China’s Burma policy in the period of revolution, 1949-1954
The core concepts of China’s foreign affairs during this period were marked by the “lean toone side” policy, a “revolutionary enthusiasm”
81
and the rejection of a “third way” betweenthe socialism of the USSR and the imperialism of the US. According to Domes and Näth, thecore success of the Sino-Russian friendship treaty of 1950 was the ideological recognition of the new Chinese leadership by Stalin. Leaning towards the SU made China a member of theSocialist camp as opposed to the imperialist-capitalist camp under US supremacy. To thelatter camp also belonged the new countries of Africa and Asia, which had emerged or werein the process of emerging from colonialism and adopted a neutralist foreign policy, notablyIndia under Nehru, Burma under U Nu and Indonesia under Sukarno. Through the “lean toone side” policy and its attached rejection of a third way, Beijing adopted Stalin’sconfrontational policy towards the West and also towards the new neutralist countries, for allcountries without a socialist government were deemed to belong to the adversary camp. Whilethese new countries considered themselves neutralist, China deemed them imperialist lackeys,and their particular foreign policy approach as opening the doors to US neo-colonialism.
82