"A quiet, modulated dance is being played out in Myanmar. It is not a waltz, with its rhythmical, proper movements, and only on the surface are events in Myanmar equally decorous. If China and the United States are the dancers, then Myanmar is the master of ceremonies. Underlying this proper facade rivalries are apparent. When and how the music will stop is unclear. The US explicitly has ??pivoted?? toward Asia, and more specifically Southeast Asia. It has in a sense returned after years of inattention. This policy has several elements: some enhanced naval capacity in the region, a couple of thousand marines in China counter-pivots on Myanmar By David I Steinberg WASHINGTON - A quiet, modulated dance is being played out in Myanmar. It is not a waltz, with its rhythmical, proper movements, and only on the surface are events in Myanmar equally decorous. If China and the United States are the dancers, then Myanmar is the master of ceremonies. Underlying this proper facade rivalries are apparent. When and how the music will stop is unclear. The US explicitly has ??pivoted?? toward Asia, and more specifically Southeast Asia. It has in a sense returned after years of inattention. This policy has several elements: some enhanced naval capacity in the region, a couple of thousand marines in Australia, increased positive involvement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and allies in the Philippines and Thailand as well as near-ally Singapore, and concerns over Chinese claims of sovereignty of the South China Sea. But in this equation, China regards with suspicion the US?s changed, positive policy toward Myanmar, also known as Burma. Chinese concerns are evident. This, they claim, is the second US containment policy of China. The first was during the Cold War, but this second is in some sense more urgent. China during the Cold War was struck by the internally destructive forces of the Cultural Revolution. It tried to project Maoist thought through its embassies overseas, but this was internal political rhetoric, not external reality..."