Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing, who is in India on a five-day visit, has held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, focusing on areas including trade, connectivity, border security and defence This is his first visit abroad since becoming president earlier this year, and it is being closely watched as a sign of how regional powers intend to engage with Myanmar’s military-backed leadership following a widely criticised election and five years of civil war triggered by a coup in 2021.
Myanmar and India share a 1,643km (1,021-mile) border and developments on one side often have consequences for the other, particularly in India’s north-eastern region where security, migration and cross-border trade is closely intertwined with events in the neighbouring country.
In February 2021, Min Aung Hlaing, then the armed forces commander-in-chief, seized power by ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, shortly after her National League for Democracy …won a landslide election victory.
The military takeover sparked nationwide protests that later evolved into an armed resistance movement and a civil war that has killed thousands of people, displaced millions and left large parts of the country outside military control
