NISHIT DHOLABHAI AND ARCHIS MOHAN
New Delhi, July 21: Intelligence agencies are worried about the increasing presence of Chinese-origin businessmen in Myanmar, the concern being voiced ahead of next week’s trip by the head of the country’s military junta.
The anxiety is expected to figure in the talks between General Than Shwe and the Indian side during his five-day state visit starting July 25, though he is also expected to invite Indian investment in a big way.
The warning on the Chinese traders’ rising presence and influence — in the border areas as well as in the hinterland — assumes significance also because of the conclusion that their expansion has come at the cost of Tamils. The trend has been pronounced in the trade hubs of Mandalay and Tamu. “An intelligence report says within five years, Myanmar will be a Chinese colony,” a home ministry official told The Telegraph.
The Tamil families have been there for over a century. Visitors couldn’t miss the aroma of idlis and sambar in Tamu, close to Manipur’s Moreh. “We would joke that the best south Indian food is found in Moreh,” said Pradip Phanjoubam, the editor of Imphal Free Press. That is changing now as Chinese businessmen overtake their Tamil rivals, many of whom are now said to be looking at greener pastures in Moreh.
The Indian worries have a parallel. In the villages of Arunachal Pradesh’s Kibitho — close to the Tibet-India-Myanmar tri-junction — local sources said the population of the Hans, the dominant ethnic Chinese group, had doubled over the past year. The sources even claimed that many of the new settlers were ex-Chinese servicemen.
The Arunachal situation mirrors the tensions in Tibet where riots in 2008 traced their roots to Beijing’s policy of encouraging the Han majority to migrate to the region dominated by native Tibetans. The Dalai Lama, whom China had accused of having plotted the violence, had cited the Han migrations as a cause. Last year’s Uighur uprising in China’s Xinjiang was also blamed on discontent over Han settlers.
Myanmar is strategically important for New Delhi. Militants from Manipur and other states in the Northeast find shelter in the jungles of the country’s north. Myanmar is also a route for gunrunning and drug-smuggling.
General Shew could bring a bag of goodies when he comes calling next week, mainly investment opportunities in his country, including in hydro-power, oil and natural gas projects for an energy-hungry India.
But religion, not business, will be the 77-year-old leader’s trump card as he tries to win over Indian hearts. Shwe — dubbed the “world’s third-worst dictator” behind North Korea’s Kim Jong Il and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe by the Foreign Policy magazine — will start his Indian sojourn with a visit to Bodh Gaya and seek India’s assistance to help to restore a famous Buddhist pagoda, Ananda Temple, in Myanmar.
Myanmar wants the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to restore the over 900-year-old structure. The temple whose architecture is similar to temples in Bengal and Orissa is located in Myanmar’s Bagan region.
Shwe is scheduled to meet President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders during the July 25-29 visit. On his business itinerary will be meetings with barons, including one with Ratan Tata possibly to set up a vehicle plant. Myanmar produces only Jeeps and there is a huge demand of four-wheeler trucks and cars. A visit to infotech and pharmaceutical companies in Hyderabad is also on the cards.
Shwe’s visit is being viewed as yet another sign of India shedding its “moralistic” approach to foreign policy for a “pragmatic” one that requires it to deal with neighbours the way they are, not how they ought to be. Delhi had supported the movement for democracy led by icon Aung San Suu Kyi before it started engaging with the junta. “It (the ties with Myanmar) is a relationship that needs to be nurtured,” said a top foreign ministry official.
