BANGKOK, May 30 (Reuters) – Less than two months after he completed a carefully engineered transition from Myanmar’s junta chief to become president, Min Aung Hlaing will fly to India on an official visit on Saturday, his first overseas visit since taking the civilian role.
The five-day trip, during which the former general will hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, underscores the gradual return of regional re-engagement for Myanmar, five years after many of its neighbours shunned the Southeast Asian nation’s military leadership following a coup.
For India, the visit is an opportunity to dilute China’s outsized influence on Myanmar while working to secure access to the country’s deposits of critical rare earths, and bolster security along its northeastern borders, analysts said.
SEARCH FOR IMPROVED REGIONAL RELATIONS
“After changing into civilian clothes as president, Min Aung Hlaing is looking to boost diplomatic engagement across the region,” said Richard Horsey, senior Myanmar adviser at Crisis Group.
“He expects more normal ties with ASEAN,” Horsey added, referring to the grouping of 11 southeast Asian countries, “with support from Thailand and some other member states. He is also likely to visit Beijing soon to meet Xi Jinping. India is Myanmar’s other key neighbour.”
An official from Myanmar’s presidential office, reached via phone, declined to comment on the visit.
Indian foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters on Friday: “All issues that form part of the gamut of relations between Myanmar and India will come up for discussion.”
JUNTA WAS DIPLOMATICALLY ISOLATED
In a dawn takeover on February 1, 2021, Min Aung Hlaing ousted the elected civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a protest movement that transformed into a nationwide armed uprising against the military.
The coup drew widespread condemnation, including from the ASEAN bloc that barred Myanmar’s generals from its summits, and the new military-led administration found itself increasingly isolated.
A devastating earthquake last year provided a diplomatic opening for Min Aung Hlaing, who made a rare visit to a regional summit in Bangkok, which he is seeking to build on following a widely criticised election that paved the way for his presidency.
“He is seeking more and more regional and international respectability post-election,” said Gautam Mukhopadhaya, a former Indian ambassador to Myanmar.
FRONTIER AREA OFFENSIVES
Although long backed by Beijing, which has a range of investments in Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing’s move to travel to India for his first overseas visit would in part be to counter China’s deep influence, analysts said.
“This has been part of Myanmar’s way of dealing with India and China, capitulating more to China and trying to sort of balance it with India,” said Mukhopadhaya.
The visit comes as Myanmar’s military has launched renewed offensives in a frontier area where the rare-earth deposits are found as well as other vital trade routes into India and Thailand.
“Min Aung Hlaing will almost certainly seek India’s help in countering the Arakan Army and Chin armed groups,” Horsey said, referring to rebels fighting the military in Myanmar’s Chin state, which borders India, and nearby Rakhine state.
India, on its part, has been interested in finding a way to access Myanmar’s resources, including working to obtain mineral samples with the assistance of a powerful rebel group, Reuters has reported.
“The bottom line behind this visit from the Indian side is what they can get out of it in terms of raw materials, rare earths (and) business propositions,” Mukhopadhaya said.
“And that’s exactly what the Myanmar military wants, because it wants its military enterprises strengthened.”
(Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal and Reuters staff; Additional reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in New Delhi; Editing by David Holmes)
