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India-China: Competing development
partners
By Shehla Raza Hasan
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's
recent return to New Delhi from talks in China has
stimulated intense conjecture in business and diplomatic
circles about their likely economic and strategic
impact. One of the most important questions involves
whether India and China will now cooperate in developing
the emerging markets of Eastern South Asia and the
Greater Mekong region.
Both have sponsored
competing initiatives to develop economic cooperation
and growth, namely China's Kunming Initiative and
India's Mekong-Ganges Cooperation Plan. It remains to be
seen whether, as a result of the talks, the two will now
show any interest merging their plans or participating
in the other's. Indeed, while the two are talking to
each other, most of the development initiatives are
still on the drawing board, and it remains to be seen
how long they will stay that way.
While China's
Kunming Initiative seeks to link the Chinese province of
Yunnan with Myanmar, India's northeastern states and
Thailand in an economic grid, India's Mekong-Ganges
Cooperation Plan seeks to link India with five countries
- Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. (In
addition there is a home-grown plan called the BIMST-EC
- Bangladesh, India-Myanmar-Sri Lanka-Thailand Economic
Cooperation.)
Although China appears inclined to
join the Mekong-Ganges Cooperation Plan, there has been
no decision to expand membership. Chinese authorities
have also sought India's participation in the
non-official Kunming Initiative, which includes regional
road and air links.
China has developed plans
for a road-river route through the Irrawaddy River to
the Bay of Bengal. A long-term agreement is being
negotiated on the highway and waterway transport system,
including river port and storage facilities at Bhamo.
The Irrawaddy route has opened realistic possibilities
for trade with Southeast Asia on competitive terms since
it offers an alternative land route to South Asia for
the land-locked provinces of Yunnan and Sichwan. The
considerable distances that seaborne trade must travel
make goods produced in these provinces uncompetitive in
Southeast Asian markets. China has concentrated on
transportation projects, including a US$2 billion
China-to-Southeast Asia rail development plan, plus
construction of telecommunications and
power-transmission links.
On the other hand,
Myanmese Foreign Minister Win Awng earlier this month
made a strong pitch for a rail link from New Delhi to
Hanoi, connecting the countries of the Mekong-Ganges
Cooperation Plan. India has already asked for a
feasibility study to take the matter forward. Efforts
are also being made to rope in Australia for the
construction of dams, transport routes and
telecommunications facilities.
India's
commitment to develop transport networks - in
particular, the East-West Corridor and the Trans-Asian
Highway - is a significant feature. The Asian Highway
Project is expected to link Singapore with New Delhi via
Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Bangkok,
Vientiane, Chiang Mai, Yangon, Mandalay, Tamu, Dhaka and
Calcutta. India has already completed work on the
150-kilometer road from Tamu to Kalemyo in Myanmar. This
would ultimately form part of the more ambitious
Eurasian Land Bridge spanning the continents. Its
Southern Eurasian corridor runs from Europe to China via
the Indian subcontinent and would create a continuous
railway link in addition to the land connection.
With China helping in the execution of the
project in Myanmar, the final step would be to build a
railroad line from Myitkyina northward to the Indian
border, linking to the railway network at Dibrugarh,
Assam.
The Southeastern Eurasian land bridge is
crucial to opening up an economic development zone
between the Mekong and the Ganges. The zone is rich in
agricultural potential, raw materials, oil, gas and
hydropower and includes the eastern part of Myanmar
(approximately 50 million people), Thailand (62
million), Laos (5.7 million), Cambodia (12.7 million)
and Vietnam (81 million), More important than the energy
potential is the urgency of flood control and overall
management of huge water flows.
It therefore
makes sense for India and China to marry their ideas and
initiatives in working towards the goals of regional
economic growth and development that would change the
lives of a large chunk of the world's population.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com
for information on our sales and syndication policies.)
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