Modi hosts Myanmar leaderhosts Myanmar leader in New Delhi despite sanctions
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Myanmar’s military-backed president Min Aung Hlaing in New Delhi on Monday, in the first foreign trip by the junta chief since he took office after a disputed election.
The talks covered trade, border security, defence and energy, and India said it would keep engaging Myanmar despite Western sanctions. The meeting matters because it shows New Delhi is balancing security concerns on its border with pressure over Myanmar’s military rule.
India
India framed the talks as practical engagement with a neighbor facing shared border and security problems. Officials said cooperation on trade, connectivity and defence can continue even as Western sanctions remain in place.
Myanmar military government
Myanmar’s leadership used the visit to signal that it wants stronger ties with India and reassurances that its territory will not be used against Indian interests. The trip also serves as a rare diplomatic opening for a government still facing isolation over its 2021 coup.
Critics and rights groups
Human rights groups and anti-junta forces argued that hosting Min Aung Hlaing lends legitimacy to military rule. They said the visit risks normalizing a leader widely criticized for repression and the disputed election that returned him to power.
- Myanmar’s military has ruled the country directly for decades before and after a brief democratic opening.
- India shares a long, porous border with Myanmar across multiple northeastern states.
- New Delhi has often tried to work with Myanmar’s rulers to counter insurgent groups near the frontier.
Myanmar Civil War
Myanmar’s military is trying to reassert control after recent gains, including martial law in 63 townships and the recapture of border towns in Chin and Tanintharyi states.[1][2] Fighting remains active across several regions, while resistance forces and ethnic armed groups still hold important ground in parts of the country.[2][3] The war remains fragmented and unresolved, but the balance has shifted in some areas as the junta combines counteroffensives, emergency rule, and fresh peace talks with continued air and ground operations.[2][11] What happens next will depend on whether the military can keep retaking territory, whether resistance groups can hold supply lines and border routes, and how China and other neighboring states respond to instability along Myanmar’s frontiers.[2][11]
21 May, 08:24 AM
Myanmar military recaptures two strategic border towns1 January
The military stages a coup, triggering nationwide protests and the spread of armed resistance.
