Pic: ReutersYANGON: United Nations chief Ban Ki Moon will attend a landmark peace conference in Myanmar this month, an official and a rebel group said on Monday (Aug 22), bolstering Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi’s drive to end decades of fighting.
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A ministerial delegate accompanying Suu Kyi said India and China are Myanmar’s important neighbors and it is important to maintain good relations with both. Suu Kyi is on a five-day visit to China at the invitation of Premier Li Keqiang.
Suu Kyi arrived in Beijing on Wednesday night to talk about reviving stalled China-funded projects and to enhance bilateral cooperation in tackling ethnic problems along the border.
He added that the two countries also discussed possibilities of further strengthening democracy in Myanmar. The Myanmar government started ceasefire talks with several armed groups in November 2013, and a nationwide ceasefire accord between the government and eight ethnic armed groups was finally signed previous year.
India was thus anxious that Myanmar could become China’s corridor to the Indian Ocean “which can hence threaten India’s national security and its peculiar interests in the waters”.
Swaraj “conveyed India’s full support to this process and said India stands ready to extend any necessary help”, said the person cited earlier.
“They share a lot in culture, religion and democratic values, and their high-level officials have had close relationship for a very long time”, the commentary said.
“For instance, Suu Kyi’s mother used to be Myanmar’s Ambassador to India”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping also pledged that China will continue to play a constructive role in promoting Myanmar’s peace process and working with the country to safeguard peace and stability in their border areas. “Apart from that, many other democratic activists have been supported and protected by India”, it said.
Myanmar and China also reviewed the controversial U.S. $3.6 billion Beijing-backed Myitsone dam project which has been frozen since 2011.
Also Myanmar is quite special in Indian diplomacy.
“We believe the People’s Republic of China will take into serious consideration the fact that the opinion of Myanmar’s people has never been sought extensively enough since the Myitsone project was first conceived”, the groups said in their letter. The joint press release stated that Myanmar “welcomed” China’s Belt and Road initiative as well as the initiative of Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor. This was a major setback to China-Myanmar ties.
Security issues concerning certain Myanmar-based militant groups operating in India’s North East could also come up for discussion.
Ties with Myanmar were crucial for India’s security, he said.
After all, in Myanmar’s epic struggle between the military and the Suu Kyi-led democracy movement, China was the former’s ally and adversary of the pro-democracy camp.
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Japanese government experts are now helping Myanmar’s ministries draw up plans for urban renewal and transportation routes. “Beijing should also increase guidance for non-governmental organisations overseas and student exchanges to promote people-to-people exchanges and boost the friendship between the two sides”, it said.
