Myanmar Matters

If India seeks deeper integration with Southeast Asia, Myanmar is the gateway through which those ambitions must pass.

For all the attention lavished on the Indo-Pacific, Myanmar remains curiously underappreciated in India’s strategic imagination. Nestled between South Asia and Southeast Asia, Myanmar occupies a position that geographers would call fortunate and strategists indispensable. If India seeks deeper integration with Southeast Asia, greater influence in the Bay of Bengal and a credible response to China’s expanding footprint, Myanmar is the gateway through which those ambitions must pass.

Long before modern nation-states emerged, the territories that today constitute India and Myanmar were linked through commerce, migration, religion and culture. Buddhist monks, merchants and travellers moved freely across the region, carrying ideas that left an enduring imprint on both societies. The spread of Buddhism from India into Myanmar created a civilisational bond that continues to shape people-to-people ties even today.

Strategic Value

History, however, is only part of the story. Geography is what makes Myanmar strategically indispensable in the twenty-first century. Positioned between the Indian subcontinent and mainland Southeast Asia, Myanmar forms a natural land bridge connecting India to Thailand and beyond. It is the only Southeast Asian country that shares a land border with India. As New Delhi seeks to transform its ‘Act East’ policy from diplomatic rhetoric into economic reality, Myanmar becomes the crucial link in that chain. Roads, railways, energy corridors and trade routes connecting India to Southeast Asia must inevitably traverse Myanmar's territory.

Recognising these realities, India has in recent years sought to deepen engagement with its eastern neighbour. High-level visits, infrastructure projects and expanding economic cooperation reflect an understanding that geography cannot be ignored. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent efforts to strengthen ties with Myanmar represent an attempt to revive historical connections while adapting them to contemporary strategic realities.

The question of a country’s geographic advantage has acquired greater significance amid the intensifying competition between India and China. Myanmar occupies a pivotal position in the strategic contest for influence across the Indo-Pacific. For Beijing, the country offers a valuable outlet to the Indian Ocean. Chinese investments in ports, pipelines and transport corridors running through Myanmar help reduce China's dependence on the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's most congested maritime chokepoints.

For India, the implications are equally profound. A Myanmar drawn excessively into China’s orbit would complicate New Delhi’s strategic calculations in the Bay of Bengal and India’s northeastern frontier. Conversely, a stable and cooperative Myanmar strengthens India's regional influence and provides greater strategic depth in a rapidly changing geopolitical environment.

Myanmar’s importance extends beyond land connectivity. Its extensive coastline along the Bay of Bengal places it at the heart of maritime routes linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans. As the Indo-Pacific emerges as the principal theatre of global economic and strategic competition, countries like Myanmar situated along these maritime crossroads have acquired heightened significance.

Natural Resources

The country’s strategic value is reinforced by its abundant natural resources and favourable geography. The fertile Ayeyarwady River basin has long served as Myanmar’s economic heartland, while its energy reserves and access to sea lanes enhance its attractiveness to regional powers. These assets make Myanmar not merely a transit corridor but a consequential actor in its own right.

Cultural diplomacy has played a notable role in this effort. Shared Buddhist heritage provides a foundation that few other bilateral relationships can claim. Such civilisational links create reservoirs of goodwill that complement economic and strategic cooperation.

Yet sentiment alone cannot sustain a partnership of this importance. India’s engagement with Myanmar must be guided by clear strategic objectives. Connectivity projects need to be completed efficiently. Trade and investment must expand. Security cooperation, particularly in border regions, requires continued attention. Above all, India must recognise that influence in Southeast Asia begins not in distant capitals but at its own eastern doorstep.

The broader stakes are considerable. Whether through regional connectivity initiatives, maritime cooperation in the Bay of Bengal or the pursuit of a free and open Indo-Pacific, Myanmar occupies a central position in India's regional vision. It is not merely a neighbouring state but a strategic hinge connecting South Asia to Southeast Asia.

As great-power competition reshapes Asia, geography is once again asserting its influence over politics. In that geopolitical landscape, Myanmar's significance is unlikely to diminish. For India, the road to Southeast Asia runs through Myanmar, and the success of India’s eastern ambitions may well depend on how effectively it nurtures that relationship.

(The writer is a foreign affairs expert. Views personal.)