Pauk-Phaw and its Evolution..."Pauk-phaw” was a term coined in the 1950s to describe the supposedly friendly and close relationship between China and Burma. It may be translated as ?fraternal” but, according to Burma expert David Steinberg, it ?has a closer Chinese connotation of siblings from the same womb [and] was used uniquely for Burma.” A memorial to honor the pauk-phaw relationship was erected in Mangshi in China?s Yunnan province in 1956 and the term was invoked as recently as September 2010, when Burmese junta leader Snr Gen Than Shwe paid an official visit to China. But despite such diplomatic niceties, relations between China and Burma have not always been especially cordial. China, a vast, mainly inland, empire, has always looked for outlets to the sea for its land-locked western and southwestern provinces. That policy began as far back as the 18th century and manifests itself today in the ?One Belt, One Road” development strategy proposed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to open new trade routes between China and Eurasia. The Burma corridor gives China access to South- and Southeast Asia as well as the entire Indian Ocean region, and has, therefore, always been of utmost strategic importance to whoever is in power in China..."