Unless the leaders of varying political hue and institutional oligarchs, including the military and, above all, Su Kyi, show political wisdom, incidents such as those in Meikhtila, Yamethin, and state military action against the Karens and Kachins will continue to recur.
While India has supplied arms and equipment quite selectively to Myanmar, the outcome, which was expected to serve India’s interests, has not been commensurate.
Obama’s visit strengthens the hands of President U Thein Sein and has raised expectation that it would encourage the Myanmar government to address the democratisation and ethnic challenges.
To avoid further deterioration in the bilateral relationship, both Japan and China need to now abandon their hard-line stance and stop escalating nationalistic sentiments among their people.
INS Sudarshini is undertaking the goodwill mission to commemorate 20 years of friendship between India and the Association of South East Asian Nations which falls in December 2012.
While India is not immediately affected by the Rohingya refugee migration from Myanmar, it cannot be oblivious to the regional dimensions of such human migrations based on ethnic discontent.
The Kingdom of Cambodia, chair and host of the 10 member-Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), hosted the second ASEAN Summit in its Peace Palace building at Phnom Penh from July 9-13. The Summit convened its signature assemblage—the 45th ASEAN Foreign Minister’s Meeting (AMM)/Post Ministerial Conference (PMC). Apart from this annual feature, the Summit also saw the participation of ASEAN partners from 17 countries under the aegis of 19th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), 13th ASEAN Plus Three (APT) and the 2nd East Asia Summit (EAS).
With better connectivity and implementation of various development projects, the Asian Highway would enable the North-East region to become a business hub of South Asia.
The massive earthquake and tsunami which triggered the Fukushima nuclear crisis on March 11, 2011 has shattered the Japanese people’s faith in the safety of nuclear power generation.
More Ethnic Riots in Myanmar: Disturbances in Meikhtila
Unless the leaders of varying political hue and institutional oligarchs, including the military and, above all, Su Kyi, show political wisdom, incidents such as those in Meikhtila, Yamethin, and state military action against the Karens and Kachins will continue to recur.