REINTERPRETING THE IMAGE OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI FROM 1988-2016

Abstract

Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1991 because of her non-violent protests against the military regime in Myanmar. Aung San Suu Kyi embodies the democratic movements in Myanmar. In 2015, the international community condemned Suu Kyi's silence on the Rohingya Crisis and her collaboration with the military regime. Surprisingly, in January 2021, the international community restored her image as the democratic icon when the military staged a coup and imprisoned Suu Kyi once again. The leaders of Myanmar and China have been close allies since 1958 when Ne Win installed the military government and forged Pauk-Phaw relations with Chinese Officials Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. In this thesis, I intend to reinterpret Aung San Suu Kyi from China's standpoint, tracking Aung San Suu Kyi's negotiation with the Chinese Communist Party from the start to the end. I will be exploring the image of Aung San Suu Kyi from 1988 to 2016. Chinese scholars and the Chinese Communist Party constructed a different narrative of Aung San Suu Kyi, they traced Aung San Suu Kyi's rise to power and her diplomatic stance towards China.