Geopolitical Quicksand

While China officially backs the military regime in Myanmar, it also supports various ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) opposing the junta

- DIPANKAR DEY

Since May 7, when India and Pakistan were engaged in a limited war along India's western front, a few disturbing developments in the eastern border of India have been reported. Beijing released the fifth list renaming 27 locations in Arunachal Pradesh—an Indian state which China claims as "South Tibet." While symbolic, these moves are strategic provocations aimed at challenging India's sovereignty. China claims some 90,000 sq km of Arunachal Pradesh as its territory. It calls the area "Zangnan" in the Chinese language. On May 14, India rejected the new Chinese names for places in Arunachal Pradesh as a "preposterous" attempt to alter the "undeniable" reality that the state "was, is, and will" always be an integral part of India. Significantly, China is constructing the world's biggest dam on Brahmaputra river, known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, before it enters Arunachal Pradesh. This super dam can invite a mega-disaster for India.

The interim government of Bangladesh, led by Mohammed Yunus, took out a gazette notification on May 12 banning the Awami League—India's most trusted ally—that governed Bangladesh uninterruptedly for nearly 15 years from 2009 till August 5, 2024 when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown in a student-people uprising. The decision to ban Awami League, whose leader Sheikh Hasina has taken shelter in India since she was deported in August, was taken on a day (May 10) when Pakistan reportedly named its military response to India "Operation Bunyan-ul-Marsoos," a term drawn from the Quran meaning "solid wall of lead." The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced to release USD 1.3 billion to Bangladesh in June. Prior to this announcement, during the ongoing Indo-Pak war, IMF bailed out Pakistan with USD 2.4 billion despite strong objection from India.