India courts Myanmar, Vietnam amid China tension

NEW DELHI (Reuters) : India hosts the leaders of Myanmar and Vietnam this week, giving New Delhi the opportunity to forge closer economic and security ties with two countries encountering testy relations with India’s giant regional rival, China.

Hungry for reclusive Myanmar’s natural gas reserves, timber and farm exports to feed its rapidly expanding economy, India wants to ramp up its engagement with a neighbour traditionally seen as lying within Beijing’s sphere of influence.

To that end, officials in India are closely watching steps by Myanmar’s fledging civilian government to introduce democratic and economic reforms after years of rule by a military dictatorship allied to and funded by China.

One of the first countries to condemn Myanmar for repression of a 1988 pro-democracy uprising, India has since the early 1990s put aside such criticism for fear of pushing its neighbour into China’s fold and losing access to resources.

Despite criticism from activists, Myanmar’s junta leader visited India last year.

President Thein Sein will visit India from Oct. 12 to 15. His government is looking to douse a row with Beijing about the suspension of a dam built and financed by Chinese firms to help plug China’s bulging electricity needs, potentially opening a door to closer ties to India.

For Myanmar, under sanctions by Western countries for its human rights record, China is its most important ally, but the two have deep suspicions. China’s growing economic role in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, has caused considerable popular resentment, while China fears Myanmar’s civilian government could move closer to the United States.

“It is in both India and America’s interests for Burma to be able to wean itself off dependence on China,” said Maung Zarni, a Myanmar expert at the London School of Economics.

“We are being penetrated by China, commercially, demographically, geo-strategically. India is a major loser in this battle but ultimately the biggest loss will be born by the Burmese public,” he said. India will also host Vietnam’s President Truong Tan Sang for three days starting on Tuesday, offering New Delhi scope to deepen trade and defence ties that came under scrutiny after a mysterious navy incident on the South China Sea in July.

China has looked on with a wary eye as ties between India and Vietnam blossomed. A joint oil and gas exploration project between state-owned firms in disputed islands on the South China Sea has raised hackles in Beijing, and was slammed as a violation of Chinese sovereignty by China’s state media.

Reports of a standoff between an Indian vessel sailing away from a Vietnamese port and the Chinese navy also stoked fears the two giants may be on a collision course for resources, although both sides subsequently played down the incident.

With its major economic partners the United States and Europe facing financial turmoil, India wants to foster commercial partnerships with other emerging markets, including a big trade deal with the Southeast Asian bloc, ASEAN, that includes both Vietnam and Myanmar. On a September visit by a Myanmar trade delegation to New Delhi, the two sides pledged to double trade within four years.

“It’s tempting to see everything through the prism of the India-China rivalry, whereas there’s a lot more happening in our relationships with these two countries and quite frankly there’s a lot more happening in our relationship with China too,” said Siddharth Varadarajan, editor of the Hindu newspaper and a foreign-policy expert.