Myanmar rulers in mind, India gets Lanka to hold online BIMSTEC meet

While it was earlier supposed to be held in-person, the summit was postponed due to the pandemic. With the Covid situation improving, the summit was then rescheduled for March-end. Senior BIMSTEC officials will meet on March 28, followed by meetings of the foreign ministers on March 29.

“The Covid pandemic related challenges, and the uncertainties within the international system that all BIMSTEC members are facing, imparts greater urgency to the goal of taking BIMSTEC technical and economic cooperation to the next level. This is expected to be the main subject of deliberations by leaders at the Summit,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

The leaders are also expected to discuss the establishment of basic institutional structures and mechanisms of the group, it said.

Over a year after the coup in Myanmar, India has made a nuanced shift to distance itself from the regime — although not condemning it directly, but raising concerns on the democratic process being undermined by the military junta in Nay Pyi Taw. In recent months, as Modi met US President Joe Biden for the bilateral summit at the White House last September, the needle moved a little for Delhi.

With Washington leaning on Delhi, India finds itself in a tight spot on Myanmar. Aware of Beijing’s growing political, military and economic footprint in Myanmar, it does not want to isolate the Nay Pyi Taw regime. Delhi believes it can, with partner countries, engage the junta.

India’s initial response was softer than usual. Hours after the coup in February last year, the MEA said it had “noted the developments in Myanmar with deep concern”.

Weeks later, the Indian mission in Yangon tweeted, on February 28 last year, that the “Embassy of India is deeply saddened by loss of lives in Yangon and other cities of Myanmar today”. This was after at least 18 people were killed as security forces opened fire on protesters, according to the United Nations.

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But, on December 7, Delhi said it was “disturbed” by the verdicts relating to Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others. Underlining that the rule of law and democratic process must be upheld, New Delhi said any development that “undermines these processes and accentuates differences is a matter of deep concern”.

Suu Kyi was sentenced to a four-year jail term by a Myanmar court, which held her guilty of inciting dissent in the first of a series of verdicts.

In what was India’s first official outreach to Myanmar’s military-ruled regime, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla went to Myanmar on December 22-23. He sought a meeting with Suu Kyi, which the Myanmar military declined.

India has refrained from direct criticism of the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military, as it is wary of Beijing’s growing influence and the high stakes involved in maintaining peace and security along the India-Myanmar border. It feels that instead of condemning the military leadership in Myanmar, it should work with partner countries to lean on the military to work together to resolve their differences in a peaceful and constructive manner.

So, even as it wants to work with Myanmar’s junta regime, it does not want to share the stage with the leadership at a summit right now.