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Myanmar: Time for Australian Defence Cooperation
Author: John Blaxland
Volume 7, Number 4 (Summer 2011), pp. 63-76.
Abstract
Change is coming quickly in Myanmar and countries like the United States and Australia are edging towards closer and more meaningful engagement. A key institution needing reform is the Burmese military, the Tatmadaw, but to date this has been off-limits. To affect reform in Myanmar requires engagement with and understanding of the Tatmadaw. Where such engagement has been tried elsewhere in South East Asia through the Defence Cooperation Program it has produced modest and positive results. Meanwhile, other regional powers are recognising the geo-strategic significance of Myanmar, astride India and China, and are engaging the Tatmadaw accordingly. Australia is not so distant either and likewise has a vested interest in some modest and discrete engagement with the Tatmadaw.
About the Author
Dr John Blaxland is a Senior Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. Prior to leaving the military he was Australia’s Defence Attaché to Thailand and Burma from 2008 to 2010. john.blaxland@anu.edu.au.
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