to the ties of countries in the Muslim Middle East with Burma/Myanmar, a relationship that has been slower to develop, with the exception of Egypt, whose interests in Asia have diminished...