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Asian relations with Northeast India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Since India's 1947 independence, 98% of Northeast India's borders have been with other Asian countries, making it a strategic frontier region.[1][2] The East Asian countries of Japan and Korea have significant contemporary influence over and cultural similarities with Northeast India; Northeast India engages to a significant extent with Korean and Japanese culture and has been receiving infrastructural investment from Japan. Northeast India also has substantial historical connections to Southeast Asia; India's Act East policy seeks to harness this connectivity in the modern day.[3]
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East Asia
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China
China claims the border state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of South Tibet, which has resulted in tensions between India and China.[4] Since 2009, China has issued "stapled visas" to people from Arunachal Pradesh when they wish to travel to China, signaling that they are perceived as having the same right of movement as Chinese citizens throughout China.[5]
In the late 19th century, the British sent an expedition to guarantee suzerainty in Sikkim, aiming to secure it from Tibet.[6] In postcolonial times, China had a dispute over the status of Sikkim, which acceded to India in 1975, until 2003.[7] However, 21st century border clashes have occurred between India and China in the region.[8]
Japan
Historically, Northeast India and Japan have been connected to some extent through Buddhism; other cultural similarities have existed for millennia, such as in food and through an appreciation for nature.[9][10] During World War 2, the Japanese military collaborated with the Indian National Army in the region;[11] eventually, the westward expansion of the Japanese Empire was put to a stop in Northeast India in the 1944 Battle of Imphal. Since then, Japan has contributed to the construction of infrastructure in the region.[12] Northeast Indians consume some Japanese cultural products as well, such as anime.[9]
Northeast India is currently being prioritized by India and Japan as part of Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy and as part of India's Act East policy,[13] with both countries seeing the region as especially important for creating trading routes due to their collective rejection of China's Belt and Road Initiative.[14] Northeast India, in conjunction with the neighboring BIMSTEC country of Bangladesh, is seen by Japan as an important region in containing China,[15][16] while India seeks to use its northeastern region to increase engagement with Southeast Asia.[16] The geographical similarities between Northeast India and Japan, as well as India's guarding of its northeast as a sensitive border region that it is unwilling to allow untrusted partner countries to invest in, are other major factors leading to India desiring Japan's involvement in the region.[17][18]
Korea
Northeast India has often felt alienated from the rest of India (sometimes referred to as "mainland India"), leading it in recent decades to look towards phenotypically and culturally similar parts of Asia in the east for connection. Part of this alienation is due to local insurgents and others banning Hindi cinema and other potential tools of "Indianisation" in Manipur.[19][20][21]
In this context, Korean culture has become popular in Northeast India, with Korean words becoming increasingly prevalent in the local languages.[22] Korean food has also become increasingly popular at local restaurants.[23] The popularity of Korean culture that emerged in Northeast India has since spread to the rest of India in recent years.[21] One aspect of Korean culture's popularity in Northeast India is its ability to incorporate Christian principles in a non-Western manner, making it more relatable in some ways to Northeast Indian youth than Western culture.[24]
Mongolia
There are some similarities between the cultures of Manipur and Mongolia, as can be seen in music, wrestling, and various traditions and age rituals.[25]
Taiwan
Taiwan has looked into hiring Northeast Indians over other Indians, citing similarities in ethnicity and culture.[26]
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South Asia
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Bangladesh
Northeast India is dependent on Bangladesh to some extent for routes to Southeast Asia. Assam, Meghalaya, and Tripura depend on having access to the sea via Bangladesh’s Chittagong port. Initiatives for connectivity, like the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project and the Akhaura–Agartala line, are also relevant.[27] Bangladesh is also part of a proposed railway network that would allow the Northeast to connect with India through a more direct route.[28]
Immigration from Bangladesh has been a concern for indigenous populations in Northeast India, which oppose significant demographic change. This immigration has led to historical movements such as the Assam Movement of the 1980s.[29] In the early 21st century, some people in Assam and other states were deported to Bangladesh on suspicion of having illegally immigrated from Bangladesh (see also: National Register of Citizens for Assam).[30]
In 2025, India restricted its imports from Bangladesh after comments by caretaker Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus and others regarding Northeast India were deemed to be a threat, with the reduction in border trade impacting northeastern communities.[31]
Bhutan
Bhutan helped open up air routes from Northeast India to Southeast Asia in 2018.[32] In the same year, Bhutan also opened its second consulate in the easternmost portions of India in Guwahati, Assam.[33]
India
Precolonial India
Climatic factors, including significant rainfall, snowfall, and low temperatures, have profoundly shaped the conduct of warfare and conquering in Assam, Bengal, and Sindh as far back as the Mughal era. The Northeastern region was first invaded by Mughal soldiers during a brief campaign led by Humayun in 1538–1539 but led to no sustained victories. From 1574 to 1612, the area was gradually and arduously taken over by Mughal troops commanded by Akbar and Jahangir (1605–1627), particularly the regions of Kamrup and Kuch.[34]
British India
Present-day Northeast India started to be annexed into British India in the early 19th century to defend the eastern frontier from the incursions of the Burmese Empire, with Assam becoming part of the Bengal Presidency until 1874.[35]
During the British occupation of the Indian subcontinent, the Ahom kingdom and Assam were officially annexed into the British Empire in 1838. The British in Northeast India generally adopted a non-intervention policy. Despite this, the region had a history of resistance against colonization, with rebellions against tax imposition in 1860 and 1862, and raiding of British posts. During this time, there was an increasing resistance to the dominance of the Assamese language and culture. The economic policies of the British rulers in Northeast India had profound cultural and social repercussions. Their focus on modernising agriculture demanded increased crop cultivation, land reclamation, and the introduction of cash crops like tea, mustard seeds, and jute. To meet labour demands, the British sought an affordable and accessible workforce, leading to the migration of Bengali Muslim cultivators from East Bengal and tribal labourers for tea plantation work.
Postcolonial India
India's post-independence neglect of Northeast India can be attributed to several factors. Post-1947, the Indian ruling elite had a Western-oriented perspective due to its colonial ties. Northeast India did not hold much value economically. It was underdeveloped, as were the surrounding Southeast Asian countries until the 1970s, which rendered trade prospects similarly unattractive. India's protectionist economic policies and blocked overland linkages further hindered engagement. Political differences during the Cold War era also strained relations. Many Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia were allied with the US while India was more closely aligned with the Soviets.[36]
The treatment of the Northeast as separate from the rest of India during the colonial era has continued to negatively impact its integration into the Republic of India.[37]
Connectivity within India
The north-east (NE) region of India lags behind the rest of the country in several development indicators. Although infrastructure has developed over the years, the region has to go a long way to level up the national standard. The total road network of about 377 thousand km of NE contributes about 9.94 per cent of the total roads in the country. Road density in terms of road length per thousand square kilometres. area is very poor in hilly state of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Sikkim, while it is significantly high in Tripura and Assam. The road length per 100 km2 area in NE districts varies from as less as below 10 km (in Arunachal Pradesh) to more than 200 km (in Tripura). Other means of transport such as rail, air and water is insignificant in NE (except Assam); however, a few cities of these states having direct air connectivity in the region. The total railway network in the NE is 2,602 km (as on 2011), which is only about 4 per cent of the total rail network of the country. Constructions of roads build the road map for development and road is the only means of mass transport for the entire NE of India. Due to hilly terrain and varied altitudes, rail transport is mainly confined to Assam and water transport is almost non-existent.
Nepal
Some retired Nepali troops settled in Northeast India during the colonial era. In the present day, there has been some indigenous backlash to the Nepali diaspora.[38]
Sikkim's 1975 accession to India was influenced by its ties to Nepal, as its ethnically Nepali population felt discriminated against by the Sikkimese government and sought better treatment by joining India.[39]
Pakistan
Pakistan has provided some weapons and support for insurgencies in Northeast India, in part through then-East Pakistan.[40][41]
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Southeast Asia
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India has sought to use Northeast India to connect to Southeast Asia for trading purposes. However, recent conflicts such as the 2023–2024 Manipur violence have reduced the stability of the region for this purpose.[42]
Myanmar
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Myanmar is the only Southeast Asian country that borders Northeast India. Both places were part of British India for several decades; the dynamics of British rule in the region, which was the first time that a pan-Indian empire had fully conquered the Northeastern South Asian space, and Myanmar's 1937 separation from Indian administration, still affect their border regions today.[43][44]
There are substantial cross-border ethnic ties, with the Indian government having allowed a limited amount of unregulated movement across the border from 2018 to 2024.[45]
Thailand
The Tai peoples of Northeast India share ethnic and linguistic ties with Thai people. There are also analogues of Thailand’s Songkran festival in Northeast India (Sangken in Arunachal Pradesh and Bohag Bihu in Assam).[46]
See also
References
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