The Speaker

Renaud Egreteau received his PhD in Political Science in 2002, specialising in International Relations in Asia, from the Institute of Political Science in Paris and the Centre for International Research and Studies (CERI, Paris). Since then he has been contributing to the public discourse in French and English on India-Myanmar relations, especially on India's Myanmar policy. He has also done work on China's Myanmar policy and its implications for India, thus he has been able to compare and contrast the policies of the two Asian giants towards Myanmar. He has done fieldwork in the northeast of India on the border with Myanmar. As recent as March 2005 he delivered a seminar in New Delhi on leadership change in Myanmar and its implications for India.

Abstract

Myanmar (and formerly Burma) has been ruled by a military junta since 1962. India, which shares a 1,643 km-long border with Myanmar, has conducted ever since a unique kind of policy towards its neighbour. After cordial relations were maintained between Indira Gandhi and General Ne Win (Burma's military ruler from 1962-1988), India heartily supported the democratic movement that had shaken up Myanmar in 1988-90. But with the renewal of the Burmese junta, which rapidly found itself entrenched in a close strategic relationship with China, India began to shift its policy to adopt a much more 'realist' attitude towards the Burmese military in the mid-nineties. Now willing to engage its neighbour regardless the nature of its regime, India has chosen a singular approach as New Delhi seems to have bet on the (at least in the near future) continuity of the regime.

This seminar will try to assess the fit between India's strategic interests in the region and Myanmar's political situation. Indeed, India has many reasons to court the Myanmar regime. First, the enduring ethnic insurgencies of India's Northeast have often found shelter, finance and support on the Myanmar side of the border. According to Indian strategists, dealing with Yangon could helped New Delhi in its counter-insurgency operations, as India cannot afford having next door an hostile regime that could easily fuel the insurgencies. Second, India launched in the early 1990s a Look East Policy, aimed at getting closer to the booming Southeast Asian countries. For India, Southeast Asia begins with Myanmar, and thus India has to include it in its new diplomacy. Third, the China factor has been a constant source of concern to India. Close Sino-Myanmar military cooperation has long worried India's military establishment. How will India face these stakes and account for them in its new "Myanmar Policy"? Will it lead to a valuable relationship? Also, we will analyse the regional implications of the new velvet attitude of India towards the State Peace and Development Council: would India have any impact on the current political transition process in Myanmar?

ISEAS is pleased to invite you to this Seminar.

By Fax: 6775-6264 / 6775-6259

The Seminar Co-ordinator
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies
30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Singapore 119614

I will be able to attend the Seminar on India's New Myanmar Policy: Towards a Valuable Partnership? by Dr Renaud Egreteau on Tuesday, 13 September 2005 at 10.00 am in ISEAS Seminar Room II.

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Please complete the Reply Form and return by fax to the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies or email: betty@iseas.edu.sg by Monday, 12 September 2005. For further enquiries, please call Betty at Tel: 6870-2472/6778-0955.

Notes:       1.     All registrations will be taken as confirmed unless otherwise notified.

2.         Parking is available at the Heng Mui Keng Complex Carpark, located next to ISEAS Building.  At the carpark, please take the lift to LEVEL 6 (Lobby) and exit through the main entrance to ISEAS Building.  

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