Performative politics: unravelling the complexities of Myanmar-China relations and the Belt and Road Initiative

Although the vassal-state perspective helps explain Myanmar's dependence on China, it is too simplistic to fully capture the complex relationship between the two countries. Meanwhile, rather than indiscriminately using the concept of hedging to frame investigations into South East Asian countries' foreign policies, we contend that Myanmar constitutes a sui generis case mostly due to Western sanctions. Given this, we examine Myanmar's policies towards China, including the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), by employing the concept of performative politics. Myanmar's performative politics, at which the country excels, is closely related to its non-aligned foreign policy. Given its alternation between military and democratic regimes, Myanmar-China relations have stabilized as a performative partnership. This article examines the Thein Sein government (2011-2016) and the National League for Democracy (NLD) government (2016-2021). The Thein Sein and NLD governments showed mild resistance and modest cooperation towards Chinese mega-projects; these positions remained performative at best.