BCIM getting momentum

China and India are adding fresh momentum to the establishment of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor, which is expected to develop gradually before more ambitious goals are achieved, says The Hindu.

Reportedly, Chinese officials acknowledge that unlike in the past, when it was perceived to be dragging its feet, India is now showing enthusiasm over the project, which will link Kolkata with Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province, passing through Myanmar and Bangladesh, with Mandalay and Dhaka among the focal points.

“The focus on linking provinces and States - in this case, Yunnan and West Bengal - seems to have given a new impulse to galvanising the plan,” wrote the Indian newspaper.

The Hindu report titled “China, India fast-track BCIM economic corridor project” said the main artery of the 2,800-km, K (Kolkata)-2-K (Kunming) corridor is nearly ready. A stretch of less than 200 km, from Kalewa to Monywa in Myanmar, needs to be upgraded as an all-weather road, it added.

The corridor is said to be providing access to sea for India’s north-eastern states.

The report quoted, deputy director-general at the International Regional Cooperation Office of Yunnan, Jin Cheng as saying that the main artery of the 2,800-km, K (Kolkata)-2-K (Kunming) corridor is nearly ready.

“The second is the segment between Silchar in Assam and Imphal in Manipur, which India is upgrading,” he was quoted to have said.

The Hindu report said from the West Bengal capital, the corridor will head towards Benapole, a border crossing town in Bangladesh. After passing through Dhaka and Sylhet, it is said to be re-entering the Indian territory near Silchar in Assam.

The rest of the passage will be connected with Imphal and then pass through the India-built Tamu-Kalewa friendship road in Myanmar, according to the report.

“Mandalay will be the next focal point of the corridor before the road enters Yunnan, after crossing Lashio and Muse in Myanmar,” it said.

The Chinese stretch extends from Ruili before reaching Kunming through Longling and Dali, the report listed.

It added that the central corridor can be connected with two supplementary passages to the north and the south.

However, the report pointed out, this route is problematic because it enters a small portion of Arunachal Pradesh over which India and China have a territorial dispute.

A part of this stretch is also described as insurgency-prone, and therefore unsafe.

The Chinese official reportedly acknowledged that one of the strategic factors driving the corridor was reduction of reliance on the Straits of Malacca, militarily dominated by the US.