by Mungpi
Saturday, 19 December 2009 00:25
New Delhi (Mizzima) - While Burma and China will further strengthen bilateral relations with the visit of Vice President Xi Jinping, which will begin on Saturday, observers said India will be closely watching developments in Sino-Burmese relationship.
While it is not uncommon for the Burmese and Chinese leaders to exchange visits, the visit by Xi, who has been widely tipped to succeed President Hu Jintao, would be watched with curiosity by India, a senior Indian journalist, who monitors Burma, said.
“Given the background of Chinese presence in Burma and the fact that the Burmese junta is planning an election in 2010, any visit at this time by the Chinese [to Burma] would be viewed with interest by New Delhi,” Ramesh Ramachandran, a senior journalist, said.
He said, any visit by the Chinese or Burmese officials, would increment relationship between the two and Xi’s visit is yet just another visit that the two countries are maintaining.
“But if speculations are true that Xi would be succeeding President Hu Jintao, this visit could be significant, and New Delhi will keep an eye on it,” he added.
Burma, which shares long borders with India and China, has been supported internationally by the two giants, which are both trying to gain a foothold in the resource-rich Southeast Asian nation.
Last week, Indian Foreign Minister S.M Krishna held bilateral talks with his Burmese counterpart, at the sidelines of a regional meeting held in Naypyitaw. Following the meeting, Krishna told reporters that the Burmese authorities had assured helping India in fighting Indian insurgents operating on Burmese soil.
Ramachandran said, with China and India countering each other’s influence in the region it has resulted in a tug-of-war in Burma, and provided the Burmese military rulers the support they needed.
“If you look at our neighbourhood in South Asia, China and India will be in a tug-of-war in various countries including Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Burma,” he added.
But according to a Burmese analyst based in Thailand, Xi’s visit to Burma only indicates the importance of Burma in Chinese foreign policy in general and does not have particular significance.
“Choosing Burma among the four countries might seen as significant but Xi, who has been largely tipped to be the successor, is visiting as part of the Chinese way of introducing the next President in terms of foreign relations,” Bo Bo Kyaw Nyien, a Burmese analyst based in Thailand said.
According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Xi is touring Japan, South Korea, Burma and Cambodia in response to invitations by the four countries.
Bo Bo Kyaw Nyien said, Xi is likely to discuss various issues ranging from security along the border, boosting of bilateral economics, and gas and oil projects, but concluded that Xi is primarily paying a visit to understand the bilateral relationship with these countries that are important to China.
“Japan definitely is an important country for China as South Korea is. And Cambodia and Burma are both influenced largely by China,” he said.
If speculations come true, Chinese President Hu Jintao, when he retires in 2012, would be succeeded by Xi, who would then serve as the President of China up to 2022. He would also be the fifth president of the Peoples’ Republic of China.
A Sino-Burma border based observer, Aung Kyaw Zaw, earlier told Mizzima that Xi, during his visit, would discuss the security situation of the Sino-Burma border, which in August was strife torn with conflicts breaking out between the junta’s troops and ethnic Kokang rebels.
The Chinese Vice President would certainly try to get an assurance from the Burmese junta for stability with the neighbor along the border, he added.
In August fighting broke out between the Burmese Army and Kokang rebels in North Eastern Shan State, forcing over 30,000 people to flee to China.
And with several ethnic rebels rejecting the junta’s proposal of transforming their armies into a junta administered Border Guard Force (BGF), tension has been brewing between the junta’s troops and rebel armies along the Sino-Burma border.
During the visit, Xi, however, is also expected to raise issues related to bilateral cooperation including the recently signed contract to build a dual gas and oil pipeline from Burma’s western Arakan coast to China’s North-western Yunnan province, Aung Kyaw Zaw said.
With Burma carrying the burden of allowing the construction of gas and oil pipelines, China would be more than obliged to help the Burmese junta, he said.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
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