By Ranjana Narayan
Beijing, July 2 — Even as Indian
is keenly pushing ahead with its economic ties with energy-rich Myanmar, where
China already has a marked presence, Beijing has said it "welcomes"
competition from New Delhi in the region and does not have a strategy to
"strangle" India.
India, which shares a land border
of more than 1,600 km with Myanmar, inked a slew of agreements with the
government of President Thein Sein during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit
to that country at the end of May.
India and Myanmar's trade is
worth $1.2 billion, which is currently heavily in favor of Myanmar. In
comparison, China is Myanmar's second largest trading partner, with their
bilateral trade hitting $4.44 billion in 2010, a 53.2- percent increase over
the previous year, according to a Myanmar Times report, which was also cited by
China's state-run China Daily.
"China's position is very
strong in economic trade in Myanmar and South Asia. China welcomes competition
from India," Jia Xiudong, Senior Fellow in Residence, of China Institute
of International Studies (CIIS), Department of International Strategic Studies,
told a group of visiting Indian journalists.
He made the comment when asked if
China was concerned about India's 'Look East' policy. Jia said China is
"not concerned" and welcomes competition.
The Myanmar Times, citing data
from the Myanmar Investment Commission, reported that China invested $13.6
billion in Myanmar, mostly in the energy sector, during 2010-11. Of this, $9.6
billion was invested in 2011.
Six official Chinese delegations
visited MIC in 2011 to discuss investment in infrastructure, mining, energy and
manufacturing.
China has started work on two oil
and natural gas pipelines, stretching 1,060 km from the Bay of Bengal port of
Kyaukpyu to Kunming, capital of its southwestern province Yunnan.
However, work on the Myitsone dam
project on the Irrawaddy - set to be Myanmar's largest hydroelectric power
stations - was stopped due to environmental concerns and protests by locals.
The state-run China Power Investment Corporation is in talks with the Myanmar
government to resume the project.
India's main infrastructure
venture in Myanmar is the Kaladan multi-modal project to link Sittwe port to
Mizoram by road and an inland waterway. However, work on the project, which
began in 2008, is progressing slowly. While the waterway is expected to be
completed by 2013, the road link is to be ready by 2014.
India is also engaged in
upgrading and resurfacing of a few major roads in Myanmar.
India's state-run oil firms, the
overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp and and GAIL have a 30-percent
interest in two gas-producing blocks in Myanmar as part of a consortium which
is supplying the hydrocarbon gas produced to China.
Besides, India also has three
deepwater exploration blocks.
To a query if China was pursuing
a "String of Pearls" strategy of strategically encircling India, Jia
said China "does not have a strategy to strangle India".
"This is not our
intention...India is a big power...will other countries join to strangle
(India)," said Jia. The CIIS is the think tank of China's Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. It conducts research and analysis on a wide range of foreign
policy issues, according to the official website.
During a separate interaction
with the Indian journalists, a People's Liberation Army official had said that
China's efforts to seek a presence in the Indian Ocean archipelago of
Seychelles was only for "logistics support" for its navy and it has
"no intention" to set up military bases outside the country.
The PLA (People's Liberation
Army) Navy, as part of its anti-piracy escort of ships, has "requested to
set up logistics support for refueling" of the PLA Navy in Seychelles.
"There is no intention to set up a naval base outside China. We see it as
cooperation and not expansion," Navy Senior Captain Zhang Wei, Research
Fellow of Naval Military Studies Institute, said.
In December last year, China had
said that Seychelles has invited its navy to establish a port to supply its
anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden, causing some concern in India.
The Indian journalists were
visiting China on the invite of the state-run All China Journalists'
Association.
(Ranjana Narayan can be contacted
at ranjana.n@ians.in)
Courtesy: IANS
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