India has advantage in Suu Kyi-led Myanmar

TIL Desk/World/Beijing-Myanmar should not “put all its eggs in one basket”, Chinese state media said today while acknowledging that India has an “advantage” over China in the Southeast Asian nation under Aung San Suu Kyi as Beijing faced flak in the country for backing the previous military junta.

“Previously, China strongly backed military rule in Myanmar while the West vigorously ostracised it. Yet now…the nation’s domestic public opinion holds a relatively negative attitude toward Beijing. Therefore, in terms of ideology, India seems to have fewer barriers to developing its relations with Myanmar,” it said.

Highlighting the India-China competition to court Myanmar, it said “ties between Beijing and Nay Pyi Taw have always been close, but even so, India has initiated all kinds of interactions with Myanmar for quite some time, including joint programmes over infrastructure work such as highway and hydropower stations”.

“In years to come, the Myanmarese government might have more expectations in India over economic and trade cooperation, defence collaboration and joint works to expand connectivity with neighbouring countries,” it said. “China is of course of great importance to Myanmar, but Nay Pyi Taw will not put all its eggs in one basket. While New Delhi has always hoped it can draw Myanmar over to its own sphere of influence, the former is thus another basket for the latter to put its eggs in.