Not competiting with China in its relations with Myanmar : India

New Delhi: As Myanmarese President U Thein Sein began a a three-day state visit to the country, India today clarified that there was no competition with China in having relations with Myanmar and there was enough room for both the countries.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vishnu Prasad told reporters India considered its relations with China as very important so also with Myanmar, with whom the country shared its age-old cultural, ethnic and linguistic heritage.
Many in Buddhist dominated Myanmar regarded India as their ’spiritual home’, he said. India had also good relations in the extended neighbourhood of South East Asian region and with each one of them there was neither competition nor disconnect, he said. The visiting Myanmarese delegation which included 13 Ministers and high ranking officials had commenced their journey from Gaya
and would visit Kushinagar and Sarnath, the pilgrimage destinations of religious tourists. He said it was the third visit of the President to India in his various capacities and first ever since the new government was elected. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna was in Myanmar in June and there had been number of high level exchanges between the two countries in July 2010.