China, India and Myanmar Triangular Relationship: In the Context of Rohingya Issues

Abstract

Myanmar’s geo-political and geo-economic position is very important to China and India. India and China are the two regional powers of Southeast Asia, although it shares border with the two coutries. Basically, Myanmar is the center of connectivity to South Asia and Southeast Asia with the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. The new economic super power of the world. China’s ambitious project BRI connects Myanmar with two corridors. Especially in the case of importing fuel oil and exporting products to the global market, Chinese ships have to go around the Malacca Strait, which is time consuming and costly and strategically risky. But using Kukpyu Port in Rakhine State will reduce China’s dependence on the Malacca Strait and expand trade. That is why the bilateral relationship between the world’s second largest economy China (GDP $14.140 Trillion, 2019) and the 73rd economy Myanmar (GDP $ 69.994, 2019) is very important (Ahamed, Rahman & Nur, 2020) . China has been playing an important role in Myanmar’s economic development through bilateral trade relations since 1988. From 1988 to 2018, 26% of all foreign investment in Myanmar came from China and as of June 2020, Chinese investment in Myanmar was US $21350.668 Million (DICA, 2020). India shares a 1643 km land border with Myanmar with 4 northeastern states of Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur. Myanmar is the gateway to the implementation of ‘Act East Policy’ and ‘Neighborhood First Policy’ announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 (Ahamed, Rahman & Nur, 2020). In addition, the world’s two most important sea routes, The strait of Malacca and The strait of Hurmuz, are connected to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean through the Bay of Bengal. Myanmar has a 725 km coastal boundary with the Bay of Bengal. Because of this, Myanmar is geo-politically and geo-strategically India., important to the Western world including China. Due to US presence in Indian Ocean, recent Sino-Indian conflict and Myanmar’s strategic location, Sino-Myanmar relations have become one of the research topics at present. This article will analyze the multifaceted aspects of China-Myanmar relations.