Myanmar, India’s neighbouring country, is one of the most impoverished nations in south-east Asia. The nation is conspicuous by the absence of democratic government. Military overthrew democratic government in 1962. Since then, the nation there has been mounting pressure from the west on the military government to encourage transition to democracy. This pressure was culminated in the imposition of economic sanctions on it by the West led by US.
Surprisingly, topsy-turvy seems to have happened in the US policy towards Myanmar. This was evident in the visit of Hiliary Clinton, US Secretary of State to Myanmar in December 2011. This reversal in the policy is attributed to the efforts of Obama’s administration to check the growing influence of China in the region. The visit has come in the wake of annulment of multi-billion dollar with China to build a hydro-electric project on R. Irrawady.
The US has assured that it would no longer impede the bank loans from IMF and World Bank. It is said that the US is viewing resources-rich Myanmar as an attractive investment avenue. The Myanmarese government is also contemplating a law giving easy terms to US companies with tax exemption upto eight years.
The repercussion of reversal of US stand is to be seen in the time to come by.
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