India Woos Burma with Weapons for Gas

New Delhi's eagerness to supply Burma with weapons highlights new quid pro quo policies...

"Increased contacts between senior military chiefs o­n both sides of the Burma-India border, involving Indian weapons sales, are believed by analysts to have two primary objectives: to help flush out Burma-based Indian insurgents and to counter growing Chinese influence in Naypyidaw.

But the sale of arms and related technical equipment is also likely to be linked to New Delhi"Look East" economic policy, including ambitions to buy huge quantities of Burma's offshore gas in the Bay of Bengal. If the gas bid—against rivals China and Thailand—is successful, it will also involve building a costly pipeline through rebel-infested areas of northwest Burma and northeast India...