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Kokang: The Rise of the Chinese Minority—the New Neo-Liberal State?
Abstract
Myanmar, without a doubt, is one of the most ethnically diverse and complex countries in the world—with its draconian administration, it has encountered complex and often violent and brutal conflicts between the central government and ethnic minority groups for several decades. However, recently, under the Thien Sein administration, it has announced that decentralization will be a priority—power to the local administrations. Kokang Special Region (KSR) is no exception. The Chinese community in this region already enjoys a high degree of autonomy, with a strong and vibrant economy—a state within a state. Such autonomy has been sought by other ethnic minorities, but they have yet to achieve it.
... 19 Kokang holds a special advantage in developing cross-border linkages and epitomises co-dependence to high degree, because the border region is connected by ancestry, language and other aspects of culture to adjacent China. 20 Another characteristic of "remote" border regions is that powerful agents acknowledge the opportunity of the border to enhance and consolidate power, influence and, ultimately, wealth in their domain. The border becomes the tool of this agency from local through national scales, but it has a clear, strong expression at the local scale where it is expressed as clout. ...
... A selection of five of the 40 interviews provides an illustration of who the refugees are, how and why they left Kokang, and how they view the conflict. They are Li (businessman, 30-40), Li (another young businessman), Wang (soldier, [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45], Huang (female farmer, [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50] and Zhang (Burmese male, [18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. The interviews represent the diversity of the respondents surveyed, and their experiences, and relate a focused depiction of the more than 70,000 refugees who entered China. ...
In 2015, the isolated border region of Kokang in Myanmar experienced armed conflict reported around the world. Most of the estimated 100,000 refugees from the conflict crossed the border to China, while hostilities continued for six months. Unlike other ethnic minorities fighting Myanmar’s government forces all along the extensive, mountainous border with China, the Kokang is largely of Han Chinese origin with a well established and nurtured relationship with China. Based on 458 questionnaires and interviews, media reports and official government releases, this article explores the varying imaginaries of territory, security and geopolitics of distant Kokang, from refugees now in China, Chinese from adjacent Yunnan and other provinces, as well as analysts viewing the conflict from afar. The study offers a lens for border studies to view the multi-scalar and extended geopolitics of nation states and their peripheral sub-national components. Specifically, the article addresses the changing role of the border under conditions of conflict and security enhancement and the malleable definition of borderlands territory. The study reveals how borders are utilised creatively by territorial inhabitants, their neighbours and their governments, how borders work in remote places, and how cross-border culture operates even in conflict situations to mediate borders. It enlarges our understanding of evolving borders in the space between exception and integration emerging in simultaneous globalisation and localisation.
... Laogai was now a modern border town with most shops, restaurants, hotels and other business interests operated by Chinese immigrants providing services for a largely Kokang Chinese population. The town was a space of exception within Kokang which itself was a space of exception within Myanmar, where the wealth and well being reflected in this modern 'Chinese' border town was much sought after by other minorities along the border with China (Kyu 2016). Kokang Chinese, particularly those living in Laogai, developed a heightened sense of belonging in, or at least with, China. ...
http://institute.cesci-net.eu/tiny_mce/uploaded/CBR_Y2019.pdf#page=86
... Their heritage is touched on below in the context of the protection of Yangon's built heritage. By contrast, other small ethnic communities enjoy considerable autonomy, a notable case being the Kokang Chinese community in northern Shan State (Kyu 2016). They comprise 90% of the population within the section of Shan State between the Salween River and the Chinese border and have been given political status as the Kokang Special Region. ...
In post-colonial societies and states coming out of periods of military rule or international isolation, there is a potential to develop new, inclusive forms of heritage, although very often all one sees is the reinforcement of dominant group heritage and continued marginalization of minority groups and their heritage. Myanmar’s tenuous governance arrangements vis-à-vis its ethnic composition is making moves to create more inclusive conceptions of heritage difficult. Heritage in this context has played and continues to play a critical role in Burmese nation-building.
... Their heritage is touched on below in the context of the protection of Yangon's built heritage. By contrast, other small ethnic communities enjoy considerable autonomy, a notable case being the Kokang Chinese community in northern Shan State (Kyu 2016). They comprise 90% of the population within the section of Shan State between the Salween River and the Chinese border and have been given political status as the Kokang Special Region. ...
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This chapter aims to bring together two related concepts from political science and heritage studies: cultural contestation and contested heritage, which are the central concepts of this volume. Although these concepts are to a large degree intertwined, they have until now not been related to each other. Yet it is exactly the bringing together of these disciplines, by combining the concepts of cultural contestation and contested heritage, which are key to getting a better understanding of the role of governments in heritage practices. This chapter also gives a short overview of the contributions to the volume and of their relation to each other and to the core concepts of the book.
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