Financial Express: Realism in India-Myanmar Relations
ronny
Realism in India-Myanmar Relations
by N Chandra Mohan
Signs of India's more "realistic" diplomatic engagement with the rest
of the world are in evidence not just with reference to Israel but
also with neighbouring Myanmar. The latter's military regime has come
under global criticism for its treatment of Nobel laureate Aung Sang
Suu Kyi, but India's relationship has been burgeoning with its Yangon,
especially since the early 1990s. What is responsible for this shift
in India's stance?
Renaud Egreteau, re-search fellow at the Centre de Sciences Humaines,
IEP, Paris, has his own take on this relationship which he sees as
evolving from Nehruvian idealism to realism. The idealist phase lasted
for three decades since General Ne Win came to power in 1962, during
which India had very little to do with the military dictatorship.
Myan-mar then existed under a self-imposed isolationism.
India's rethink on its relationship with Myanmar (then Burma) dates
from the uprising and coup d'etat in 1988 and the influx of refugees
into North-east Indian camps. Between 1988 to 1992, the idealist phase
lingered on as our policy vacillated between support for the democracy
movement and continuing with diplomatic isolation. Egreteau argues
that 1993 indeed was the year when the "realist U turn" took place in
India's policy towards Myanmar.
Several factors were responsible for this, including the China factor.
The fact that the dragon had filled the diplomatic vacuum by
intensifying its relationship with Myanmar since the late 1980s was
not lost on India. But it was Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao's new
Look East policy that made our diplomats really wonder whether
ignoring a strategic neighbour like Myanmar was a good thing or not.
An overhaul of India's policy towards greater engagement with Myanmar
thus began, starting with the visit of India's foreign secretary in
March 1993. Since then, India took a decision not to interfere in the
internal affairs of that country and engage its military regime.
1994-96 saw enhancement of economic cooperation between the two
countries. But the decisive shift towards realism came with the
formation of a NDA-led government since 1998.
Jaswant Singh, the then foreign minister, was the architect of realism
in seeing Myanmar as a land and sea bridge towards the Asian region.
During this phase (which continues to date), there have been military
to military dialogues and political rapprochement. The stakes have
also included management of the security situation in the North-east.
Initiatives like BIMSTEC also took off during this phase. For these
reasons, both India and China have avoided isolating its neighbour
although international pressure is mounting on Myanmar's military
regime to return to the path of democracy.
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=42065