Eye on India? China plans naval expansion, woos Myanmar

Saibal Dasgupta, PTI | May 28, 2011, 06.56am IST

Chinese PLA Navy warships visit Myanmar Yangon's Thilawa Port

BEIJING: Myanmar's president Thein Sein, a former military general, is in Beijing discussing a plan to allow the Chinese navy to dock in Myanmar ports and get direct access to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.
Thein Sein will have to consider New Delhi's apprehensions about China's naval expansion in its neighbourhood before acceding to Beijing's request, sources said. He was given a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing by Chinese president Hu Jintao on Friday. "I know India is very suspicious about Chinese navy's role in the Myanmar area. There is no need to worry because the Chinese navy will never take a hostile approach to India or any neighbour,'' Ma Jaili, an expert at the government think-tank , the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations said.

It may be difficult for Thein Sein to refuse Beijing's request. Myanmar needs to placate China because it is seeking additional Chinese investments in the energy and infrastructure sectors that include a plan to lay a road running parallel to the ongoing oil and gas pipelines projects.
Myanmar had allowed two Chinese warships, the Guangzhou and the Chaohu, to dock at Thilawa Port near Rangoon as they were returning from a counter-piracy operation in the Indian Ocean in August 2010.