With Myanmar being diplomatically isolated since the February 1, 2021 coup led by the Army chief General Min Aung Hlaing that ousted the democratically elected Aung San Suu Kyi government, there was never an occasion or opportunity for the top leadership to visit India.
However, as the country’s President now, a role he assumed on April 3 this year, the road for Min’s visit to the world’s biggest democracy is all clear. And it didn’t take much for New Delhi to oblige.
From May 30 to June 3, Min has embarked on a five-day visit to India. Significantly, his first visit as President is not to the country the Myanmar junta was closest to—China.
What would be of key interest to India are the rare earth riches of Myanmar. As a producer, it is the fourth in the world after the US, Australia and India.
But very specifically, Myanmar is rich in ‘heavy’ rare earths like dysprosium and terbium that are found in abundance in the Kachin and Shan states. These two rare earth minerals are crucial for making high-performance permanent magnets for electric vehicle (EV) motors, wind turbines, and defence technology. Their main utility lies in the fact that they act as heat shields and enable magnets to retain their properties at very high temperatures.
With India engaged in an ongoing programme to build its own fighter jets, dysprosium and terbium are needed for the aero-engines that require rare earth superalloys to handle the 1600 degree C generated, radars that use rare earth magnets, rare earth coatings for the aircraft’s stealth capabilities etc.
Currently, most of these deposits in Myanmar are exported or smuggled to China for processing as the country possesses no refining capacity.
India has the world’s third-largest reserves of rare earths—especially monazite and thorium—but produces less than one per cent of the global total due to reasons like the mineral’s radioactivity, lack of refining technology, land acquisition issues, etc. So that is where Myanmar’s riches that are being mined in a very widespread and unregulated manner come in handy.
Moreover, access to Myanmar’s minerals would also weaken China’s stranglehold and enhance India’s sphere of influence.
On Saturday, President Min would visit Bodh Gaya, the holiest of Buddhist pilgrimages, while later meetings are also scheduled with the Indian President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar.
