GUWAHATI, Assam - The Stilwell Road, built during World War II as a strategic
link between India and Myanmar (then Burma), is being resurrected as part of
India's "Look East" policy of improving economic links with its Southeast Asian
neighbors.
The 1,726 kilometer road, named after General Joseph "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell,
was built in the latter months of the war to supply weapons to Chiang Kai Shek,
China's leader during the Second Sino-Japanese War, as his Kuomintang forces
battled the retreating Japanese in China's Yunnan province.
It was constructed as alternative to a hazardous air supply route to Kunming
dubbed the "aluminum trail" due to the litter of crashed aircraft that marked
its way through the mountains. The
road was opened on May 20, 1945 after 28,000 US and British engineers completed
what they called "the toughest job". Their efforts inspired the 1945 film Stilwell
Road which starred Ronald Reagan as its lead narrator.
After the war ended, the road - which began in Ledo in Assam and passed through
Mytkyina, Myanmar, before finishing at Kunming in the Yunnan province of China
- fell into disuse, partly because of the turbulent events in Myanmar and also
due to a general neglect of India's insurgency-prone northeastern states.
But India's Ministry of Commerce has indicated it targets to have the Stilwell
Road operational by 2010, hoping its revival will brighten the economic outlook
for the entire Assam region, giving it direct access to international hub
Bangkok.
"All these years we were isolated from the rest of India, save for the narrow
link between West Bengal and Assam. Today, people are waking up to the
possibilities of mutual economic benefits with neighboring countries to the
east," Assam state's minister for industries and commerce Prodyut Bordoloi told
the Inter Press Service.
The Look East policy, launched in 1992 to mark a strategic shift in India's
vision of its place in the evolving global economy, had the aim of renewing
India's ancient links with Southeast Asian nations. India has since became a
summit level partner of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN).
India's northeast had maintained commercial and socio-cultural exchanges with
Indochina for centuries before drifting apart in the 20th century. The Ahoms,
who ruled Assam for over 600 years and gave the state its name, are believed to
have migrated from Thailand.
Thailand has been enthusiastic about the planned restoration of the Stilwell
Road and is a keen member of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for
Multi-Sectoral and Technical Cooperation) that groups Bangladesh, India, Nepal,
Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. Tourists moving from Thailand to
southern China and Bhutan are already showing an interest in India's northeast,
according to tour operators.
India sees in BIMSTEC an opportunity to change the northeast region from one
beset with security problems into a land of economic opportunity.
"Reviving the Stilwell Road is seen as a way to open India's northeast to China
and Southeast Asia," said Mahesh K Saharia, chairman of the North East Regional
Council of the Indian Chamber of Commerce. "The opening of the road is not so
much political but for commercial reasons and the development of the
northeast."
Saharia says the logic is simple. "Although 40% of the world's people live in
China and India, they represent less than 9% of world trade, and intra-trade
between the two neighbors accounts for less than 3.5% of it."
If intra-trade doubles as projected a land route remains the best option for
moving the huge tonnage of goods, he said.
China has already built a highway to reach Mytkyina on the old Burma Road,
reducing the distance from India to Kunming considerably. In fact, Kunming will
then be only 700 kilometers from upper Assam, Saharia points out.
"Stilwell Road is not a new road. From ancient days, the 12th century
particularly, it has been a trans-migrational route for people of different
tribes. Now we have to renew those ties."
There are security concerns - the jungles of Myanmar are alleged to be training
grounds for insurgents in the northeastern region and are known to be used as a
staging ground for the movement of narcotics from the infamous Golden Triangle.
Bordoloi brushes aside the fears. "We need to review old ideas; you can't look
at everything through the prism of security. Old paradigms do not work. If
there is better infrastructure and connectivity, narco-terrorism can be
controlled better."
Myanmar's military junta has been wary about the Stilwell Road because a 300
kilometer-stretch runs through the jungle blanketed valleys of insurgency hit
Kachin state, over which it exercises limited control.
However, according to Papori Phukan, a researcher for the New Delhi-based
Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, the junta cannot afford to ignore
certain geographical realities. "The area is not connected with mainland
Myanmar and the locals who live in and around the Pangsau pass already procure
their basic requirements from Nampong in India, where the Burmese are allowed
to visit without passports," she said.
Similarly, people from Arunachal Pradesh state regularly cross over into
Myamnar using the Stilwell road, to buy goods from Pangsau, Papori said.
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