Road to Myanmar

China inaugurates gas pipelines. India inaugurates rice silos. Now, that may be too reductive a study in contrast, but it should be on the mind of External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna as he engages with the new, nominally civilian government in Myanmar. Of course, there’s nothing ignoble about the rice silos being built in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, they are every bit humanitarian and part of economic diplomacy. Nevertheless, there are larger aspects to India’s economic and strategic diplomacy in Myanmar that need to be foregrounded and pursued urgently — issues which have seen India shaky at the worst, slow and indecisive at best. Notwithstanding international criticism, India had rightly engaged with the junta that ruled till recently, given the rapid strides China was making in this key common neighbour. But unlike China, which would prefer a weak state in Myanmar, India’s relationship is layered, envisioning a strong and united nation central to its “Look East” policy.

India’s interests constitute security, energy (natural gas resources and hydel projects), infrastructure and connectivity, communications and information technology. Myanmar, with its own insurgency problems, is crucial to the security of India’s Northeast. It also bears the potential to transform the economic fortunes of the seven landlocked states. While the Kaladan multi-modal transportation project has reached construction stage, an MoU will be signed on linking Manipur to Tiddim. A trans-Asian road system through Myanmar and the maritime gateway for India’s Northeast via the Sitwe port need speedier work. There will be several other MoUs signed, such as the one on an industrial park. However, what is being closely watched is the NHPC’s delivery on the revival of two hydel power projects, wherein delays on the Indian side were criticised by the Indian ambassador to Myanmar.

India-Myanmar bilateral trade has more than doubled since 2006, reaching $1.5 billion last year. But even as India fell a good distance behind China in a country with nearly 20 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas reserves, little changed in the way Delhi did business. Myanmar’s new president has already visited Beijing, while scepticism has grown about India’s ability to deliver. Certainly, there are questions about how genuinely democratic the new political order is. Nonetheless, India needs to deepen and thicken its involvement, looking beyond stale rhetoric and standard MoUs to devise institutional mechanisms to implement projects in its neighbourhood. Its ties to Myanmar are historic, and not a simple counterpoint to China for influence and access. What the bilateral relationship needs now is solid and speedy work on the ground, not continuing listlessness.