Myanmar: Visit Of The Indian President
By C. S. Kuppuswamy
After his recent visit to Singapore and Philippines in early February 2006, President APJ Abdul Kalam, was on a state visit to another South East Asian nation – Myanmar, from 8 to 10 March, 2006. This was the first ever visit by an Indian president to this nation. Officially this was in response to a long standing invitation from the Head of State, Senior General Than Shwe, who had visited India in October 2004. However this visit reinforces the government’s “Look-East” policy and is considered significant with considerable amount of substantive content as expressed by the Foreign Secretary in his press briefing prior to the visit. He also clarified that “(The ties) are on their own and not driven by rivalry with China”. The Indian President arrived in Yangon on 8 March, 2006 and was received by Senior General Than Shwe. Myanmar had laid out a red carpet for the dignitary. The President while embarking on this visit remarked that India was not only looking at restoring the silk route via Myanmar to China but also working on a continental train link form Delhi to Hanoi in Vietnam via Myanmar. During his stay in Myanmar, the Indian President visited the historic Shwedagon Pagoda which enshrines the sacred hair of Lord Buddha. He also paid homage at the mausoleum of Bahadursha Zafar, the last Mughal emperor of India who was exiled to Yangon by the British and where he breathed his last. The President had also interacted with the Myanmarese students at a high school in Yangon and with a section of the Indian community. It is also believed that the President had conveyed India’s interests in seeing a multi party democracy in Myanmar and that India will provide all help for a successful transition to democracy. However no specific mention was made about Aung San Suu Kyi who has been under house arrest for over 10 years in the last 16 years. During the visit, in the presence of the Indian President and Chairman of the SPDC, two MoUs were signed, one for mutual cooperation in the oil sector and the other on cooperation in Buddhist studies. The MoU in petroleum sector pertains to transport of natural gas from Arakan Port of Myanmar either through a pipeline via North East or Bangladesh. The option of converting the gas into Liquefied Natural gas (LNG) for shipping it is also under consideration. In addition a Framework Agreement on mutual cooperation in the field of remote sensing was concluded for setting up of a ground station in Myanmar. The station will receive remote sensing data from IRS satellite for various uses including agricultural purposes of soil and minerals. India will provide a grant of $ 1.3 million for this purpose. India had also offered to help Myanmar in developing an information technology park in Mandalay and conducting oceanographic survey to enable in delineating its continental shelf. India will also be extending a line of credit amounting to $ 10 million to power Myanmar’s contribution to Laladan multi model transport project. Other areas of assistance are an extension of a line of credit of $ 20 million for purchase of heavy-duty water pumps of agricultural water supply, up gradation of scientific laboratories in various universities of Myanmar and a package of HRD initiatives including 20 seats for Myanmar studies for PhD programs in India. On the economic front, at a Joint Trade Committee formed in July 2003, the target of one billion dollar bilateral trade was set to be achieved in three years from the then volume of 425 million dollars. During this visit this target was reviewed by both heads of state and senior officials of both countries have been directed to take all possible measures for promotion of bilateral trade. The committee will meet in New Delhi in mid-2006 to find ways and means of expanding the bilateral trade. Myanmar is the only ASEAN country with which India shares a 1643 km long land border and a coastline of 1930 km wide open on the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal posing a strategic challenge to India’s eastern frontier. Hence Myanmar has to be accorded a special position in its foreign policy. India which was initially supporting the pro democracy movement reversed its policy in the 1990s and the relations with Myanmar warmed up rapidly especially after the visit of the Chairman SPDC, Senior General Than Shwe to India in October 2004. India has extended a number of general and project-specific credit lines to Myanmar in the last few years. A number of agreements and MOUs, including the Tripartite Maritime Agreement between India, Myanmar and Thailand, the Border Trade Agreement and an agreement on Cooperation between Civilian Border Authorities, have been signed. Indian companies are involved in oil and gas exploration in Myanmar. India had upgraded the 160 km long Tamu-Kalewa-Kalemyo highway in 2001 and will be maintaining it for the next six years. There is an ongoing project for construction of a trilateral highway from Moreh in India to Mae Sot in Thailand to Bagan in Myanmar, the progress of which is being reviewed regularly by the foreign ministers of the three nations. True to Myanamar’s assurances, it has been launching operations against the Indian rebel groups such as NSCN (K) camping in its soil. Conclusion The Sino-Myanmar cooperation has been rapidly growing since 1988 and China has now a firm foothold in Myanmar. Chinese intentions of having a permanent access to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean have become very clear from the way they have been strengthening the Myanmar naval infrastructure and installation of monitoring and electronic surveillance facilities especially in the CoCo islands. Despite the improved relations between China and India, it is in India’s interests to constructively engage with Myanmar. Even though India keeps clarifying that the present policy towards Myanmar is on its own and not dictated by the India-China rivalry, the rise of China in the region is worrying the members of ASEAN including Myanmar. They would like to have a balancing factor or an alternative and for this purpose India fits in being the next economically strong regional power. As peace talks with the insurgent groups of the North East are making no headway, the security situation of the North Eastern states continue to be a cause for concern, especially with some rebel groups taking refuge and having camps in Myanmar. The cooperation from the military junta of Myanmar has been forthcoming though it is not very appreciable. Hence relations with Myanmar have to be maintained for effective neutralization of these insurgent groups. India is looking at Myanmar as a bridgehead or gateway to South East Asia. India having become a member of the East Asia Summit and a Summit level partner of ASEAN it is important to remain engaged with Myanmar to further its interests in these groupings. Myanmar is also a member of some regional initiatives along with India such as the BIMSTEC and the Mekong Ganga Cooperation. India is interested in energy supplies from wherever the country can get it. Since India is already involved in some exploration projects in Myanmar (Arakan coast), it should expedite the means to transfer the gas and bid for more projects by continuing the engagement with Myanmar. Economic, strategic and security considerations must overweigh the idealistic concern for democracy or the inhibition to deal with the military junta, if India has to establish itself as a regional power. *** The article was originally published at www.saag.org *** The article has been published with due permission from South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG), a non-profit and non-commercial think tank. *** You may visit www.saag.org for further readings.