Indian Politics & Policy Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2018 | Page 84

Foreign Assistance in India’s Foreign Policy: Political and Economic Determinants
both political and economic terms to
secure India’s perceived long-term security
interests, against a possible future
re-conquest of the country by the
Taliban operating with covert backing
from Pakistan. In recent years, China
too has increased its level of activity in
Afghanistan, something not to India’s
comfort given the de facto Pakistan–
China alliance.
Myanmar
Myanmar is India’s neighbor, bordering
four northeastern Indian states, with a
1,650 kilometer border, and an ethnic
Naga insurgency that overlaps that border.
It also has about 400,000 people of
Indian origin, mostly very poor. India
has followed a policy of engagement
with the military regime in Myanmar
from the mid-1990s, its policy being
based on cultivating Myanmar to prevent
it from going entirely into the
hands of China politically and to gain
Myanmar’s cooperation in tackling the
Naga insurgency, de-prioritizing democracy,
and the Indian minority. In
return, Myanmar supported India’s bid
for UNSC permanent membership and
has been cooperative on the Naga insurgency
issue. Annual foreign office
consultations began in 1995. 12
Assistance to Myanmar increased
gradually over the past decade.
An MOU for the Chindwin hydroelectric
project was signed in 2004–05, and
one on the India–Myanmar–Thailand
trilateral highway project following the
Myanmar foreign minister’s visit in July
2004. This was followed by MOUs on
railways and energy cooperation inter
alia a possible Myanmar–Bangladesh–India
gas pipeline. The idea was to
work toward the integration of India’s
northeastern states with Myanmar and
further afield with booming Southeast
Asia and Southwest China.
A BCIM group (Bangladesh–
China–India–Myanmar) cooperation
meeting was held in March 2006. A
Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement
and a BIPPA were signed in 2008–09.
Emergency humanitarian assistance
was rushed to Myanmar following Cyclone
Nargis in May 2008.
Cooperation was significantly
stepped up in 2010–11, mainly LOCs
for oil and gas, power, railways, and
highways. A delegation from Northeastern
India visited Myanmar to promote
subregional cooperation. The Myanmar
president Thein Sein visited India
in October 2011 (coincidentally coinciding
with Afghan President Karzai’s
visit), an LOC of $500 m was extended
and a target was set for $3 bn in trade
by 2015. The stepping up of assistance is
part of a strategy to support Myanmar’s
democratization and relative shift away
from dependence on China.
Africa
Indian foreign policy has traditionally
supported decolonization, and opposed
racism and apartheid. India had been
offering training and expertise to Africa
under the ITEC program since the
1960s. In the period of the 1990s and in
the twenty-first century, in the context
of the liberalization and faster growth of
India’s economy, the end of apartheid in
South Africa in 1994, the liberalization
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