Dragon builds rail web around IndiaMaoist China believed power flowed from the barrel

[gpit]

Maoist China believed power flowed from the barrel of the gun; today it believes power comes from farms and factories sustained by assured supply lines of energy, minerals and materials, supported, in turn, by adequate logistics and connectivity. It seems to demonstrate that industrial power is at the heart of economic power, and economic power at the heart of strategic power.

China has imparted to railways a unique dimension of diplomacy and statecraft. Since 1985, China has channelled large investments into the expansion and revitalisation of its railways to also serve as the new Euro-Asian continental bridge akin to the fabled silk road as much as a lifeline of its economic and military might. Asia to Africa to Latin America.

All around India, China shares land borders with five Saarc countries, looks over the Chicken’s Neck at a sixth, and has a long border with Myanmar. From Kunming in its Yunnan province, a network of road, rail and river links fork out to Sittwe in western Myanmar and Thilawa near Yangon on the Bay of Bengal.

China would have completed extensive rail links to Myanmar after it builds 232-km Lashio-Muse/Ruili rail line in that country. A Myanmar-Bangladesh rail link will help connect Kunming to Chittagong as well. China is contemplating, among various rail-related projects in Bangladesh, construction of the second Padma bridge and a 130-km rail line from Chittagong to Gundum on Myanmar-Bangladesh border.

China’s formidable presence in terms of rail and road projects in India’s north is uniquely typified by world’s highest 1,142-km Golmud-Lhasa rail line. There seems no stopping it to extend it first to Nyalam on the China-Nepal border, and finally to Kathmandu.

A feasibility study is already completed for a new 252-km line from Lhasa to Xigaze. A further 400-km rail link from Xigaze to Nyalam is listed in its rail network programme. Nyalam to Kathmandu will then involve just about 120 km of additional link to be built. The prospect of going by train from Rameshwaram to Beijing via Kathmandu and Lhasa does not appear all that far-fetched any more!

Likewise, on India’s eastern flank, Chinese rail and road connectivity speedily knits the south-east Asian land mass. The 5,380-km Singapore-Kunming rail line project pursued by Asean covers the route from Kunming through Laos to Cambodian port of Sihanoukville on the Gulf of Thailand that is being actively supported by China.

It is already connected by rail to Vietnam through the 195-km dual-gauge (1,435 mm/1,000 mm) line between Hanoi and Dong Dang. China’s comprehensive renovation of the Kunming-Hekou link and construction of 141-km Yuxi-Mengzi line support an early connection of the pan-Asian rail network.

It is busy not only speeding up construction of its own network between Kunming and Singapore but also helping close the gaps across the Asean railways, viz, between Thailand and Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, Laos and China, etc.

With the remaining gaps in the network, when bridged, traffic originating in Singapore or Indonesia would be able to join the main Chinese south-north trunk line that runs from Shenzhen to Erenhot on the border with Mongolia, or its east-west trunk line that runs from the port of Lianyungang on the coast of China to Druzba on the border with Kazakhstan.

Similar developments on India’s western flank have for long been ominous. China-built Gwadar port in Balochistan on Pakistan’s southwest coast close to the Straits of Hormuz will be the entry point for energy supplies to China, bypassing the Malacca Straits.

Gwadar is proposed to be linked through Khunjerab Pass in the Karakoram to Kashgar (Kashi) which is connected to Xigaze, due to be rail-linked to Lhasa. There are reports of Gwadar being linked by an 800-km standard-gauge (1,435 mm) rail line in Pakistan via Dalbandin along Koh-I-Taftan (on Iranian border)-Spezand-Quetta-Chaman (on Afghan border) and extended to Kashi in China. When completed, it will isolate the broad gauge (1,676 mm) rail network in India while providing a through 1,435-mm network all across China.

China’s frenetic development of infrastructure in central Asian republics (CARs) signifies its long-term strategic and economic stakes in the region. Constituting a virtual bridge between China and Europe, Kazakhstan is keen on developing both a trans-Asian rail route via Iran as well as the Euro-Asian rail route, both enabling Beijing to provide connectivity between Asia-Pacific and Europe.

The former comprises a 10,500-km through rail link along Beijing-Almaty-Tashkent-Ashkabad-Tehran-Istanbul, and the latter between Hong Kong-Beijing-Almaty-Saratov-Kiev-Warsaw-Berlin-Brussels-London (13,000 km). The different rail gauges in China (1,435 mm) and CARs (1,520 mm) compel swapping of wagons and coach bodies at a trans-shipment yard China has built at Alataw.

The Maersk railway subsidiary, European Rail Shuttle, in conjunction with Trans Siberian Express Service and Tie Yang Transportation in China, offers regular block train services from China to the Czech Republic via Mongolia, Russia and Poland.

Another instance of China’s engagement in building rail lines in resource-rich CARs is its links to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Following the rail track between Tedzen (Turkmenistan) and Mashhad (Iran) at Sarakhs, a through rail link would be available from China through CARs to Europe via Turkey. Yet another transit route being considered is through Afghanistan and Pakistan along Ashkabad-Torghundi-Herat-Kandahar-Chaman-Quetta.

It is difficult not to infer that these mighty overtures from India’s northerly neighbour also aim at strategic encirclement and containment of India, creating a ring of anti-Indian influences. Asserting its ascent through ‘hard power’, for example, China has indulged in ongoing Yunnanisation of northern Myanmar.

Be it the road and rail links along and inside Pakistan, Myanmar or Vietnam, again, China is busy developing extensive multimodal connectivity all along the borders and inside the neighbouring countries for facilitating trade flows, energy supplies as well as large-scale movement of arms and armada, subserving its strategic global ambitions. This is real politik.

Against this, a complacent, smug and ‘argumentative’ India remains wrapped in its own bliss of ignorance and masterly inactivity, unable to take forward with good grace even fractional connectivity projects in Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan. There is tide in the affairs of nations as well as men and India is in danger of having missed it. Small openings of opportunity seized in time can help mend fences and build confidence in our smaller neighbours.

Dragon builds rail web around India- Comments & Analysis-Opinion-The Economic Times

-----------------------------

Just don't understand why India whines about China's developement and China's help of its neighbors' developement. If India could join the waggon, instead of nurtures a bellicose mentality, India could also benefit from the infrastructure greatly. Don't you think so?

 

[shchinese]

the really interesting part behind this report is to ask why neighboring countries want to be linked with China using those rails.

because the rise of China brings opportunities for Asia, you see Chinese investment/goods/projects helping to lift your economy. it is also funny that as another emerging market, india's role in Asia is very different, they spend huge $$$ on weapons and even nuclear weapons forcing neighbors to follow.

as long as india's capital is within the operational range of our guided rockets from our borders, as long as india's PM office can be hit in a single shot using our CJ-10 missiles, China should keep encircling and isolating the regime in new delhi.

 

[IBRIS]

the really interesting part behind this report is to ask why neighboring countries want to be linked with China using those rails.

because the rise of China brings opportunities for Asia, you see Chinese investment/goods/projects helping to lift your economy..

Yea, we all see how china is uplifting world's economy by selling weapons to all the states which are either under sactions or are hell bent on killing it's own people. For Example AFRICAN states.

it is also funny that as another emerging market, india's role in Asia is very different, they spend huge $$$ on weapons and even nuclear weapons forcing neighbors to follow.

Well, you leave us no choice by laying claims on own our lands. We would be stupit if we didn't arm ourselves before a goon like you would hold any sort of responsibility.

as long as india's capital is within the operational range of our guided rockets from our borders, as long as india's PM office can be hit in a single shot using our CJ-10 missiles, China should keep encircling and isolating the regime in new delhi.

By going by your logic our Prime Minister stays in his office 24/7. even if he does get taken out, our government doesn't depend on 1 man like yours does.

Also china should keep on trying to encircle us. Nor India's economy depends or faces any isolation from being encircled. Our diplomats are doing a great job by convincing our neighbours of chinese intentions.

Indian Air Base in NEPAL and Bhutan has agreed to let Indians build Indian Air base. No country will ever risk itself of getting devasted in conflict between China & India. Talking about encircling us you can't even take care of an Island few hundred miles away from you.

 

[bigmoneymaker]

ECONOMY, ECONOMY, all things in this world much related to this issue my indians friends.....economic considerations do matter.....

 

[ebungo]

the really interesting part behind this report is to ask why neighboring countries want to be linked with China using those rails.

because the rise of China brings opportunities for Asia, you see Chinese investment/goods/projects helping to lift your economy. it is also funny that as another emerging market, india's role in Asia is very different, they spend huge $$$ on weapons and even nuclear weapons forcing neighbors to follow.

as long as india's capital is within the operational range of our guided rockets from our borders, as long as india's PM office can be hit in a single shot using our CJ-10 missiles, China should keep encircling and isolating the regime in new delhi.

You have a lots of wet dreams nowadays

 

[faithfulguy]

You have a lots of wet dreams nowadays

What part of his posting are regarded as wet dreams? From what I read, everything he posted is a reality.

 

[praveen]

Maoist China believed power flowed from the barrel of the gun; today it believes power comes from farms and factories sustained by assured supply lines of energy, minerals and materials, supported, in turn, by adequate logistics and connectivity. It seems to demonstrate that industrial power is at the heart of economic power, and economic power at the heart of strategic power.

China has imparted to railways a unique dimension of diplomacy and statecraft. Since 1985, China has channelled large investments into the expansion and revitalisation of its railways to also serve as the new Euro-Asian continental bridge akin to the fabled silk road as much as a lifeline of its economic and military might. Asia to Africa to Latin America.

All around India, China shares land borders with five Saarc countries, looks over the Chicken’s Neck at a sixth, and has a long border with Myanmar. From Kunming in its Yunnan province, a network of road, rail and river links fork out to Sittwe in western Myanmar and Thilawa near Yangon on the Bay of Bengal.

China would have completed extensive rail links to Myanmar after it builds 232-km Lashio-Muse/Ruili rail line in that country. A Myanmar-Bangladesh rail link will help connect Kunming to Chittagong as well. China is contemplating, among various rail-related projects in Bangladesh, construction of the second Padma bridge and a 130-km rail line from Chittagong to Gundum on Myanmar-Bangladesh border.

China’s formidable presence in terms of rail and road projects in India’s north is uniquely typified by world’s highest 1,142-km Golmud-Lhasa rail line. There seems no stopping it to extend it first to Nyalam on the China-Nepal border, and finally to Kathmandu.

A feasibility study is already completed for a new 252-km line from Lhasa to Xigaze. A further 400-km rail link from Xigaze to Nyalam is listed in its rail network programme. Nyalam to Kathmandu will then involve just about 120 km of additional link to be built. The prospect of going by train from Rameshwaram to Beijing via Kathmandu and Lhasa does not appear all that far-fetched any more!

Likewise, on India’s eastern flank, Chinese rail and road connectivity speedily knits the south-east Asian land mass. The 5,380-km Singapore-Kunming rail line project pursued by Asean covers the route from Kunming through Laos to Cambodian port of Sihanoukville on the Gulf of Thailand that is being actively supported by China.

It is already connected by rail to Vietnam through the 195-km dual-gauge (1,435 mm/1,000 mm) line between Hanoi and Dong Dang. China’s comprehensive renovation of the Kunming-Hekou link and construction of 141-km Yuxi-Mengzi line support an early connection of the pan-Asian rail network.

It is busy not only speeding up construction of its own network between Kunming and Singapore but also helping close the gaps across the Asean railways, viz, between Thailand and Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, Laos and China, etc.

With the remaining gaps in the network, when bridged, traffic originating in Singapore or Indonesia would be able to join the main Chinese south-north trunk line that runs from Shenzhen to Erenhot on the border with Mongolia, or its east-west trunk line that runs from the port of Lianyungang on the coast of China to Druzba on the border with Kazakhstan.

Similar developments on India’s western flank have for long been ominous. China-built Gwadar port in Balochistan on Pakistan’s southwest coast close to the Straits of Hormuz will be the entry point for energy supplies to China, bypassing the Malacca Straits.

Gwadar is proposed to be linked through Khunjerab Pass in the Karakoram to Kashgar (Kashi) which is connected to Xigaze, due to be rail-linked to Lhasa. There are reports of Gwadar being linked by an 800-km standard-gauge (1,435 mm) rail line in Pakistan via Dalbandin along Koh-I-Taftan (on Iranian border)-Spezand-Quetta-Chaman (on Afghan border) and extended to Kashi in China. When completed, it will isolate the broad gauge (1,676 mm) rail network in India while providing a through 1,435-mm network all across China.

China’s frenetic development of infrastructure in central Asian republics (CARs) signifies its long-term strategic and economic stakes in the region. Constituting a virtual bridge between China and Europe, Kazakhstan is keen on developing both a trans-Asian rail route via Iran as well as the Euro-Asian rail route, both enabling Beijing to provide connectivity between Asia-Pacific and Europe.

The former comprises a 10,500-km through rail link along Beijing-Almaty-Tashkent-Ashkabad-Tehran-Istanbul, and the latter between Hong Kong-Beijing-Almaty-Saratov-Kiev-Warsaw-Berlin-Brussels-London (13,000 km). The different rail gauges in China (1,435 mm) and CARs (1,520 mm) compel swapping of wagons and coach bodies at a trans-shipment yard China has built at Alataw.

The Maersk railway subsidiary, European Rail Shuttle, in conjunction with Trans Siberian Express Service and Tie Yang Transportation in China, offers regular block train services from China to the Czech Republic via Mongolia, Russia and Poland.

Another instance of China’s engagement in building rail lines in resource-rich CARs is its links to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Following the rail track between Tedzen (Turkmenistan) and Mashhad (Iran) at Sarakhs, a through rail link would be available from China through CARs to Europe via Turkey. Yet another transit route being considered is through Afghanistan and Pakistan along Ashkabad-Torghundi-Herat-Kandahar-Chaman-Quetta.

It is difficult not to infer that these mighty overtures from India’s northerly neighbour also aim at strategic encirclement and containment of India, creating a ring of anti-Indian influences. Asserting its ascent through ‘hard power’, for example, China has indulged in ongoing Yunnanisation of northern Myanmar.

Be it the road and rail links along and inside Pakistan, Myanmar or Vietnam, again, China is busy developing extensive multimodal connectivity all along the borders and inside the neighbouring countries for facilitating trade flows, energy supplies as well as large-scale movement of arms and armada, subserving its strategic global ambitions. This is real politik.

Against this, a complacent, smug and ‘argumentative’ India remains wrapped in its own bliss of ignorance and masterly inactivity, unable to take forward with good grace even fractional connectivity projects in Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan. There is tide in the affairs of nations as well as men and India is in danger of having missed it. Small openings of opportunity seized in time can help mend fences and build confidence in our smaller neighbours.

Dragon builds rail web around India- Comments & Analysis-Opinion-The Economic Times

-----------------------------

Just don't understand why India whines about China's developement and China's help of its neighbors' developement. If India could join the waggon, instead of nurtures a bellicose mentality, India could also benefit from the infrastructure greatly. Don't you think so?

Hysteria at best ,the Kokang rebellion has shown the limit of Chinese influence in Burma.Gwadar ,they have abandoned it altogether as the viability of it is in question.In Central Asia ,the Panda has to deal with the bear.
Everyone seems to forget Vietnam in the Asean

 

[praveen]

the really interesting part behind this report is to ask why neighboring countries want to be linked with China using those rails.

because the rise of China brings opportunities for Asia, you see Chinese investment/goods/projects helping to lift your economy. it is also funny that as another emerging market, india's role in Asia is very different, they spend huge $$$ on weapons and even nuclear weapons forcing neighbors to follow.

as long as india's capital is within the operational range of our guided rockets from our borders, as long as india's PM office can be hit in a single shot using our CJ-10 missiles, China should keep encircling and isolating the regime in new delhi.

Yadda..Yadda.Yadda.Wow What an entertainment .What is this Tin can power thing

 

[lockh33d]

Sh is right, India is mainly focusing on its military trying to outdo its rivals. E.g. Still holding back against Pakistan, trying to outlevel its military, since we see no attempts of trying to resolve border issues.

 

[shchinese]

Sh is right, India is mainly focusing on its military trying to outdo its rivals. E.g. Still holding back against Pakistan, trying to outlevel its military, since we see no attempts of trying to resolve border issues.

what makes it worse is they use those big $$$ to import weapons from highly unreliable sources like russia, contributing nothing to their local economy.

When China is busy trading with neighbors, india is busy importing weapons, how the gap between these two countries could not get widened?

 

[duhastmish]

what makes it worse is they use those big $$$ to import weapons from highly unreliable sources like russia, contributing nothing to their local economy.

When China is busy trading with neighbors, india is busy importing weapons, how the gap between these two countries could not get widened?

Umm but - people have liberty in india, one can be president of india. if one have the capabilities and hunger.

unlike one who are tied to be slave and live like bird in cage with bird seed on offer.
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chinese fire power is still immature and lag behind tleast 40 years to west and russia. worst for them they cant get all the advance and new hardware from them either. they have to be happy with their tin box weapons.
---------

coming back to topic: how many country aroudn china are their good allies ?????

except for pakestan and north korea.

 

[shchinese]

Umm but - people have liberty in india, one can be president of india. if one have the capabilities and hunger.

unlike one who are tied to be slave and live like bird in cage with bird seed on offer.
----------

chinese fire power is still immature and lag behind tleast 40 years to west and russia. worst for them they cant get all the advance and new hardware from them either. they have to be happy with their tin box weapons.
---------

coming back to topic: how many country aroudn china are their good allies ?????

except for pakestan and north korea.

yes, you are right.

our Type-99 tanks are 40 years behind the west.
J-10 is 40 years behind the west.
052c/054a are just some 1960s era western technologies.

let me tell you something more real:

we conquered your army 47 years ago when they were equipped with your fancy western aided weapons.

oh, almost forget to mention, I really appreciate the arm embargo applied on China and do hope it can keep for another 10 years.

 

[mgmech]

Sh is right, India is mainly focusing on its military trying to outdo its rivals. E.g. Still holding back against Pakistan, trying to outlevel its military, since we see no attempts of trying to resolve border issues.

What is solution...China leave Tibet...it solves the problem..two shots with one bullet....solves China's problems with Both Tibet and India...

 

[shchinese]

What is solution...China leave Tibet...it solves the problem..two shots with one bullet....solves China's problems with Both Tibet and India...

because we have a much stronger armed forces?
because all country including yours acknowledge tibet as a part of China?
or because our economy is 3 times of yours?

just a friendly reminder: we can destroy your capital using some dead cheap guided rockets, while you need your best long range missiles to reach our population center and they have high probability to be intercepted on their way.

 

[mgmech]

yes, you are right.

our Type-99 tanks are 40 years behind the west.
J-10 is 40 years behind the west.
052c/054a are just some 1960s era western technologies.

let me tell you something more real:

we conquered your army 47 years ago when they were equipped with your fancy western aided weapons.

oh, almost forget to mention, I really appreciate the arm embargo applied on China and do hope it can keep for another 10 years.

than what happened with Vietnam and in 1967 with India....
is this some mathematical formula from einstein that if u won once so it guarantees u win next time also....Remeber u won in 1962 because of back stabbing India..... India didnt know ur true intentions...