A Special Relationship?

Abstract

Introduction: Myanmar and Its Foreign Policy The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which assumed power after a military coup on 18 September 1988 in response to a widespread breakdown of government authority, changed the country's name from Burma to the Union of Myanmar on 18 June 1989. SLORC was reconstituted as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in November 1997 and the latter currently rules Myanmar by decree. Myanmar is the second largest country (after Indonesia) among the ten states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to which it was admitted in July 1997. Situated within continental Southeast Asia, Myanmar has a 1,385 miles-long coastline and shares land borders with five neighbouring states as depicted in Table 1.