India refrains from nudging Myanmar on democracy

India has vowed to continue its socio-economic development projects in Myanmar, but refrained from publicly nudging the military junta in the neighbouring South East Asian nation to make way for democracy to return.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra visited Nay Pyi Taw on Sunday and Monday to meet the senior officials of the military junta and review the status of the development projects which India had taken up in Myanmar.

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Kwatra called on U Wunna Maung Lwin, the foreign minister of the government the Myanmar Army installed in Nay Pyi Taw after overthrowing the elected government of National League for Democracy in February 2021. They discussed maintenance of security and stability in the border areas between India and Myanmar, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The foreign secretary expressed India's continued support to “people-centric socio-economic developmental projects” in Myanmar, including the ones along the border between the two neighbouring nations. He also reaffirmed New Delhi’s commitment to expediting connectivity initiatives, like the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project and the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway.

The development and the connectivity projects India had taken up in Myanmar slowed down after the February 1, 2021 coup d'etat as the military in the South-East Asian nation launched a crackdown against the protesters agitating across the country against ouster of the democratically elected government and imprisonment of the NLD leaders, including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

The MEA press release on the foreign secretary’s visit to Nay Pyi Taw, however, avoided articulating India’s position on return of democracy in Myanmar.

“(The foreign secretary) held discussions (with senior officials of Myanmar Government) on important bilateral issues relating to border management, security and ongoing bilateral cooperation projects & (and) India’s support to democratic transition in Myanmar,” Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson of the MEA, tweeted on Monday.

New Delhi, however, dropped the reference to India’s support to democracy in Myanmar while issuing the press release on Tuesday.

Kwatra’s predecessor Harsh Shringla had in December 2021 visited Nay Pyi Taw, thus making New Delhi’s first outreach to the military junta after the coup d'etat. Shringlahad called on the chief of the Myanmar Army and the de facto ruler of the country, General Min Aung Hlaing, as well as the civil society leaders and the representatives of the political parties, including Suu Kyi’s NLD.

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There was no reference to Kwatra’s meeting with civil society leaders or the NLD’s representatives in the press release issued by the MEA on Tuesday.

New Delhi has been very cautious in its response to the military coup in Myanmar. India’s strategic interests have always been holding it back from condemning the Myanmar Army. It has since long been trying to resist China’s bid to expand its geopolitical influence in the neighbouring South East Asian nation.

India officially maintains that it supported the ASEAN’s five-point consensus on Myanmar and would like to see the neighbouring nation move towards a democratic government.

Kwatra also raised the issue of human trafficking by international crime syndicates in the Myawaddy area of Myanmar. New Delhi’s diplomatic missions in Bangkok and Yangon over the past few months rescued and repatriated several Indian Information Technology (IT) professionals, who were being trafficked into Myawaddy near Thailand-Myanmar border after being recruited by criminal syndicates.

Foreign Secretary also reiterated India’s commitment to continue with the projects under Rakhine State Development Programme and Border Area Development Programme for the benefit of the people of Myanmar.