Non-traditional threats stalk Kolkata-Kunming corridor
Institutional tie-ups needed to tackle problem
Leading Chinese scholars have proposed setting up a security mechanism and accelerating a legal dialogue among Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar, in order to turn the proposed BCIM corridor into an economic reality.
In a conversation with The Hindu, Ren Jia, president of the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, advocated a four-country institutional tie-up to address the non-traditional security threats to the BCIM project. “Security is a very important aspect of BCIM,” Dr. Ren said, pointing out that ethnic insurgencies, terrorism, drug trafficking and the accompanying spread of HIV infections, antiques smuggling, as well as cross-border human trafficking, threatened to derail the project.
The BCIM corridor is an ambitious undertaking that hopes to connect Kolkata with Kunming, capital of the Yunnan province. It envisages formation of a thriving economic belt, focusing on cross-border transport, energy and telecommunication networks.
Of late, the project has acquired fresh momentum under the theme of sub-regional cooperation. Starting from Kunming, the route passes through nodal points, such as Mandalay and Lashio in Myanmar. It heads towards Kolkata after passing through Manipur and Silchar, before crossing Bangladesh via Sylhet and Dhaka, with branches extending to the ports of Cox Bazar and Chittagong.
Chinese experts in Yunnan say that except for a 200-km stretch between Silchar in Assam and Manipur, and a similar length between Kalewa and Monywah in Myanmar, the central artery of the route is nearly functional.
Dr. Ren pointed out that if “the non-traditional threats to security are not addressed the establishment of the corridor would be endangered.”
Fighting between Myanmar Army and ethnic Kokang rebels, known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, based near the Chinese border, pose a threat to the network.
Call for active collaboration to sanitise BCIM corridor
The United Wa State Army, that has virtually a free reign in north-eastern Myanmar, and is known for a narcotics trafficking, poses a big security problem to the BCIM corridor. Communal violence involving Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims has also flared in Rakhine State.
The killing of 18 Indian soldiers in Manipur by Naga militants based in Myanmar has also sharpened focus on sanitising the corridor through active security collaboration by the four states.
Ren Jia, president of the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that institutionalising a four-nation security partnership should become part of the recommendation of the Joint Study Group (JSG), which is expected to meet later this year in India.
Focusing “on strengthening connectivity in the BCIM region,” the JSG was formed two years ago following a Sino-Indian initiative at the prime ministerial level.
Asked whether it would be premature to forge a formal arrangement involving a joint command headquarters, intelligence sharing and joint operations to target security threats along the corridor, Dr. Ren said that the BCIM countries could draw lessons from the six-nation Greater Mekong Sub-region Economic Cooperation Programme “such as joint enforcement along the Mekong river.”
“So this is a good example, they have good experience for reference.”
“We can enforce security along the route for transportation, trade, and tourism,” she observed.
Regulatory framework
While problems related to physical connectivity maybe easier to address, establishing an appropriate legal and regulatory framework may prove harder.
Jin Cheng, deputy director-general of Yunnan’s International Regional Cooperation Office, advocates that the custodians of the BCIM project could again learn from the GMS grouping.
Four nations have for the first time drawn up a specific timetable on taking forward plan
India and China have taken the first step towards pushing forward an ambitious corridor linking the two countries with Bangladesh and Myanmar, as representatives from the four nations held the first ever official-level discussions about the project this week.
The four nations have for the first time drawn up a specific timetable on taking forward the long discussed plan, emphasising the need to quickly improve physical connectivity in the region, over two days of talks in the south-western Chinese city of Kunming – the provincial capital of Yunnan, which borders Myanmar – on Wednesday and Thursday.
The corridor, it was agreed, will run from Kunming to Kolkata, linking Mandalay in Myanmar as well as Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh. The plan would “advance multi-modal connectivity, harness the economic complementarities, promote investment and trade and facilitate people-to-people contacts”, the four nations said following Thursday’s Joint Study Group session.
The BCIM project, which has been the subject of discussions and debates for more than a decade among scholars from the four countries, finally received official support earlier this year, highlighted as a key initiative during two meetings between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang, in New Delhi in May and in Beijing in October.
The Chinese have appeared to take the lead in pushing forward the corridor, choosing to highlight the proposal as a key outcome of Mr. Li’s visit to India – his first overseas trip as the new Premier.
China, officials say, sees the corridor as a platform to not only boost strategic ties with India, but also as a means to inject vitality into its landlocked southwestern provinces, which have the highest poverty rates in China.
In the months following Mr. Li’s visit to India and in the lead-up to Dr. Singh travelling to Beijing, both India and China held separate consultations with Bangladesh and Myanmar, agreeing to hold a first official meeting in China. India was represented at this week’s talks by Joint Secretary (East Asia) at the Ministry of External Affairs Gautam Bambawale, who was joined by the Deputy Planning Minister of Bangladesh, the Vice Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, and a senior economic affairs official from Myanmar.
To underline that no country will dominate the initiative, the four nations said the corridor will be taken forward on “the principles of mutual trust and respect, mutual interest, equitable sharing of mutual benefits”.
As a first step, the four countries will identify realistic and achievable infrastructure projects to boost physical connectivity.
Over the next six months, each country will come up with a joint study report proposing concrete projects and financing modalities, before the next meeting of the four nations in June 2014, hosted by Bangladesh.
The hope is that before the holding of the third joint study meeting, in India towards the end of 2014, the four countries will have agreed upon a cooperation framework – including modalities of financing projects – that will pave the way for on-the-ground work to begin.
This week’s talks saw the four countries come up with an ambitious proposal that included developing multi-modal transport, such as road, rail, waterways and airways, joint power projects and telecommunication networks.
Officials suggested that improving the road networks would likely be a first priority. Earlier this year, a first ever BCIM car rally was held between Kolkata and Kunming.
The corridor is likely to follow the rough route of the rally, which served to highlight the inconsistent road conditions, especially in parts of Myanmar. Officials acknowledged that security concerns in parts of Myanmar were one likely obstacle, although representatives from the country also expressed optimism that this issue would, in time, be overcome.
Corridor will run from Kunming to Kolkata
China sees corridor as a platform to boost ties with India
Source - The Hindu
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