The Truman Administration Of Burma Policy Research (1949-1952),

This paper is a study on U.S. policy towards Burma/Myanmar during Truman Administration in the context of the rise of the Cold War in Asia; the core is American aid policy. The background, making process, implementation, and evaluation of the policy were mainly included. With the rise of the Cold War in Asia, the United States began to contain China, and Myanmar, due to its unique geographic advantage, had become one of the objects U.S. sought actively for. With this purpose, the Truman administration continued to strengthen its policy on Burma, done its effort to develop and implement the related aid schemes to win the U Nu government over. But the fundamental difference between the two countries’diplomatic position destined to the U.S. anti-China plots in Myanmar could not really succeed; and the effects of its aid policy were naturally limited. According to the overview of the Truman administration policy on Burma, we will know that it is fully served in the U.S. Cold War-to-anti-China policy. The main purpose of this paper is to reveal this nature of the relationship between the Truman administration’s policy on Burma and its policy towards China:when the latter changed, the former would follow suit, they went towards the common trends, so in American foreign policy on the Far East, the former subordinated to the latter on the whole.The article composes of foreword, body and conclusion, of which the body consists of four parts:The first part analyzes the background of the Truman administration’s policy on Burma, including the historical background and international background. The former refers to the course of modern US-Burma relations and American cautious policy towards Burma in the early postwar years. Then with the Chinese civil war, the Korean War and the development of the national and democratic revolutions in Southeast Asia, the Cold War in Asia was gradually emerging. For containment of China, the United States began to develop specific policy measures (utilization of assistance as the primary means) for the Southeast Asian countries, and which were implemented later through a series of interviews and assistance programs.The second part is the making process of the Truman administration’s policy on Burma. The Cold War made the U.S. policy on Burma from negative to positive. Truman administration had sent some of the diplomatic corps to visit Burma, and later formulated a number of policy documents on Burma combined with these visits’ findings. June1950, The U.S. government issued an official document:"Policy Statement Prepared in the Department of State:Burma ", it marked the U.S. policy (particularly in aid field) on Burma was established formly. Truman administration contained to improve its policies after the Korean War I, this mainly was the NSC124/2(Burma) file.Part III discusses the specific implementation of the Truman administration’s policy made for Burma. In the ongoing supplement and improvement of the decision-making process, Truman Administration initiated to execute its aid programs and projects in Myanmar, this mainly embodied in economic aid, military cooperation and cultural exchange.The fourth part has a general analysis of the U.S. policy on Burma of Truman Administration. The content of the previous chapter shows us:American objectives, characteristics and ways of its (aid) policy on Burma were diverse. The United States accorded to the specific circumstances, chose the different ways and highlighted the different characteristics, in order to achieve its goals best. The last are the effect of U.S. aid policy. In a certain extent, U.S. aid policy indeed alienated China-Myanmar relations and squeeze out Britain’s influence in Myanmar; but at the same time, it facing a great dilemma and its influence is limited because of Burma’s geopolitical environment and its neutralist policy. The attitudes of most people on U.S. aid policy are critical basically, because its main drawback are that the U.S. political utilitarian and economical hypocrisy on foreign aid.