Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
- Recently, Myanmar’s military government hosted the first high – level regional meeting since the Army took power in 2021.
- China’s Foreign Minister and counterparts from Mekong Delta nations attended the meeting.
- Foreign Minister of China along with his colleagues from Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam at the Mekong – Lancang Cooperation group meeting.
- It was held in the central city of Bagan, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
- The theme of the meeting was “Solidarity for Peace and Prosperity”
Mekong – Lancang Cooperation:
The grouping is a Chinese led initiative that includes the countries of the Mekong Delta, a potential source of regional tensions due to an increasing number of hydroelectric projects that are altering the flow and raising concerns of ecological damage.
Issues:
- China has built 10 dams along the upper stretch of the Mekong, the part it calls the Lancang.
- China has been criticized for the dams upstream on the Mekong river which affect water levels and downstream fisheries that are important to several Southeast Asian nations’ economies.
- In the November 2020 parliamentary election, Suu Kyi’s party National League for Democracy (NLD) secured the majority of the seats.
- In the Myanmar’s’ Parliament, the military holds 25% of the total seats according to the 2008 military-drafted constitution and several key ministerial positions are also reserved for military appointees.
- When the newly elected Myanmar lawmakers were to hold the first session of Parliament in 2021, the military imposed a state of emergency for one year citing massive voting fraud in the parliamentary elections.
India’s reaction to the Coup:
- India supports the process of democratic transition in Myanmar.
- Though India has expressed deep concern over developments in Myanmar, cutting off from the Myanmar military is not a viable option as India has significant economic and strategic interests in Myanmar and its neighbourhood.
Importance of Myanmar for India:
Myanmar is geopolitically significant to India as it stands at the center of the India-Southeast Asia geography.
- Myanmar is the only Southeast Asian country that shares a land border with north-eastern India.
- Myanmar is the only country that sits at the intersection of India’s “Neighborhood First”policy and its “Act East” policy.
- As part of India’s SAGAR Vision, India developed the Sittwe port in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
- The port is meant to be India’s answer to the Chinese-fronted Kyaukpyu port, which is intended to cement China’s geostrategic footprint in Rakhine.
SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT
