What was once India’s strategic backyard is now contested terrain. China’s presence across Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Nepal has evolved from economic engagement into deep strategic entrenchment, backed by infrastructure, arms, and influence. As this arc tightens around India’s eastern periphery, is New Delhi losing its hold over its neighbourhood?
China is everywhere. That’s true for its global presence, and an even closer reality for India, which has seen Beijing’s encirclement all around—along the land border and on the high seas across the Indian Ocean Region, in what was once called the “String of Pearls”. However, China’s arc across India’s eastern periphery is of much greater concern, given the geography of the Northeast—connected by a sliver of land, the Siliguri corridor—as well as the ethnic issues and historical realities with the neighbouring countries there.
On April 10, 2026, Myanmar got a new president, five years after the February 2021 coup that overthrew the democratically elected government. However, the new leader, General Min Aung Hlaing, is the very military ruler who seized power then, now in a civilian role after being elected through a rigged election. That said, the military junta controls only around 21% of the country, while rebel groups hold around 46%, as per a December 2024 investigative report by the BBC, with intense fighting raging alongside occasional ceasefires brokered by China. The military’s most significant weapons are Chinese and Russian fighter jets, which have been extensively used to carry out airstrikes. China, along with Russia, has been among the biggest suppliers of military equipment to the junta over the last five years, despite Western sanctions.