E-Paper
‘Tibet infrastructure gives China an edge over India in Nepal’
BEIJING:India and China are competing for influence over Nepal but superior infrastructure in Tibet that borders the landlocked country can give Beijing the edge,
BEIJING:India and China are competing for influence over Nepal but superior infrastructure in Tibet that borders the landlocked country can give Beijing the edge, the nationalist Global Times said on Thursday.
A top expert wrote in the state-controlled newspaper that China’s infrastructure superiority in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) will likely come under pressure from India’s high growth in the coming years.
That can only be tackled with policy support from Beijing and close coordination between its neighbouring provinces and cities, the newspaper said.
“In the next decade, if India continues on its high growth track and speeds up the development of infrastructure and manufacturing, this will impose multi-dimensional pressure on China, of which Tibet will bear the brunt,” Ding Gang from Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China wrote.
“Fortunately, as the central government has attached great importance and offered considerable support to the region, Tibet has gained the upper hand over India in terms of infrastructure development and has established sound economic cooperation relations with neighbouring provinces and cities,” Ding said.
Ding noted the slow but increasing competition between India and China over building railway networks in Nepal. “During his latest visit to India, Nepal’s new Prime Minister Prachanda revealed that the two countries would discuss the possibility of India helping build a railway connecting Mechi and Mahakali,” Ding said.
From the Chinese side, he said, “Currently, China is extending the Lhasa-Shigatse (in TAR) railway to reach to Gyirong county. The project is expected to be completed in 2020. By this design, connection between Kathmandu and Gyirong through railways can be achieved by 2025 as the former is merely dozens of kilometers away from the latter.”
This competition from India can be offset by better coordination between Chinese provinces around TAR.
For years, India occupied 60 to 70% of Nepal’s total trade while China has only 10%, Ding said.
