Human Rights, Civil Unrest, and Political Reform in Burma in 2013

Michael F. Martin
Specialist in Asian Affairs

An accurate and objective assessment of the status of human rights, civil unrest, and political reform in Burma is critical to congressional oversight of the Obama Administration’s conduct of U.S. policy towards the country, as well as any congressional examination of U.S. policy towards Burma. CRS Report R43035, U.S. Policy Towards Burma: Issues for the 113th Congress, examines the discernible shift in the conduct of U.S. policy towards Burma that has taken place over the last two years. CRS Report R42939, U.S. Sanctions on Burma: Issues for the 113th Congress, summarizes the existing U.S. economic and political sanctions imposed on the country, including the conditions with respect to human rights and democracy necessary to terminate those sanctions.

The Obama Administration and many other observers have focused their analysis on the apparent progress that has been made since Burma’s military junta transferred power to a new, quasicivilian government in 2011. These analyses highlight the country’s political reforms and human rights improvements, while acknowledging that the situation remains fragile and reversible.

This approach implicitly assumes that Burma’s political leaders, particularly President Thein Sein, are committed to making further political reforms designed to establish a democratic government that respects the human rights of its people. To date, neither Thein Sein nor the nation’s other political leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, have provided a fully detailed vision of post-reform Burma or a clear roadmap for continuing political reforms or addressing the grievances of ethnic minorities. One critical question for U.S. policy is how to address conditions in a country that has begun a process of political reform, but where substantial human rights abuses continue. Given current conditions, many observers believe it is unclear whether future political reform in Burma will be fully consistent with the goals established in U.S. laws that form the basis of U.S. policy in Burma.

This report examines the current situation in Burma from the implicit perspective shaped by U.S. laws setting policy toward Burma, and discusses the challenges of responding to reforms in a nation in political transition which has gone only part way to dealing with human rights abuses. In general, these laws establish a set of standards or thresholds to achieve before the sanctions are lifted and bilateral relations are normalized. Based on the criteria enumerated in laws, this report concludes: (1) prospects for an end to internal inter-ethnic conflict and national reconciliation appear slim in the short-run; (2) the critical political forces in Burma do not currently share a common vision of or path towards a democratic civilian government; and (3) human rights abuse remain a serious problem in Burma, and most civil liberties are subject to major restrictions.

With respect to specific criteria mentioned in sanctions laws—ending the nation’s ethnic conflicts, protecting human rights, and establishing a democratic civilian government based on the rule of law—the report recounts that (1) The ceasefire negotiations between the Burmese Government and various ethnic organizations appear to have stalled at a preliminary stage; (2) Ethnic and religious tensions have erupted in various parts of the country, leading to the deaths of dozens of people and the creation of thousands of internally displaced persons; (3) Reports of serious human rights abuses appear in the media on a regular basis, particularly accounts of the Burmese Army abusing non-combatants in conflict areas; (4) Hundreds of political prisoners remain in detention; (5) The status of the 2008 constitution is a pivotal issue for political reform and national reconciliation; and (6) The views of the Burmese military about the nation’s reforms remain unknown. This report will be updated as circumstances warrant.


Date of Report: June 20, 2013
Number of Pages: 36
Order Number: R43132
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U.S.-Cambodia Relations: Issues for the 113th Congress

Thomas Lum 
Specialist in Asian Affairs

The United States and the Kingdom of Cambodia have been expanding their once-limited ties for a number of years, although U.S. concerns about Cambodia’s human rights record still limit the scope of the bilateral relationship. The Obama Administration has taken steps to broaden engagement with Cambodia, partly in response to China’s growing diplomatic and economic influence in Cambodia and the Lower Mekong Delta region. U.S. interests in Cambodia include promoting development, trade and investment, regional security, civil society, democracy, and human rights. U.S. military engagement with Cambodia has increased as well. These include naval port visits, military assistance, and joint exercises related to international peacekeeping, humanitarian activities, and maritime security. A key challenge for U.S. policy toward Cambodia lies in balancing efforts to engage the Kingdom on many fronts while promoting democracy and human rights.

During the past decade, the Kingdom has made fitful progress in some areas of U.S. concern, including the conduct of elections, the development of civil society, labor rights, bringing some Khmer Rouge leaders to justice, public health, and counterterrorism measures. However, during the past several years, the political system has become less democratic and civil liberties have been curtailed. Although political opposition groups may gain parliamentary seats in the upcoming July 2013 national elections by forming a united front and tapping into voter discontent among urban and marginalized groups, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s continued hold on power seems assured.

Over the past decade and a half, Hun Sen has bolstered his political strength through a combination of electoral victories, influence over the broadcast media and judiciary, legal and extra-legal political maneuvers, intimidation of opponents and critics, patronage, and economic threats. Some observers believe that the fairness of the upcoming national elections has already been seriously weakened. Among the major concerns are the prohibition of opposition leader Sam Rainsy from running in the election, the expulsion of opposition lawmakers from the National Assembly, inaccurate voter lists, and the alleged lack of neutrality of the National Election Commission.

The United States provides significant foreign aid to Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in Asia, largely through non-governmental organizations. The Kingdom received $76 million in U.S. assistance in FY2012. Program areas include public health, agricultural development, environmental preservation, military training, maritime security, elections, civil society, and removal of explosive remnants of war. The United States is the largest foreign market for Cambodian goods, buying about half of the Kingdom’s garment exports.

China has been a principal source of loans, infrastructure development, investment, and foreign aid to the Kingdom. Some experts maintain that Chinese assistance has significantly reduced the effectiveness of traditional aid donors in attempting to pressure Phnom Penh to make advances in the areas of rule of law, democracy, and human rights. Some groups have expressed concerns about the adverse effects of China’s development projects on the local environment. Other observers also contend that Beijing has influenced Cambodian foreign policy. During its chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2012, Cambodia was seen as acceding to Beijing’s desire to block attempts to raise the issue of maritime security in regional fora, to the consternation of the United States and other ASEAN nations.


Date of Report: June 19, 2013
Number of Pages: 19
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U.S.-China Relations: Policy Issues

Susan V. Lawrence
Specialist in Asian Affairs

Congress faces important questions about what sort of relationship the United States should have with China and how the United States should respond to China’s “rise.” After 30 years of fastpaced economic growth, China’s economy is now the second-largest in the world after the United States. With economic success, China has developed significant global strategic clout. It is also engaged in an ambitious military modernization drive, including development of extended-range power projection capabilities and such advanced weapons as a “carrier killer” anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM). At home, it continues to suppress all perceived challenges to the Communist Party’s monopoly on power.

In previous eras, the rise of new powers has often produced conflict. President Obama and China’s leader Xi Jinping have embraced the challenge of establishing a “new style great power relationship” that avoids such an outcome. The Obama Administration has repeatedly assured China that the United States “welcomes a strong, prosperous and successful China that plays a greater role in world affairs,” and that the United States does not seek to prevent China’s reemergence as a great power. Washington has wrestled, however, with how to engage China on issues affecting stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region. Issues of concern for Washington include the intentions behind China’s military modernization program, China’s use of its paramilitary forces and military in disputes with its neighbors over territorial claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea, and its continuing threat to use force to bring Taiwan under its control. With U.S.-China military-to-military ties fragile, Washington has struggled to convince Beijing that the U.S. policy of rebalancing toward the Asia Pacific is not intended to contain China. The two countries have cooperated, with mixed results, to address nuclear proliferation concerns related to Iran and North Korea.

While working with China to revive the global economy, the United States has also wrestled with how to persuade China to address economic policies and activities the United States sees as denying a level playing field to U.S. firms trading with and operating in China. At the top of the U.S. agenda is commercial cyber espionage that the U.S. government says appears to be directly attributable to the Chinese government and military. Other economic concerns for the United States include China’s “indigenous innovation” industrial policies, its weak protections for intellectual property rights, and its currency policy. The United States has differed with China over approaches to combating climate change, while cooperating with China in the development of clean energy technologies. Human rights remains one of the thorniest areas of the relationship, with the United States pressing China to ease restrictions on freedom of speech, internet freedom, religious and ethnic minorities, and labor rights, and China’s leaders suspicious that the United States’ real goal is to end Communist Party rule.

This report opens with an overview of the U.S.-China relationship, recent developments in the relationship, Obama Administration policy toward China, and a summary of legislation related to China in the 113th and 112th Congresses. The report then reviews major policy issues in the relationship. Throughout, the report directs the reader to other CRS reports for more detailed information about individual topics. This report will be updated periodically. A detailed summary of 113th and 112th Congress legislative provisions and hearings related to China is provided in appendices.


Date of Report: June 14, 2013
Number of Pages: 68
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U.S.-Vietnam Relations in 2013: Current Issues and Implications for U.S. Policy

Mark E. Manyin
Specialist in Asian Affairs

After communist North Vietnam’s victory over U.S.-backed South Vietnam in 1975, the United States and Vietnam had minimal relations until the mid-1990s. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1995, overlapping security and economic interests have led the two sides to expand relations across a wide range of issue-areas and begin to form a strategic partnership of sorts. Perhaps most prominently, in 2010, the two countries mobilized a multinational response to China’s perceived attempts to boost its claims to disputed waters and islands in the South China Sea. This coordinated effort to promote the freedom of navigation has continued. 

U.S. Interests In the United States, voices favoring improved relations have included those reflecting U.S. business interests in Vietnam’s growing economy and U.S. strategic interests in expanding cooperation with a populous country—Vietnam has over 90 million people—that has an ambivalent relationship with China and that is asserting itself on the regional stage. Others argue that improvements in bilateral relations should be conditioned upon Vietnam’s authoritarian government improving its record on human rights. The population of more than 1 million Vietnamese-Americans, as well as legacies of the Vietnam War, also drive continued U.S. interest. 

Vietnamese Interests 

Vietnamese leaders have sought to upgrade relations with the United States in part due to the desire for continued access to the U.S. market and to worries about China’s expanding influence in Southeast Asia. That said, Sino-Vietnam relations are Vietnam’s most important bilateral relationship and Vietnamese leaders must tiptoe carefully along the tightrope between Washington and Beijing, such that improved relations with one capital not be perceived as a threat to the other. Also, some Vietnamese remain suspicious that the United States’ long-term goal is to erode the Vietnamese Communist Party’s (VCP’s) monopoly on power. Thus far, an apparent intensification of political infighting among Vietnam’s top leaders in 2012 and 2013 does not appear to have affected the fundamental dynamics of Vietnam-U.S. relations. 

Economic Ties 

The United States is Vietnam’s largest export market and in some years its largest source of foreign direct investment. Bilateral trade in 2011 was over $17 billion, a tenfold increase since the United States extended “normal trade relations” (NTR) treatment to Vietnam in 2001. Increased trade also has been fostered by Vietnam’s market-oriented reforms. From 1987-2007, Vietnam’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaged over 7%. Since then, Vietnam’s economy has been buffeted by economic difficulties that have lowered growth rates and raised inflation. The United States and Vietnam are 2 of 11 countries negotiating a Trans-Pacific Strategic and Economic Partnership (TPP) regional free trade agreement (FTA). To go into effect, a TPP agreement (if one is reached) would require approval by both houses of Congress. Vietnam is one of the largest recipients of U.S. assistance in East Asia; since the late 2000s, annual U.S. aid typically surpasses $100 million, much of it for health-related activities. 

Human Rights 

Human rights are the biggest thorn in the side of the relationship. Although disagreements over Vietnam’s human rights record have not prevented the two sides from improving relations, they do appear to create a ceiling for the speed and extent of these improvements. Vietnam is a oneparty, authoritarian state ruled by the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), which appears to be following a strategy of permitting most forms of personal and religious expression while selectively repressing individuals and organizations that it deems a threat to the party’s monopoly on power. Most human rights observers contend that the government, which already had tightened restrictions on dissent and criticism since 2007, further intensified its suppression in the first half of 2013.

Some human rights advocates have argued that the United States should use Vietnam’s participation in the TPP FTA talks as leverage to pressure Hanoi to improve the country’s human rights situation. Also, since the 107th Congress, various legislative attempts have been made to link the provision of U.S. aid, as well as arms sales, to Vietnam’s human rights record.


Date of Report: June 19, 2013
Number of Pages: 37
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