world
Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing Visits India and China, Securing Pledges on Trade, Energy, Defence and Infrastructure Projects
Myanmar's leader held talks in New Delhi on trade, energy and defence projects before traveling to Beijing. The back-to-back visits occurred less than three months after he assumed the presidency in April 2026.
thehindu.comAudio version
Tap play to generate a narrated version.
Developing·Limited corroboration so far. This page will refresh as more sources emerge.
Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing traveled to India and then China in consecutive visits, marking his first trip abroad since assuming office in April 2026, South China Morning Post reported. The two countries agreed to expand cooperation in trade, energy and defence while pledging renewed work on the long-delayed India-Myanmar-Thailand highway and the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on social media that the discussions also addressed deeper cooperation on rare earths.
Myanmar’s official statements on the visit made no reference to the topic. The India-Myanmar-Thailand highway and Kaladan project have faced years of delays because of ongoing anti-government insurgency that has placed large areas of Myanmar under rebel control, South China Morning Post reported.
Zhang Tian, an associate professor of Myanmar studies at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, said the India trip’s symbolic value outweighed its practical significance by helping legitimise Min Aung Hlaing’s presidency.
