Book Reviews

79

Kai Chen, Comparative Study of Child Soldiering on Myanmar-China Border: Evolutions,

Challenges and Countermeasures (Singapore: Springer, 2014), pp. 97, 49.99, ISBN:
978-981-4560-01-6.

DOI: 10.1177/0009445514560110

The book under review focuses on the ‘evolution, challenges and countermeasures’
of child soldiering on the Myanmar–China border and is a valuable contribution
to the limited research on this issue. The book concentrates on the two pockets of
Southeast Asia’s most conflict-ridden country, namely, the Kachin and Shan states
of Myanmar, and covers an extensive temporal sweep from 1947 till the present
day focusing specifically on the past two decades. The research focuses on the child
soldiers in the three biggest armed forces and groups on the Myanmar–China border,
namely, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), the Kachin Independence Army (KIA)
and the Tatmadaw Kyi or the Myanmar Army.
Chen has adopted a context-sensitive approach along with an eclectic mix of
comparative analysis, case analysis and scenario analysis, and has tried to analyse child
soldiering by comparing across time, between different areas, between child soldiers
besides learning from other countries in order to apply those lessons in managing child
soldiering on the Myanmar–China border. Some other value additions from this book
are in terms of addressing the structural factors of child soldiering in this sensitive border
region which include decentralisation of security, inadequate manpower resources,
insufficient legal enforcement and displacement of children, stateless children and
chronic poverty. Further, the book also explores the relationships between child soldiers
and their recruiters through scenario analysis—a method of multiple projections by
considering alternative possible outcomes of the future. Also the notion of ‘limited
statehood’ (like Anand Yang’s ‘limited Raj’)1 is an interesting take on studies related
to child soldiering where governments abrogate their responsibilities and leave the
state to be run by ‘parapolitical systems’ comprising of gangs of armed militias, ethnic
warring groups and private armies.
Chen also enlightens us about the three new features of child soldiering around
the globe. According to him, the main actors recruiting children have shifted from
state armed forces to non-state armed groups and that children have become more
vulnerable in armed conflicts due to the blurring of difference between civilians
and combatants. Lastly, more and more children are being involved in low-intensity
armed conflicts.
Pointing to the grave consequences of the phenomenon of child soldiering which
in the twentieth century has turned into a ‘war strategy’ (p. 3), the author suggests
that there is no optimal solution for reducing it since all the stakeholders face differ-
ent critical challenges and most conventional solutions are not suitable for the border
regions. He, however, posits the second-best optimal solution for the governance of
child soldiering, namely, transnational ‘public–private partnership’ (PPP).

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The author lays the ground by first defining a child soldier in this book as ‘any
person below 18 years of age who is or who has been recruited or used by an armed
force or armed group in any capacity, including, but not limited to children, boys
and girls, used as fighter, cooks, porters, messengers and spies, or for sexual pur-
poses’ (p. 1). Chen identifies child soldiers as the most vulnerable of ‘non-citizens’
or ‘stateless’ as he puts it and who on the Myanmar–China border belong to an
admixture of cross-border ethnic groups including HIV/AIDS orphans and displaced
children (p. 6).
According to the author, child soldiering in Myanmar is a by-product of two forms
of conflicts, namely, ‘ideological confrontation’ and ‘constitutional crisis’, since its
independence in 1948 which relate to the nature of state and the manner in which it
was to be governed (p. 19). Chen wears the historian’s cap and, as is the conventional
practice of engaging with the history of Myanmar, divides it into three historical land-
marks beginning with Myanmar’s independence in 1948 followed by General Ne Win’s
coup in 1962 and finally the advent of a new military regime in 1988.
Chen opines that the history of child soldiering in Myanmar is a result of the long-
lasting ethnic conflicts starting with the ‘inception’ of armed conflicts from 1947 to
1962, followed by the ‘intensified stage’ from 1962 to 1988 and finally the ‘transitional
period’ from 1988 to the present times. The first stage gave the 1947 Constitution of
the Union of Burma based on the Panglong Agreement which guaranteed the ‘right
of secession’ from the Union, after 10 years of independence, to all ethnic nationali-
ties that formed member states of the Union. However, the Karen State was left to
hang in balance and the Chin people received only a special division, whereas no such
independence or ethno-political recognition was granted to the Kokang, Mon, Pao,
Palaung, Rakhine and Wa people.
The ‘intensified stage’ from 1962 to 1988 saw the new Ne Win government
launching a military campaign directed by the ‘four-cut strategy’—cutting food supply,
financial links between villagers and insurgents, intelligence sources of insurgents and
promoting the people fighting the insurgents (p. 20). Finally the ‘transitional period’
from 1988 to the present times witnessed the ‘three pronged strategy’ (p. 21) towards
the ethnic-based militias which till today counter-balances its acts and looks after
general welfare of the people. Chen informs us that one of the major achievements
of the ‘three pronged strategy’ has been the signing of ceasefire agreements between
most of the ethnic-based militias and the Myanmar government.
Child soldiering is an anti-thesis to the zeitgeist of modernity yet an everyday reality
in the war zones of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Somalia, Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone,
Chhattisgarh in India and Sri Lanka that are fraught with intrastate ethnic conflicts
(and of late religious wars such as those led by Iraq–Syria’s Islamic State). According
to Chen, ‘child soldiers serve in 40% of the world’s armed forces, rebel groups, and
terrorist organizations and fight in almost 75% of the world’s armed conflicts’ (p. 3).
Speaking in the context of Myanmar, Chen informs us that the Tatmadaw Kyi has

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 Book Reviews 81

70,000 or more soldiers, and the UWSA has the most number of child soldiers among
the ethnic-based militias with possibly as many as 2000 soldiers under 18 years and
600–800 who are below 15 (p. 22).
Child soldiering not only retards development and is a mass violation of human
rights but has negative consequences for those involved in militarising and de-
humanising society. According to Chen, child soldiers round up villagers for forced
labour, and carry out suicide missions and ‘human wave’ attacks most of the times
under the influence of narcotics or alcohol. In some cases, child soldiers display
terrifying audacity when infused with religious or political indoctrination. In another
chapter, Chen says that the structural factors for the involvement of child soldiers
in Myanmar is based on three perspectives, namely, the victim–coercer relationship
which is based on fear whereby the Tatmadaw Kyi impose recruit quotas that require
villagers to give their son(s) as ‘tribute’ to ‘multiple masters’ in the war zones (p. 54).
Second, the patron–client relationship (saya-tapyi) (p. 55) whereby children join
armed militias either to survive or to satisfy their desire for military prestige or else
gain privileges in terms of health care and educational system, housing and banking
facilities that are run by the Tatmadaw themselves. Finally, comradeship that includes
taking revenge for the family member in which case the commanders become the
‘surrogate family’ and turn into caretaker or a parent in order to curb desertion. For
most child soldiers, entering the ranks of a soldier is symbolic of attaining manhood
and gives them a sense of identity.
The psychological scars of an ethnic conflict which deploys child soldiers leaves
behind colonies of injured, diseased, substance-addicted, maimed and orphaned
or ‘stateless’ children who are an expendable asset and quite easily replaced (p. 28).
Moreover, repeated exposure to highly traumatic events for many years lead to high
rates of desertion, depression, emotional and behavioural problems like the ‘Stockholm
Syndrome’ where the child soldier tries to become the alter egos of their commanders
and rationalise their violent behaviour or even attempt suicide. Here, I think the
author would have done well to give a nuanced Marxist twist by relating these cases
of suicide with estrangement and alienation.
Chen introduces a new approach for the governance of child soldiering as the
second-best optimal solution, namely, transnational ‘public–private partnership’ (PPP)
which according to him is a ‘continuous and relatively institutionalized boundary
interaction between public and private actors that formally strive for the provision of
collective goods’ (p. 12). Moreover, he suggests that PPP can be further braced up with
a strong monitoring system and complaint regime, Opium Substitution Programme
on the Myanmar–China border (p. 77), partnership in public health and humanitarian
assistance and private mediation in peace talks. He suggests some quick steps that can
mitigate instances of child soldiering like enforcing discipline against personnel/groups
responsible for child soldiering, supporting legislation for promoting an international
ban on both state and non-state actors recruiting children below 18 years, building

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82 China Report 51, 1 (2015): 76–86

bridges of mutual trust through communication and cooperation with the ethnic-based
militias, extending flexibilities in terms of adjustment of the established standards and
norms, and demobilising child soldiers by voluntary discharging of any soldier who
was recruited as a minor.
The author also argues for the improvement of protective mechanisms that
would include developing alternative methodologies by ILO to identify orphans
and displaced children, and the establishment of a liaison office on the China side
along the Myanmar–China border. Apart from this, he suggests improvement in
birth registration mechanisms including free birth registration and alternative
mechanisms for age verification by both China and Myanmar. The author also
vouches for monastery-based protective mechanisms developed and managed by
Buddhist communities and suggests an urgent need for information-sharing and
intelligence-gathering to raise international awareness by developing a framework
between Myanmar and other neighbouring countries and providing the necessary
incentives to the private sector to work/invest in conflict zones that also happen to
possess natural and mineral resources. Chen also suggests some kind of apprentice-
ship like resurrecting damaged community infrastructure or locating landmines and
so on for the former child soldiers.
The author, however, fails to explain the late clarion call given by the international
community and forums like the UN Convention to the issue of child soldiers. He
is also unable to provide an explanation for the overt opposition to the ‘straight-18’
definition of child soldiers by the United States and the United Kingdom which is a
universal definition of childhood as beginning at birth and ending at age 18.
Despite the limitations faced by Chen both in terms of access to zones of
conflict as well as a paucity of source material possibly due to its sensitive nature
or else its presumed non-importance, the book raises several important questions
and possibilities of further exploration and research. These concerns pertain to the
possibility of Sino-US cooperation in governing child soldiering on the Myanmar–
China border besides issues like girl soldiers and similarities and differences
between girl soldiers and boy soldiers, the prospects and consequences of security
privatisation in Myanmar, research on the medium- and long-term reintegration
of former child soldiers on the Myanmar–China border. In addition, Chen also
deals with the negative consequences and current situation of child soldiering on
the Myanmar–China border as well as the question of evaluating the relationships
between child soldiers and their recruiters.
The book is a brave effort and a timely eye-opener by Chen that engages with
a sensitive issue and provides an overview of the potential security threat and chal-
lenges posed by child soldiering and the measures that can be taken to tide over the
impending crisis. Meanwhile, for a well-known publishing house, one expected,
Springer to do a better job with its editorial responsibilities. The book is badly edited
and grammatical mistakes and errors of syntax, punctuation marks and sentence
framing abound.

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 Book Reviews 83

REFERENCE

Yang, Anand A. 1989. The Limited Raj: Agrarian Relations in Colonial India, Saran District, 1793–1920.
Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Subir Rana
Visiting Associate Fellow
Border Studies Programme
Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi
E-mail: 123.subir@gmail.com

Yan Xuetong, Ancient Chinese Thought, Modern Chinese Power, edited by Daniel A.
Bell and Sun Zhe, translated by Edmund Ryden (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 2011), pp. xii + 300, $37.50, ISBN: 9780691148267.

DOI: 10.1177/0009445514560109

Of late, there has been an increasing interest among international relations scholars
in Chinese philosophy and thought mainly because China’s leaders and scholars have
been trying to promote its view of the world based on their traditional thinking; this
reexamination of ancient Chinese thought is, in fact, a vital current of the twentieth-
century Chinese approach to power. The volume focuses on two tasks. First, to bring
to light the interstate philosophy of China, before its unification under the Qin Empire
in 221 BCE and second, to provide a detailed explanation of how and why interstate
philosophy of the pre-Qin period can help in enriching international relations theories
at present dominated by the West.
The concept of building a Chinese school of international relations (IR) theory
is not new in China. During the past 30 years, Chinese scholars have developed a
variety of views about the establishment of Chinese school of IR theory. Nonetheless,
these attempts have not moved beyond introducing title of ‘Chinese IR theory’ to the
world. Yan’s quest as to why there is no Chinese school of IR theory led him to dig
into the philosophy of ancient Chinese thinkers, to see if a conceptual framework
for an IR theory could be found. Yan’s path-breaking research sheds light on ancient
Chinese philosophers who wrote on governance and interstate relations before the
unification of China. He finds the philosophy of pre-Qin period relevant mainly
because of its similarities with the contemporary period. Chinese interstate politics
of that period known as ‘Spring and Autumn’ and ‘Warring States period’ and con-
temporary international politics are both anarchical in nature with each state pos-
sessing an independent military force and no power at the level of the system having
a monopoly on military force (p. 203).
This book which is a part of Yan Xuetong’s ongoing research project at Tsinghua
University not only intends to provide a Chinese school of IR theory based on

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