Jiang Yan and Ren Liang

After the 18th CPC National Congress put forward the concept of “community with a shared future for mankind” for the first time in 2012, General Secretary Xi Jinping has successively delivered expositions on the “community with a shared future for mankind” in dozens of countries, bringing it into the world stage from the theoretical level, and it has been widely echoed and praised all over the world. The construction of a community with a shared future between China and its neighboring countries not only has geographical advantages, but also an inevitable choice for global political, economic, social, cultural and ecological development. When attending the 2015 annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the initiative of “promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind by moving towards a community with a shared future for Asia”.

As an important neighboring country of China, Myanmar is a fulcrum country for China to implement the “Belt & Road Initiative” strategy in Southeast Asia, an important partner of the “Lancang-Mekong Cooperation” strategy, and a country of strategic significance between China and Japan and even between China and the United States. The construction of the China-Myanmar community with a shared future needs to find a starting point and a breakthrough, and the cross-border ethnic groups between China and Myanmar actually provide a convenient channel for the construction of the community.

China and Myanmar have a common border of over 2,000 kilometers. The border between China and Myanmar is Chayu County in Tibet and Nujiang Prefecture, Dehong Prefecture, Baoshan City, Lincang City, Pu’er City and Xishuangbanna Prefecture in Yunnan Province, China, while Kachin State and Shan State (including Kokang in the north and WA State in the east) are located in Myanmar. In history, there have been frequent commercial and cultural exchanges between the two countries. Multiracial residents of the Han, Dai, Hani, Miao, Lisu, Lahu, WA, Jingpo, Brown, Achang, Nu, Deang, Dulong and other ethnic groups live across the border area between China and Myanmar. These ethnic groups migrate either because of survival needs, or because of internal struggle, or because of ethnic contradictions, or because of natural disasters, and gradually form the current cross-border pattern because of the division of national boundaries.

There is the humanistic advantage of building a cross-border national community with a shared future, that is, the natural linguistic and cultural commonality among cross-border ethnic groups. The cross-border ethnic groups are as close as one family because of the same origin, common language, similar customs, intermarriage from generation to generation, and exchanges between each other, resulting in the humanistic spectacle of “one village in Ruili belonging to two countries”, which belongs to the linguistic and cultural community that lives adjacent to each other and shares the hearts and minds of the people. In terms of the language, the languages used by cross-border ethnic groups mainly belong to the Sino-Tibetan language family and the South Asian language family, and the smooth communication between the two sides of the same nation promotes in-depth exchanges in many aspects of marriage, religion, festivals, education, economy and so on. In addition to ethnic languages, Yunnan dialects in southwest mandarin are spoken in some areas of northern Myanmar, which further melts the obstacles to bilateral exchanges.

Culture is an important source of vitality, cohesion and creativity of a country and a nation. It plays an increasingly prominent role in the competition of comprehensive national strength, and its cross-effect with other fields is becoming more and more prominent. The cross-border national linguistic and cultural community between China and Myanmar also complements the construction of the community in other fields. With the deepening of cultural ties, there are close economic exchanges, frequent social exchanges and ecological cooperation between China and Myanmar. In recent years, the economic cooperation between China and Myanmar has also achieved fruitful results, from trade and economic assistance to investment and multilateral cooperation. In the border port areas inhabited by cross-border ethnic groups, the border people “go to work and go abroad, return home country from work”, and the scene of mutual trade is prosperous. In other aspects, cross-border education is common for Burmese students in border areas to carry their schoolbags and wear red scarves to study in China, and cross-border intermarriage and visiting relatives and friends are also normal in border minority villages. The rich water, vegetation and mineral resources shared by cross-border ethnic groups have also further promoted the ecological cooperation between China and Myanmar. Therefore, in order to build a community with a shared future between China and Myanmar, we must grasp the convenient channel of cross-border nationalities.

It also has multiple meanings with the construction of a cross-border ethnic community with a shared future between China and Myanmar. From the perspective of bilateral interaction, the construction of a cross-border community with a shared future for ethnic groups can promote the inclusiveness, exchange and reference between China and Myanmar, and further strengthen bilateral cooperation. From the perspective of the China, the construction of a cross-border ethnic community with a shared future is conducive to further strengthening the stability of the border areas, and a stable environment can provide fertile soil for the economic, cultural and ecological development of various cross-border ethnic groups. From the perspective of Myanmar, the construction of a cross-border ethnic community with a shared future is conducive to strengthening the further exchanges and integration of ethnic minorities in northern Myanmar, and is also of positive significance to the stability of the situation in northern Myanmar and the peaceful development of Myanmar.

(Jiang Yan is a lecturer of Yunnan University of Finance and Economics and Ren Liang is a teacher of Yunnan University of Finance and Economics)