Burma in 1983: The Dilemmas of Neutralism and Succession

It is ironic that Burma and its government, both generally ignored in the world press, should only receive massive and unwelcome international publicity over an externally generated tragic event, the venue of which happened to be Rangoon. The October 9 bombing at the Aung San Martyrs' Mausoleum that resulted in the deaths of 21 South Korean and Burmese officials, including four members of the Korean cabinet and two key Korean presidential advisors together with reporters, directly linked issues related to Burmese neutralism and the efficacy of the Burmese intelligence community, while obliquely raising anew issues of political succession. The bombing caused speculation in the foreign press over the possibility that the earlier arrests and trials of General Tin Oo, Joint Secretary of the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), and former Minister of Home and Religious Affairs Bo Ni, might have directly affected the capacity of the Burmese government to protect foreign visitors against determined assassination attempts. Burmese affairs in 1983 were dominated by these events, tenuously but nevertheless plausibly linked, highlighting Burma's own conception of its international relations and the critical issue of political succession inside Burma. Since the early years of the Republic, Burma has followed a policy of studied neutralism in its foreign relations. This evenhanded approach to international relations has not been without its understandable anomalies, for Burma has had to consider carefully the sensitivities of the Peoples' Republic of China (PRC) because of Burma's long indefensible