Min Aung Hlaing’s recent visit to New Delhi came at a politically significant moment for Myanmar’s military leadership. More than five years after the 2021 coup, Naypyidaw has sought to project a degree of political normalisation through elections, institutional restructuring, and renewed diplomatic engagement with regional partners. The visit formed part of that broader effort, reinforcing the military government’s claim that it remains the principal authority through which foreign governments should engage Myanmar.
For India, the optics of the visit revived a familiar debate. Myanmar remains the only ASEAN member that shares a land border with India and occupies a central place in New Delhi’s Act East vision. Engagement with whoever exercises authority in Naypyidaw is therefore often presented as a matter of strategic necessity. Critics, however, continue to question the wisdom of extending diplomatic legitimacy to a leadership whose authority remains contested across large parts of the country.