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09/22/2009: "Thailand to act tough against NE rebels Nagaland Post"
Thailand to act tough against NE rebels Nagaland Post
Says it will not allow terror acts against India
New Delhi, September 21: Amid reports that top leaders of various Northeast insurgent groups have been frequenting Thailand, the country has vowed not to allow its soil to be used for terror acts directed against India.
"We will not allow anyone to use our land for insurgency and terrorist activities directed against our friends," Thai Ambassador Krit Kraichitti told a news agency.
Terming India as a "close friend", the Ambassador said that his government is also concerned about the growing threat of terrorism and would extend all help to New Delhi to deal with the problem.
"Both India and Thailand have cooperation under bilateral as well as BIMSTEC framework to deal with the problem," he said, adding that "political issues should not be allowed to create hurdles for improving economic ties."
There have been intelligence reports that leaders of insurgent outfits like ULFA, NSCN and ATTF (All Tripura Tiger Force) frequently visit Bangkok and other parts of the country to procure arms and ammunition.
"We have a joint working group on security. We exchange information about how to prevent acts of terrorism," he added.
Kraichitti said the recent BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) convention on security and terrorism had discussed threadbare the problem of terrorism and that Thailand was committed to extending its cooperation to the multilateral forum.
The Thai Ambassador also said navies of the two countries conduct joint exercises and his country would like to have deeper ties in defence sector also.
Seeking an increase in the volume of trade and commerce between the two countries, Kraichitti said Thailand would like to invest in infrastructure sector in the North Eastern states as the region has huge potential for investment.
He said various Thai investors are interested in investing in energy, gas and agro-based industries in the region, which has close cultural links with Thailand.
Kraichitti said several high-level Thai delegations visited the region recently to explore the possibility of investment in these key areas.
He hoped that India's 'Look East Policy' combined with Thailand's 'Look West Policy' would give a quantum jump to annual bilateral trade, which now stands at around USD 6 billion.
Noting that the tourism sector has huge potential, the Thai Ambassador also favoured developing the Buddhist tourist circuit between India and Thailand. (zeenews)
Prophecy and India-China war games Joel|Dimapur Morung Express
•-Many Christian Nagas have become immune to prophecies and divine revelations. For some it is an embarrassment to be kept at arms length. Contrary to these perceptions, dreams and prophecies are an integral part of our faith as witnessed in the Bible and such negation is a negation of the Holy Spirit which in turn is a negation of the Father and the Son. Prophecies become problematic due to its non-fulfillment many a times leading to general skepticism but Bible clearly says that all prophecies are to be tested first and then accepted.
Dr. N. Kezeinuo in his article “Oh Nagaland Awake, Awake” dated 20th Sept. 2009, The Morung Express, reveals the vision that “two mithuns fought severely for the map of Arunachal Pradesh and big baskets of paddy were totally destroyed”.( by Rev. N. Kikon).
Similarly, Lasau Kath, Kandinu Prayer Centre, Kandinu village revealed to us that on the midnight (12.30 am) of 21st Aug. 2008, he saw a vision where “two mithuns fought severely in a large paddy field”. Accordingly, the Holy Spirit told him that the two mithuns are India and China and that these two nations would go to war in the year 2010. The paddy field is totally destroyed signifying that there will be severe famine in the land.
Coming back to Dr. Kezeinuo’s article, I reproduce two points to ponder over;
1. North-East will be cut off.
2. Brahmaputra valley dissected and its eastern half along with hill states given to Nagaland. (by Lt. Rev. Merinthung Mozhui).
This prophecy is not far from the recent semi- official Chinese blog which advocated breaking up of India into many parts. Given the dangerous war games being played between India and China along Arunachal, Ladakh and Sikkim borders, it is very probable that the Chinese want a repeat of 1962- the only difference being that they would keep Arunachal Pradesh this time. It is for nothing that the Indian Army is creating 2 Mountain Divisions in the North-East and moving tanks and warplanes in this part of the country. North-east India since the 50’s have been engulfed in various internal conflicts and there is a longing for peace but if war breaks out between India and China and if India is defeated, it is very probable that the Chinese would want to create an independent Nagaland (“united states of Nagaland”-refer to Dr. Kezeinuo article) to act as a buffer state against future Indian aggressions.
To cut off North-East (Dr. Kezeinuo) would be to cut off the supply route of the Indian Army and this would be the logical 1st step for Chinese strategic planners. The North- East is connected to mainland India through a tiny corrider called chicken’s neck (at places only 16 km wide) near Siliguri. This corridor is easily accessible from Sikkim which would be another vintage point of Chinese attack. Naturally, if the Chinese were to overrun chicken’s neck, the whole of North-East including Indian Army would be encircled and starved, prophecy or no prophecy.
Against such a scenario having humanitarian ramifications, it would be pertinent to throw a few hypothetical questions.
1. In case of war and the resultant famine, how will the state government respond or what are the resources of the State? Does it have enough foodstocks to last for say, six months? And if not, the contingency measures to be taken? Are its hospitals equipped to handle hundreds if not thousands of potential casualties, both from war and famine? Does it have enough medicines?
2. In case of war between India and China, what would be the response of the forces of Naga Nationalism? Will it go the Subhash C. Bose way and support the aggressors or will it remain neutral or even support India war efforts?
Way back in 1962, India’s humiliating defeat by the Chinese resulted in mainland Indian backlash against Naga students and other mongoloid North-east students studying in Delhi and elsewhere in India. They were chased and beaten in Indian cities. Such an outrageous incident cannot be ruled out again if Indian casualties were to go up.
Prophecy does not presume to replace the rationality of the state in its governance. But as Christians, we believe prophecy to be one of the many tools available to leaders to make wise and timely decisions for the welfare of the people. In the light of these divine revelations and the gravity of the situation, I guess it would not be too inappropriate to suggests that NBCC should at least organize a day of prayer and fasting all over Nagaland with shops, schools, offices and all activities brought to a grinding halt. Let us not be ashamed to call His name.
Joel|Dimapur
A fourth force SUSHANTA TALUKDAR Frontline
The traditional parties are likely to find the going tough with the Nagaland People’s Front jumping into the fray.
RITU RAJ KONWAR
Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu (left) with his predecessor Gegong Apang, both Congress candidates.
IT is essentially a three-cornered contest in Arunachal Pradesh, but the entry of a fourth contestant, the Nagaland People’s Front (NPF), the ruling party of Nagaland, has introduced an element of uncertainty into the October 13 Assembly elections.
The Congress, the ruling party in the State, is contesting all the 60 seats. In fact, it sounded the bugle in February 2008 itself with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announcing a Rs.10,000-crore development package for the State during his maiden visit there. The Congress is trying to showcase the Prime Minister’s package, which includes a Rs.5,500-crore, 1,840-kilometre trans-Arunachal Pradesh highway project from Tawang to Mahadevpur, as proof of the party’s commitment to develop the State.
Apart from Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu, former Chief Minister Gegong Apang, his son and former Union Minister Omak Apang, Home Minister Jarbom Gamlin, Finance Minister Kaliko Pul, and Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee president and Public Works Minister Nabam Tuki have been renominated from their respective constituencies. The Congress high command sprang a surprise when it denied the ticket to sitting legislator and chairman of the Mon Autonomous Region Demand Committee (MARDC) Rev. Tsona Gontse Rinpoche, who is a close associate of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader in self-exile in India.
In the 2004 Assembly elections, three Congress nominees – Dorjee Khandu and former Ministers Tsering Gyurmey and Nabam Tuki (the present PCC chief), were elected unopposed. While Gyurmey was the lone candidate to file the papers for the Dirang seat, Tuki and Khandu were elected after their opponents, the Arunachal Congress candidate in Sagalee and an independent in Mukto respectively, withdrew their papers.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is going it alone and will contest 40 seats. State NCP President L. Wanglet told Frontline that his party hoped to win a large chunk of the seats and claimed that the NCP would play an important role in the formation of the next government. The party is trying to woo rebels in the Congress camp, hoping for a repeat of the 2004 poll windfall when 13 Congress aspirants who were denied the ticket contested as independents and won. Wanglet pointed out that almost all NCP leaders had at one point of time been Congressmen, and some of them had become legislators and Ministers and nurtured their respective constituencies well. The NCP is desperately hoping that the Congress rebels will vertically split the votes of the ruling party and thus help the candidates of non-Congress parties. In 2004, the NCP won two seats in this fashion though both legislators later joined the Congress.
The NCP has made “good governance” a major poll plank. It has armed its campaign machinery with statistics that, it says, will prove that the backwardness of the State has been due to “bad governance”, and particularly the government’s inability to ensure that development funds reached the people. The party also plans to make big dams another campaign issue and promises to review the power projects planned and power-related agreements signed by the State government with different power companies.
Another major opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), suffered a jolt ahead of the polls when its articulate leader, Kiren Rijuju, joined the Congress. The BJP was banking heavily on the former MP’s rising popularity to woo young voters.
The BJP plans to contest around 35 seats. According to Chandrasekhar Rao, a senior leader in charge of the party’s affairs in the north-eastern States, the party will have informal understandings with independents and regional parties for the remaining seats. “We will not have any pre-poll alliance but we are open to post-poll alliances,” he said. Like the NCP, the BJP hopes to manage a good show by taking advantage of the internal feud and disgruntlement in the ruling party over ticket distribution. In 2004, the BJP won nine seats but all the nine legislators later joined the Congress.
The October 13 elections will help the BJP check if the voters of these nine constituencies had actually accepted the BJP ideology or whether the 2004 victories were because of the popularity of the candidates, as is often claimed by the Congress. The BJP’s vote share increased from 25.16 per cent in 1999 to 28 per cent in 2004 while the Congress’ vote share declined from 51.57 per cent to 36 per cent. In 1999, the BJP contested 24 seats but failed to win even one. In 2004 it contested 38 and won nine.
Kiren Rijuju has dashed the BJP’s hopes this time in the same way the State’s longest-serving Chief Minister, Gegong Apang, did before the 2004 Assembly polls. Apang then ended his year-long honeymoon with the BJP and rejoined the Congress along with his Cabinet colleagues. This was a major jolt for the BJP, which was looking forward to ride on the crest of his popularity. Earlier, in August 2003, Arunachal Pradesh became the first State in the region to be governed by the BJP when Apang and MLAs supporting him joined the party.
The NPF has decided to put up candidates in 12 constituencies in Tirap and Changlang districts. These districts have sizable populations of Naga tribes. Shurhozelie Liezietsu, NPF president, says that the two districts are the most backward ones in Arunachal Pradesh and that the primary objective of the NPF, if elected, will be to ensure the judicious use of development funds to develop them on a par with the rest of the country.
The NPF has already decided to change its nomenclature to the Naga People’s Front to broaden the scope of its political activities beyond Nagaland. But, for the October 13 elections, it will have to put up candidates under its original nomenclature because of some technicalities.
Poll pundits predict that the performance of the NPF will have important political ramifications in two other north-eastern States, Assam and Manipur.
The NPF’s decision to contest created a political storm in the State with the influential All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) leading the protests. AAPSU general secretary Takam Tatung said that anyone who contested under the NPF banner would be treated as “anti-Arunachalee”. “Even if someone manages to win the election as an NPF candidate, he or she will not be allowed to enter Itanagar,” he said.
The student body also submitted a memorandum to the Governor, Gen (Retd.) J.J. Singh, to invoke the provisions of Article 371(H), which bestows special responsibility on the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh with respect to law and order, and declare Tirap and Changlang disturbed areas in the wake of the growing insurgent activities by both factions of National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN).
“The NPF has come to contest the elections in Arunachal Pradesh only to serve the interest of the two factions of the NSCN. If the NPF had no ulterior motives, then it should have contested the elections from Itanagar or elsewhere instead of Tirap and Changlang,” said Tatung. He alleged that the NPF’s decision to contest the polls in Tirap and Changlang was to further the NSCN’s game plan to include areas falling under these districts in the proposed “greater Nagalim”. The NSCN(Isak-Muivah) has been demanding the creation of a single administrative entity integrating all Naga-inhabited areas in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur with Nagaland. However, the three States have opposed the demand.
The Arunachal Pradesh Assembly passed a resolution in February 2004 recommending the creation of two autonomous councils – one comprising Tawang and West Kameng districts in the west known as the Mon region and another comprising Tirap and Changlang districts in the east known as the Patkai region. However, New Delhi is reluctant to create them in this strategically located State bordering China, Myanmar and Bhutan.
Shurhozelie, however, argues that the Indian Constitution does not prohibit any political party from contesting in any State. He also says that the NPF’s decision to contest in Arunachal Pradesh had nothing to do with the larger issue of Naga integration.
After being toppled by his rival Gegong Apang in July 2003, former Chief Minister Mukut Mithi alleged that the NSCN (I-M) had hatched a conspiracy to dislodge him from power by directing all 12 legislators from the two Naga-dominated districts to withdraw support to his government.
A 37-member Ministry headed by Apang was sworn in after the Mithi-led Congress government was reduced to a minority when 31 of the 58 Congress MLAs, including 17 Ministers, resigned from the party.
The entry of the NPF into Arunachal Pradesh has not only stirred a controversy but made the poll battle interesting.
Nagaland marks itself on World Bamboo map MerinewsDilip Sharma
Nagaland has been able to cultivate the woody grass in about 16,000 hectares of land. The enthusiasm of the farmers to grow bamboo, combined with an announcement to revive the Paper and Pulp Mill at Tuli, has given a boost to bamboo here.
EVEN AS Nagaland took the lead in the fight against climate change through bamboo at the recently concluded World Bamboo Congress at Bangkok, the state also entered the World Bamboo Map with its bamboo potentials, being the largest producer of bamboo in India.
During the last three years, Nagaland has been able to cultivate the woody grass in about 16,000 hectares of land, which is termed as quite satisfactory seeing the progress and growth of bamboo in the state.
Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner, Alemtemshi Jamir, who is also the project Director of Nagaland Bamboo Mission, said that Nagaland can play a very important role in promoting the bamboo industry in the country as well finding a global market. “Ever since the state launched the Nagaland Bamboo Mission, the consistent effort of the people in cultivating bamboo has yielded satisfactory results. The people of the state, especially the farmers are amazed with the success,” he added.
He said due to the enthusiasm of the farmers to grow bamboo, combined with an announcement to revive the Paper and Pulp Mill at Tuli, has given a boost to the bamboo sector in the state. “Planting bamboo in 5000 hectares of land per year is quite substantiated,” he added. On a query about the prospect of valued added goods, he said that there are great prospects of bamboo, a produce which has over 1500 documented uses. “There is no end to value added capabilities of bamboo,” he said.
Stating that Nagaland woke up very late to identify the potentialities of bamboo and declare it as an industry, he said that it was only during 2004-05 the state government realised about the usefulness of bamboo in the state. He disclosed that Nagaland is leading state in India in terms of bamboo plantation, even though there is alack of technologists and few entrepreneurs deal with bamboo.
The state is currently producing bamboo charcoal, bamboo shoot, bamboo sticks and mats. He said that the big campaigns need to be launched in the form of seminars and training to equip the entrepreneurs with skills and expertise.
About power generation through bamboo, Alemtemshi said that this is secondary aspect of application, but Nagaland takes the lead in bamboo gasifiers. He said that a 25kv gasifier has been set up at Nagaland Bamboo and Research Centre and a similar one at Razephema, which is supplying electricity to the villagers.
The Development Commissioner further said that from next year, Nagaland would also celebrate the World Bamboo Day.
Centre keen on compassionate handling of law and order in NE Nagaland post
New Delhi, September 21: Militancy in parts of Northeast region of the country is receiving serious attention of the Central Government and efforts are afoot to curb militancy and restore peace and development.
This was clearly indicated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the three-day conference of State Police Chiefs over security threats held in the national capital this past week. He said that a firm but compassionate handling of law and order would bring change in the northeast.
Dr. Singh raised concern over the current level of violence in the northeast and stated that it has hampered implementation of a number of development projects.
The PM asked the Director General of Police (DGPs) of the northeast States to bring about substantial improvement in the situation through a better security management.
"I would, therefore, enjoin upon the DGPs of the States in the North-East to insist upon, and achieve, higher levels of professionalism from the Forces they command. Firm but compassionate handling of law and order matters, can certainly bring about substantial improvement in the prevailing state of affairs," said Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh this past week.
Dr. Singh had recently reiterated that Left-wing extremism continued to pose the "gravest" threat to internal security of the country.
He had also stated that counter-Naxal strategies had so far met only with limited success, allowing the violence graph in affected states to head northwards.
Dr. Manmohan Singh pointed out that the movement was able to secure the support of a section of the tribal communities and the poorest of the poor in many affected areas.
The Central Government has taken steps to get the militant groups to give up violence and assured them of concrete steps to step up development in their areas. For example, Centre had asked the Dima Haolam Daogah (DHD-J) or 'Black Widow' militant outfit to lay down arms for "meaningful discussions".
Following the decision, over 350 cadres and leaders DHD-J have decided to surrender and join the peace process.
A formal surrender ceremony is expected to take place on September 24.
"We welcome the recent decision of the DHD (J) to surrender arms, remain in camps and talk to the Government of Assam on their demands," said Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram.
During this internal security conference, Chidambaram said that Manipur still remained resistant to counter-insurgency interventions and stated that it was the most insurgency-affected State in the northeast.
The Home Minister, however, informed that the security situation has improved perceptibly in Meghalaya and Tripura where insurgencies have been contained successfully. (Agencies)
Offensive to free Tirap of militants RIPUNJOY DAS The Telegraph
Security forces in Tirap. A Telegraph picture
Khonsa (Tirap), Sept. 21: Security forces in Arunachal Pradesh are planning a massive anti-insurgency operation to free Tirap district from the grip of the two NSCN factions. With the home ministry already approving a state government proposal, eight additional companies of central forces will arrive in the state to launch the operation ahead of the Assembly elections on October 13.
Tirap superintendent of police Anil Shukla confirmed that the operation was on the cards but refused to divulge anything beyond that “at this juncture.”
However, sources in the district and police administration said the flush-out operations are likely to begin soon.
“It will be a Herculean task to carry out any flush-out operations in the district given its tough geographical terrain, including dense jungles. Besides, the district is spread over 2,200 square km and to cover that much area we require more forces,” a source said.
Unlike most of the other northeastern states, Arunachal Pradesh does not have any homegrown terrorist outfits.
However, both the factions of the NSCN, had been creating trouble in the state — primarily in the twin districts of Tirap and Changlang — demanding that they become part of the Greater Nagaland.
For more than a decade now there had been a series of factional clashes between the two Naga groups along with extortion demands — right from a paan shop owner to a government official — and killings for failure to pay up.
A source said more troops — including specialised forces — have been sought along with modern weaponry and other logistical support for the operation.
At present, Arunachal Pradesh has only one battalion each of Assam Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force and 190 men from the state police.
Although the Tirap SP refused to divulge the exact number of security forces that has been sought for the flush-out operations, a source pegged the number at eight additional battalions.
“We will have to allow some acclimatisation period for the additional troops, after that we will begin the operations,” the source said.
Why the China threat story sells in India: Manish Chand Sentinel
I t’s the season of China-bashing in India. In bad old socialist days, the ruling party in India was quick to conjure up the “foreign hand” to distract public attention from a host of domestic crises. Now, it’s the turn of market-driven media to manufacture “external threats” to spike their TRP ratings.
But blaming the “testosterone-driven” media for sexing up the spectre of China threat, as top officials and the Army chief have done, is only part of the story. It’s easy to scoff at “conspiracy theorists,” but paranoia is sometimes an act of good citizenship. Instead of discrediting the media, it’s important to understand why the China threat story sells in the overheated media marketplace in India.
First, recent incursions, dismissed by India’s External Affairs Ministry as routine incidents that occur due to differences in perception about the Line of Actual Control (LAC), are by themselves not alarming. But they have gained credence due to a string of much-reported hostile posturing by Beijing against Indian interests over the last year.
It started with China trying to block India’s quest for global nuclear trade in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in September last year despite a pledge at the highest level that Beijing won’t stand in the way of India’s journey to nuclear liberation. In the end, China did not stand in the way of the deal it perceived as Washington’s strategy to contain its rise. However, its calculated vacillation had exposed chinks in the 2.0 version of Hindi-Chini bhai bhai. It also unveiled China’s anxieties about India emerging as a rival power in the Asian hemisphere with US support.
India, however, chose to put China’s negative NSG role behind in the interests of keeping relations on an even keel, but the message was not lost on India’s opinion-making class and news-consuming middle class.
A few months later, China again tried to play the spoiler by trying to block India’s $2.9 billion development loan proposal at the Manila-headquartered Asian Development Bank. China put its foot down on the grounds that a part of the package included $60 million for Arunachal Pradesh over which Beijing claims sovereignty. The move was seen by many in India as a devious manoeuvre by Beijing to internationalize Arunachal Pradesh in multilateral forums where its clout is steadily growing.
China’s double standards came to the fore when it signed an MoU with its client state Pakistan in August to construct 7,000-MW Bunji dam in Northern Areas of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, which is claimed by India in its entirety.
Amid all these negative signals, the two emerging Asian powers have kept their diplomatic engagement on course by downplaying irritants and broadcasting aloud the latest bilateral trade figure, which is said to have surpassed $50 billion. The leaders of both countries never tire of ruling out rivalry and repeating the ritualistic talk of enough space for both India and China to grow, but such platitudes have not entirely obliterated the trust deficit that dates back to the bruising 1962 war.
More recently, an article attributed to a Chinese strategist — subsequently disowned by the powerful Chinese strategic establishment — exhorted China to Balkanize ‘Hindu India’ into 20-30 independent states, eliciting a sharp reaction from India’s External Affairs Ministry. Coupled with these discordant notes is the growing unease India is feeling with Beijing’s calibrated string of pearls strategy of extending its influence among India’s neighbours like Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.
The resonance of the China threat has another deeper source in the collective Indian middle class psyche that has nothing to do with Beijing’s perceived hostility. It is the appeal and power of the China Rising story. China, with its double-digit rate of economic growth over last three decades except for this recession-ridden year, has outstripped India in virtually every sphere, be it infrastructure development, poverty eradication, energy security, Olympic golds or cutting-edge areas of science and innovation.
More Indians are travelling abroad now and are familiar with the shining, world-class cities Beijing and Shanghai have morphed into and they can’t find a parallel nearer home. One has only to compare the ruthless efficiency and panache with which Beijing hosted the 2008 Olympics with the kind of panic that has gripped India months before the Commonwealth Games 2010 to understand why the China threat stirs the great Indian middle class.
But the threat, as the Chinese character for that word suggests, also represents an opportunity. Instead of being intimidated, India should seize the hour and seize the day (in Chairman Mao’s famous words) to revive and sustain its economic growth, bolster its woefully inadequate infrastructure and transform this country with over five hundred million poor into a developed country in the next decade or so.
The deadline for China threat is 2020, the defining year Beijing has set to mark its entry into the developed world. If India’s rulers are still posturing by that time and not addressing all too real issues of development and equity, then the threat has a potential to turn real, albeit not necessarily in the sense of a military confrontation. IANS
China-Myanmar conflict gives India an opportunity: DNA India
September 21, 2009: New Delhi: China may have stood like a rock behind Myanmar for the past 20 years while the rest of the world treated it like a pariah, vetoing UN resolutions against the military regime, providing it arms and billions of dollars to develop infrastructure, and thus allowing the isolated country to cock a snook at the international community.
But now, cracks are appearing in that relationship, which, analysts say, can benefit New Delhi if exploited well, particularly since India already has more than a toehold in Myanmar.
The overwhelming Chinese presence had rung alarm bells in some quarters of the Myanmar military establishment. General Than Shwe, a smart tactician, believes his country cannot afford to put all its eggs in the China basket and wants India and other countries to come in with major developmental projects.
The recent release of the American citizen who swam across to Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's home is an indication that the bamboo curtain is lifting inch by inch. There is hope in Yangon that the new Barack Obama administration in the US would be less sanctimonious and gradually open up to Myanmar. The Americans are saying nothing publicly but the visit of US senator Jim Webb in August, when he called the sanctions against Myanmar "overwhelmingly counterproductive", gives room for hope.
Yangon's problems with China in recent months in the border areas, where ethnic Chinese have clashed with the Myanmar army, have led to fresh tension.
The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in Kokang, an ethnic Chinese region in the northern Shan state bordering China, has been under attack by the army which wants all its tribes in the north east of the country, allowed by a China-brokered peace agreement in 1989, to integrate into Myanmar's forces and become border guards.
The junta demanded the ethnic armies become militias under the control of the armed forces. Fearing the loss of autonomy and business, major groups rejected the junta's demand.
Refusing to take no for an answer, government forces attacked and defeated Karen rebels in June. And the junta launched an assault on MNDAA, triggering an exodus of over 30,000 refugees, including Chinese citizens doing business in Kokang, across the border into Nansan county. Beijing called on the military government to restore order in the border area and unprecedentedly, to "protect the safety and legal rights of Chinese citizens in Myanmar".
The situation in Kokang has stabilised and Chinese authorities are encouraging refugee return. But the simmering differences have come to the surface.
India, which has changed its policy towards Myanmar since the early 1990s, can become a game-changer in the country if it plays its cards well. China flies in its own labour to work on sites funded by Beijing and small China towns have sprung up in many areas of Myanmar. It is the same story in Africa where the Chinese aid, while appreciated, has also alarmed many.
This is something Yangon is uneasy about and New Delhi can make good use of. But despite promises of major development projects, the Indian bureaucracy is lethargic and moves at a snail's pace. If India wants to be a game-changer in Myanmar, it needs to quickly get its act together.
