China's dream to connect with Indian Ocean dashed; trying to revive canceled project

India has been worried about China's efforts to access the Indian Ocean because it has military implications. China has built a port in Sri Lanka. Its plans to lay a 1215-km long rail line connecting Kunming on China’s border to Kyaukphyu in Myanmar is a matter of concern for New Delhi.

China’s dream of getting access to the Indian Ocean with a new railway line passing through Myanmar has been dashed. The Myanmar government has cancelled the $20 billion project after differences over costs and environmental impact, according to reports from that country.

‘We have also seen that at a time when China-Myanmar relations are experiencing more opportunities, there also emerge some challenges,’ China’s official Xinhua news agency Yang Houlan, the country’s ambassador in Myanmar, as saying.

India has been worried about China's efforts to access the Indian Ocean because it has military implications. China has built a port in Sri Lanka. Its plans to lay a 1215-km long rail line connecting Kunming on China’s border to Kyaukphyu in Myanmar is a matter of concern for New Delhi.

On the other hand, Chinese officials are now trying to persuade the Myanmar Railway to reconsider the project, which has been cancelled.  

The official Xinhua indicated there was only a problem of coordination between the two countries concerning the project. It quoted a Myanmar official saying, ‘I understand that it needs time to continue coordination’.

Chinese Ambassador Yang Houlan rejected reports that it was China which had abandoned the project. He was obviously referring to a report in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy newspaper, which said China had shown little interest in implementing the project for which a memorandum of understanding was signed in 2011.

‘We just made a memorandum of understanding between the two parties. Now, we haven’t made any new agreement to start operations, so what I can say is that we aren’t working on this project,’ the Irrawaddy quoted a railway official as saying.

‘Actually, the cost proposed by China for the project was not sufficient to construct the long railroad, and, also, there are other environmental impact issues that we would have to consider along the railroad,’ the official told the Irrawaddy.

There are also reports of protests against the rail road in some parts of Myanmar, and the local government also had concerns about environmental impact of the 1215-km long project.

Citing other reasons for Myanmar to continue with the project, the ambassador China is biggest source of investment and trading partner for Myanmar. The two countries have established Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Partnership, and have agreed to cooperate in the area of economic development.