India cannot adopt an ostrich like approach.
By Rajiv Theodore
NEW DELHI: India just cannot ignore or adopt an ostrich like approach to the swift changes taking place in its vicinity. Take for example neighbor China, which is sinking billions of dollars to resurrect the legendary silk routes, a network of trans-continental corridors that had been used by traders for centuries in the past.
China is looking at these new refurbished routes via land and sea as a mode to open up greater economic opportunities and even help those nations through which these routes pass. India too is one such proposed beneficiary. With the building of this colossal network, China has envisioned an economic cooperation area that stretches from the Western Pacific to the Baltic Sea but has denied any notions of an overreach.
Consider the scale of the project initiated by China. Two major corridors split through land and sea. The first, New Silk Road will begin at Xi’an in Central China, traverse west through Lanzhou in Gansu, move through Urumqi and Khorgas in Xinjiang bordering Kazakhstan. It would be from here that the route would enter central Asia towards northern Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey where it would cross the famous Bosporus Strait and head towards Europe. Upon reaching Germany at Duisburg it would move towards Rotterdam from where it would swing south to Venice in Italy where it would meet up with the Maritime Silk Road.
The sea route also called the ‘’New Maritime Silk Road’’ would start at Quanzhou in Fujian, move towards Guangzhou (Guangdong province), touch Beihai (Guangxi) and Haikou (Hainan) before heading towards the Straits of Malacca where it would head towards Kuala Lumpur and then to India’s Kolkata before looping towards Nairobi via the Indian Ocean. It would then move towards the Red Sea into the Mediterranean via Athens and finally link up with the land route at Venice.
China has been keen on the ‘’corridor’’ since the 1990’s and has invited India to be part of this huge endeavor citing ancient historical reasons. But India on its part has been rather slow in joining forces in the project — the key reason being military caution. India and China went to war once in 1962 and since had been involved in several skirmishes over territory along the 3,448 kms. of common border. The mainline Chinese media, however, claim the border is only about 2,000 kms.
But there seems a significant thaw in relations between the two neighbors. Both sides are looking at each other not from perceptions of threat but to create a mutually beneficial equation. Economic cooperation is fast taking center-stage.
In India, the new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended a friendly hand to China’s counterpart Xi Jinping and pledged to resolve key issues plaguing the two neighbors, like the festering border disputes. Modi is keen on increasing investments from China especially in the infrastructure sector and has called to rectify a growing trade imbalance which is pegged at $34 billion today.
As for China, a refurbished co-operation with India is the need of the hour as relations with Japan, Vietnam and Philippines have been strained due to geo-political issues. President Xi is scheduled to visit India later this month. Xi has invited Modi to attend the 21-nation APEC grouping meet which China is hosting in November.
India should take advantage of this warming up of the relations with China. The proposed New Silk Route could become a game changer in the relations between the two countries which promises better infrastructure connectivity, industrial investment, trade, cooperation in energy, ecological and environmental protection and maritime cooperation.
The projects brings about new opportunities of cooperation between Indian and Chinese business firms as well as an opportunity to increase Chinese investments in India as it involved development infrastructure including building of roads and rail and highways, power stations and heavy equipment. India could also take advantage of the tourism boom that could trigger off in the wake of the New Silk Route project being completed.
Strategically, in the wake of China stepping up its efforts to become one of the most formidable players in the global economic arena, India cannot remain a silent spectator but wake up to these new developments whose ramifications could now be felt within the sub-continent and beyond.
For the past decade and more China has been rather bristling with activity in building an effective network of infrastructure. Apart from the Silk Routes China has set up the Tibet Railway to Lhasa to be extended to Nepal. Beijing is also planning to build a road and rail connections to Bangladesh via Myanmar. China has already build two pipeline systems for oil and natural gas from the Arabian coast to the Yunnan province. It is also modernizing the trans-Karakoram highway linking China’s Xingiang province with Pakistan’s north via the Kashgar corridor and down to the Arabian Sea. In South, China has built new ports in Hambantota in Sri Lanka and Gwadar in Pakistan.
New Delhi now needs to puts its act together and speed up linking its frontier regions and its borders. Japan has been eager to build corridors to connect between India and south-east Asia. Multi-lateral agencies like the ADB have also evinced interest in developing trans-border projects between India and its neighbor. Going forward, India has taken the initiative to build the 3,200 km highway linking with Myanmar and Thailand that is expected to be ready by 2016.
And as far as both these countries go, the proposed silk route could in the long run set aside half a century of squabbles and antagonism and promote people to people contact via rigorous tourism opportunities across the fence. This would go a long way in clearing many shibboleths which could then have a spin-off effect on furthering positive relations between the two neighbors.
(Rajiv Theodore is India Bureau Chief, The American Bazaar)