Inside Myanmar’s Fragile Geopolitical Position — Wai Yan Phyo Naing

5. 5. 2026

Myanmar occupies a unique position in contemporary international affairs, where the legacies of post-independence neutralism, decades of military rule, and a fractured post-coup order converge to produce one of the most complex foreign policy environments in the Indo-Pacific. 

Wai Yan Phyo Naing

Dr Naing is a visiting scholar at the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, under the Taiwan Fellowship Program. At the moment, he is focusing on modern Myanmar’s domestic politics, democratisation, and international relations, with particular attention to Myanmar–Russia and Myanmar–China relations and their implications for regional security, political development, and social change.

In this role, he conducts independent and collaborative research drawing on archival materials, historical documents, and qualitative sources. His current project, “Insights from Taiwan’s Democratisation: Implications for Upcoming Reform Processes in Myanmar,” examines how Taiwan’s experience of democratisation can inform prospective political reforms in Myanmar. 

Publications:

Northern Myanmar Poses a Challenge to China’s Critical Minerals Strategy

The Dilemma of Sino-Myanmar Relations: The Case of Myitsone Hydropower Dam Project

Content

00:00 – Introduction
02:19 – Neutralism, Military Isolation, and the Origins of Myanmar’s Strategic Hedging
09:16 – Structural Drivers of the Contemporary Myanmar Political Crisis
16:53 – The Influence of China and India on Myanmar’s Foreign Policy Orientation
26:00 – The National Unity Government and the Fragmentation of Political Authority
33:12 – Border Governance, Insurgency, and Security Dynamics in Myanmar’s Frontier Regions
48:43 – Russia’s Role in Myanmar’s Strategic and Military Relations
01:00:35 – ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus and the Limits of the Non-Interference Principle