Mandalay-Kyaukphyu railway to economically benefit China, Myanmar
Continued cooperation focused on regional integration between China and Myanmar provides a sharp contrast to India, which has decided to isolate itself from the rest of Asia, according to Chinese analysts.
The comments came after China and Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Sunday to conduct feasibility study of a 650-kilometer-long railway linking Mandalay, the country’s second largest city in Myanmar’s central region, with Kyaukphyu, the major town in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Zhao Gancheng, director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told the Global Times that the signing of the MoU is an important step toward a very significant project under the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor and part of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative.
When the concept of the corridor was first introduced in 2013, India was initially involved in the regional integration project, only to withdraw further into the process.
The continued development of the Mandalay-Kyaukphyu railway shows that regional integration is moving forward even as India, which could play a major part in the program, has chosen not to participate, Zhao said.
Zhao said while the progress of the railway project largely depends on the Myanmar government, the benefit of such a railway will be significant in terms of transportation facilitation, low-cost resources allocation and the development of cities along the railway.
“The railway will have a coupling effect with the ChinaMyanmar oil and gas pipeline, which was already operational and bringing tangible benefits to the development of Myanmar and China’s southwestern regions,” Zhao said.
The addition of the railway could allow merchants from China’s Yunnan Province to look for business opportunities on the Indian Ocean at Kyaukphyu economic zone and turn the port into a regional center for energy commodities, serving the region instead of meeting Myanmar’s domestic demand only, according to Zhao.
China hopes once the feasibility study is completed, the construction of the railway could be pushed forward so as to meet an advanced completion date, generating greater benefits for the two peoples, according to a release from the Chinese embassy in Myanmar.
China-Myanmar railway cooperation is an important project for the BRI and the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, Myanmar Transport and Communication Minister U Thant Zin Maung told the ceremony.
Feasibility studies for the other section of the ChinaMyanmar Economic Corridor, including the section linking Mandalay and Muse, a major land port of Myanmar that borders the southwestern Chinese city of Ruili, have already been completed.