The Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visits India after 27 years of what was a friendly and positive meeting.Let us hope that after years of rancour,border disputes,both countries will put a new perspective on a relation since the times of Marco Polo...
206 B.C-220 A.D.The caravan comprised of seventy
Bactrian two humped camels loaded with jade,lapis lazuli.Silk was yet to be
discovered.And the name ‘Silk Road’would not emerge until at least the 8th
Century.But Asian banking was at its zenith!The
camels were but a means of ferrying goods and culture that at a very
early stage in human history united the
Hungarians,Persians,Turks,Egyptians,Chinese and India.
In Medieval times the discovery of sea routes and the rise of
the West led to the disappearance of this famed corridor of Mid and Central
Asia.
The importance of cutting costs in transporting the huge
manufacturing out of China to western markets would be easier if such a road
could lead to the port of Kolkata(Calcutta) over the now open for trade Nathu
La pass in Sikkim straight onto the Bay of Bengal for transhipment to Europe
,Africa and the Americas.
Major ports in China lie on the eastern
seaboard-Dalian,Zhenjiang,Shenshen etc much further east than Kolkata.The only
shorter route would be if the arctic passage could be opened up and Canada
allowed the Northwest passage?
Political compulsions are making China skirt India and try
and use the Pakistani port of Gwadar and develop deep water capacities in Myanmar
as per 2011 news reports.
With a slowdown in global GDP and the need to find efficient
systems for distributing finished products globally it makes sense for a “NEW”
Silk Road to be established.Synergies with Kazakstan,Krygzstan and other Baltic
republics rich in mineral wealth could be moved through pipelines and would be cost
effective for energy starved India,Bangladesh,Pakistan,Nepal and Myanmar.
Every economy in South East Asia needs that boost.But will
complex politico-military compulsions come in the way?
Sun-Tzu
Let us hope that is true for all of us on the planet.
Let us hope that is true for all of us on the planet.
The Silk route primarily was of mutual interest and benefits during the historcal ages. However, with dwindling exports of Chinese goods to US due to sharp appreciation of yuan vs USD, the Chinese explore all possibilities to compensate their loss of US mkts with that of India. Lets hope its a two way traffic, else we may have "made in China' crypted in everything we see around us. Also, you know what may happen to INR.
ReplyDeleteI think the geopolitical crisis between India & China is less serious and the current Chinese gesture may be a prelude to a bigger economic crisis if China doesnot reciprocate in equal measure in a economic sense.