Connecting Asia: India Talks, China Builds

[haidian]

Connecting Asia: India Talks, China Builds
C. Raja Mohan : New Delhi, Sat Jan 05 2013, 16:35 hrs

At the recently concluded summit in Delhi with the leaders of South East Asia, India declared its strong political commitment to improving connectivity between the two regions.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the South East Asian leaders showed up at a celebration in the national capital to mark the conclusion of the ASEAN-India car rally. The participants in the rally drove nearly 8000 km through South East Asia and eastern India to arrive in Delhi in time for the special summit.

If Delhi is good at declarations and symbolic gestures, Beijing has set a scorching pace for the construction of infrastructure projects and the promotion of connectivity between China and the nations across its borders.

This week alone a clutch of mega Chinese infrastructure initiatives have been reported from South East Asia.

In the first a large Chinese iron and steel company in Cambodia has tied up with China Railway to build a 400 km rail line to connect a green field steel plant in the northern part of the country to a port on Koh Kong, the southern commercial island in the Gulf of Thailand.

The steel plant could cost up to $2 billion and the rail link will come at an estimated price tag of nearly $10 billion, according a report by the Reuters. Analysts following Cambodian economy say this could be the largest project ever in the nation.

Meanwhile another Chinese company Sinomach Perfect Machinery has tied up with Cambodian Petrochemical to build an oil refinery capable of processing five million metric tons of crude oil a year. The price tag is nearly $2.5 billion.

In the neighbouring land-locked Laos, the ‘New York Times’ reported, China has announced plans to build a high-speed train link between Kunming in the South Western Yunnan province and Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

The cost of the 400 km railway line estimated at $7 billion will be borne by Laos. Chinese banks will lend the money. Laos is said to be pledging its national mineral wealth as collateral.

Experts with the international development agencies have strongly criticized the deal as imposing massive future financial burden on Laos. The ruling communists in Vientiane appear to have taken a political decision in favour of the project.

While international development experts and a few voices in Laos and Cambodia fear that the two countries are being subject to China’s ‘neo-colonialism’, there is no denying the dramatic expansion of Beijing’s influence in a critical region of South East Asia.

The scale of financing and scope of the projects that China can deliver has begun to eliminate the traditional dependence of small nations on multilateral lending agencies for large projects.

Japan and the United States, which once had the leadership of development initiatives, have lost much ground to China in recent years. While Washington and Tokyo are scrambling to respond the dramatic rise in Chinese influence in Indo China, Delhi is in the danger of becoming an outlier in the economic development of the region.

While the foreign office in Delhi sees the strategic significance of promoting connectivity, especially the East-West corridors linking the subcontinent to South East Asia, it is not clear if there is real competence in the rest of the government to make this happen. Most of India's plans for connectivity with South East Asia have remained on paper.

If the government is unable to move, much the same can be said about the Indian private sector. While the Indian FDI has grown rapidly in South East Asia, the Indian corporates remain invisible in the strategic sectors of the region.

Cambodia and Laos, along with Vietnam, were once known as “Indo-China”. This was where the Indian and Chinese civilizations met. But as Beijing integrates these bordering regions into its own economy and Delhi remains paralysed, 'Indo-China' might soon be a misnomer.

Connecting Asia: India Talks, China Builds - Indian Express
(C. Raja Mohan is a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation and a contributing editor of ‘The Indian Express’).

 

[acid rain]

Laos seem to have been swindled. Laos pays the money through its mineral resources which chinese will exploit by rail built on laos money that chinas earned by its construction companies and to top it up Laos will pay the interest for the loan too. Essentially china gets 7 billion worth of minerals free. LOL

The same fate at Chinas hands awaits a few more tiny countries in our neighborhood.

 

[haidian]

Laos seem to have been swindled. Laos pays the money through its mineral resources which chinese will exploit by rail built on laos money that chinas earned by its construction companies and to top it up Laos will pay the interest for the loan too. Essentially china gets 7 billion worth of minerals free. LOL

The same fate at Chinas hands awaits a few more tiny countries in our neighborhood.

The high speed railway is not for China's exclusive use,it runs in Laos and will benefit the local economy greatly.

 

[djsjs]

Laos seem to have been swindled. Laos pays the money through its mineral resources which chinese will exploit by rail built on laos money that chinas earned by its construction companies and to top it up Laos will pay the interest for the loan too. Essentially china gets 7 billion worth of minerals free. LOL

The same fate at Chinas hands awaits a few more tiny countries in our neighborhood.

haha.you've eaten a sour grape.
india should and have the ability to help its neighbors improve their infrastructure,however,did nothing .when the neighbors get help and benefit from other countries,some guys like you feel envy.

gaining wealth by selling mineral resources is a fast way help countrymen improve the standard of living.Australia, Canada,Brazil, the Middle East countries, North African countries all benefit in this way.

 

[JSCh]

Initially China is going to pay for 70% of the cost of the Laos railroad. But after what happen last year with Vietnam, Philippines and Burma, there seem to be a paradigm shift in China policy and China pull out of the deal. Now Laos decided to go it alone with Chinese finance. I am sure they got a good deal since the railroad would be good for China strategically.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Laos seem to have been swindled. Laos pays the money through its mineral resources which chinese will exploit by rail built on laos money that chinas earned by its construction companies and to top it up Laos will pay the interest for the loan too. Essentially china gets 7 billion worth of minerals free. LOL

The same fate at Chinas hands awaits a few more tiny countries in our neighborhood.

Only you guys could look at a country improving their infrastructure and say that they are gaining nothing from it.

 

[Yeti]

China builds ghost cities and white elephant projects but still China is streets ahead of India in infrastructure, just wish India would not build as boring as the buildings as China has which copies eveything from the west.

 

[Kompromat]

India is a landlocked country, from a C.Asian and Eastern European perspective, because Pakistan won't allow ANY Indian transit project to go through its territory where as, China can build without an issue ie Gwadar port, Karakoram, Highway and upcoming projects linking, Pakistan to Iran, Turkey and ultimately Europe. China can, also build through C.Asia, through Afghanistan to Russia. China can link, East Asian countries...India cannot and will never be able to.

 

[Yeti]

India is a landlocked country, from a C.Asian and Eastern European perspective, because Pakistan won't allow ANY Indian transit project to go through its territory where as, China can build without an issue ie Gwadar port, Karakoram, Highway and upcoming projects linking, Pakistan to Iran, Turkey and ultimately Europe. China can, also build through C.Asia, through Afghanistan to Russia. China can link, East Asian countries...India cannot and will never be able to.

Something we already know hence why we are investing in Iran we do not need the use of Pakistani soil we can bypass you.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3820948.ece

 

[Kompromat]

Something we already know hence why we are investing in Iran we do not need the use of Pakistani soil we can bypass you.

The Hindu : News / National : India, Iran, Afghanistan to hold talks ahead of NAM summit

Im sure they have a backup plan for wartime.

 

[neutral_person]

Laos seem to have been swindled. Laos pays the money through its mineral resources which chinese will exploit by rail built on laos money that chinas earned by its construction companies and to top it up Laos will pay the interest for the loan too. Essentially china gets 7 billion worth of minerals free. LOL

The same fate at Chinas hands awaits a few more tiny countries in our neighborhood.

I would say good business in the part of China, something that we Indians can perhaps learn from.

 

[Yeti]

Chinese investment in Burma has seen recent protest by the locals it is not going to be plain sailing like the old days with new players in the mix.


Relations with Myanmar: Less thunder out of China | The Economist

 

[acid rain]

I would say good business in the part of China, something that we Indians can perhaps learn from.

LOL, not required, a good con job like this one brings temporary gains but leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the country that has been had. Taking advantage of their weakness doesn't earn friendship over a long term.

 

[Hellraiser007]

India is a landlocked country, from a C.Asian and Eastern European perspective, because Pakistan won't allow ANY Indian transit project to go through its territory where as, China can build without an issue ie Gwadar port, Karakoram, Highway and upcoming projects linking, Pakistan to Iran, Turkey and ultimately Europe. China can, also build through C.Asia, through Afghanistan to Russia. China can link, East Asian countries...India cannot and will never be able to.

Trade through sea is efficient and India is connected through sea routes, If India and China talks becomes success then there is a plan to connect C.Asia with India through China.

 

[haidian]

China builds ghost cities and white elephant projects but still China is streets ahead of India in infrastructure, just wish India would not build as boring as the buildings as China has which copies eveything from the west.

what boring buildings do you refer to?buildings in Hongkong,Beijing or Shanghai?do you mean Mumbai's buildings are better than Chinese cities?