Ne Win

Ne Win (10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 - 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, as well as President of Burma from 1962 to 1981.

In the 1962 Burmese coup d'état, Ne Win founded the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and overthrew the democratic Union Parliament of U Nu, establishing Burma as a one-party socialist state under the Burmese Way to Socialism ideology. Ne Win was Burma's de facto leader as chairman of the BSPP, serving in various official titles as part of his military government, and was known as U Ne Win by his supporters. His rule was characterized by a non-aligned foreign policy, isolationism, one-party rule, economic stagnation, and superstition. Ne Win resigned in July 1988 in response to the 8888 Uprising that overthrew the He wielded minor power in the 1990s before being placed under house arrest, where he died in 2002.

During the Cold War, Ne Win maintained a strictly neutralist foreign policy, participating in the Non-Aligned Movement and avoiding both the United States and the Soviet Union. On the other hand, his relations with and the People's Republic of China were initially excellent, but were temporarily broken between 1967 and 1971, due to Mao's covert support for the Communist insurgency within Burma and the outbreak of anti-Chinese riots by regime supporters.