China-Myanmar Economic Corridor

The China-Myanmar Economic Corridor is likely to act as a path for access to the Indian Ocean by China.

Salient Features of the CMEC

• Length of corridor-The corridor begins from the Yunnan province of China and then crosses Mandalay in central Myanmar, Yangon and ends at the Kyakpyu special economic zone.
• Scope for trade-The 1.5 billion dollar pipeline that is sought to be built in the corridor will help China to import crude oil through Bay of Bengal.
• Resolving Rohingya crisis-The Chinese claim that as the corridor will pass through Rakhine state, China can play a mediatory role in resolving the crisis.
• Three phases-The whole inauguration of this corridor is to begin with a ceasefire in the first phase so that local residents are not displaced, second phase is through the encouragement of the international community to Myanmar and Bangladesh for dialogue with respect to solving the Rohingya crisis and the third phase involves providing a long term solution to the problems.

Implications of the CMEC on India

The CMEC can be opportunistic for both India and China. As the initiative is a part of the One Belt One Road initiative or the BCIM-EC, it can be mutually beneficial. It will increase India’s connectivity to the major supplies and markets in the region which it cannot do so alone at this stage due to lack of capacity.

However, India is slow to implement the BCIM due to the staretgic issues with respect to the Indian Ocean. It can affect the status quo in the Indian Ocean and also as claimed by India before, it can affect its military capabilities substantially.