Chinese Trains are India's Bane

A Train to Yatung, near Sikkim?

My article Chinese Trains are India's Bane appeared in Mail Today on July 15.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) walked into Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, in September 1951. Immediately, the generals leading the ‘Liberation of Tibet’ put their troops to work; they had to build motorable roads on two main axes, Lhasa-Sichuan and Lhasa-Qinghai, as well as on feeder roads towards India’s border, particularly the southern route, Lhasa-Gyantse-Yatung, near the Sikkim border. The PLA managed this feat in five years.


Challenge at Nyingchi
Since a few years, Beijing seems to be caught by a comparable frenzy, but this time, it is trains that China is planning to bring onto the Tibetan plateau; the Communist leadership noticed the success of the Qinghai-Lhasa railway which reached Lhasa in July 2006, for developing the plateau, as importantly, ‘stabilizing’ the restive Tibetan populations …and defending the borders against India.
On July 9, Xinhua announced: “The building of the Sichuan-Tibet railway is picking up steam, with construction work on nine new stations on the Lhasa-Nyingchi section in the Tibet autonomous region to begin soon.”
Let us not forget that Nyingchi prefecture faces Arunachal Pradesh.
The laying of track on the 435-kilometer line is the easiest part of the Sichuan-Tibet railway; Xinhua said that “trains travelling at 160 kilometres per hour are expected to begin running by 2021.
The news agency further explained that the Sichuan-Tibet railway was first proposed more than a century ago, “the idea was revived after the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, but various hurdles prevented it from progressing.”
Today trains are already running on the section between Chengdu and Ya'an in Sichuan province.
The toughest and most strategic section (and worrying for India as it can bring troop reinforcement in a short time to any Himalayan front) is from Ya'an to Nyingchi, “one of the world's most challenging railway projects because it winds through the Sichuan Basin, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, climbing from 600 meters above sea level to nearly 4,500 meters.”
Zhao Jian, a professor of rail transportation at Beijing Jiaotong University, told Xinhua: “It will go through complicated geological conditions fraught with avalanches, landslides, earthquakes, heat, karst caves and underground streams.”
According to Peng Qinghua, Sichuan’s Communist Party Secretary, “Bridges and tunnels will cover over 90 percent of the line, which means there will be nearly 800 km of tunnels and more than 100 km of bridges."  It is hard to believe. Can China succeed is another question.
In the meantime, China is building a railway line to Nepal which will reach Kathmandu in a few years.
The think tank The Third Pole questioned: “China-Nepal railway: fantasy or reality?” The reporter noted: “The world’s toughest rail route, from Kerung (or Kyirong) in Tibet to Kathmandu, is struggling to get off the ground amid growing fears of debt, earthquakes and benefits bypassing local communities

Track to Kathmandu
In Rasuwa Gadhi, the small village located at the Nepal-China border, 170 kilometres north of Kathmandu, Chinese workers are already busy building a bridge that will link the two countries. The article observed: “The border only opened after the devastating Nepal earthquake in 2015 led to China closing the badly damaged Kodari route. It is also where the new railway will enter Nepal from Tibet;” it further commented: “locals have dubbed the project kagat ko rail (paper railway) and sapana ko rail (dream railway).”
But as it is part of the Chinese Dream of the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, dear to President Xi Jinping, it is bound to be implemented!
The Global Times, the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece, asserted: “Most importantly, China's development has made it impossible for any force to make Nepal a pawn in strategic arrangements to counterbalance China's influence.” The tabloid points a finger at the US influence in the land-locked country: “China's development has provided Nepal with the potential of benefit sharing. The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has brought the country unprecedented opportunities by linking it to its surrounding areas and the world. Nepal will no longer be closed and poor, but will be an essential hub to connect East, South and Central Asia.”
This remains to be seen, but the train to Kathmandu is undoubtedly a tool to realize this dream-program.

After Tibet, Sikkim?
On the eastern front, a rail route linking Lijiang to Shangri-La, the tourist spot in Tibet (both are located in Yunnan Province), should start operating at the end of next year; the 139-kilometer Lijiang-Shangri-La line will link Kunming, capital of the province and Chengdu in Sichuan Province, via the Kunming-Dali rail line, allowing passengers to make round trips between Kunming and Shangri-La within one day.
An even-more worrying project for India is the railway line to Yatung, near the Sikkim border.
In 2017, a 'Tibet-South Asia' promotion meeting for travel agents was held in Lhasa; the theme was ‘crossing Himalaya, rambling paradise in the clouds’. What was the objective of the gathering?
Travel agencies made some recommendations for outbound ('out of Tibet') tourism products for Nepal …and other South Asian countries.
According to Qiao Zhifeng, director general of Yatung Tourism, the County has rich touristic resources. The train planned between Lhasa and Yatung would drastically increase this potential …and help India, said Qiao!
In July 2015, Ananth Krishnan wrote in The Daily Mail: “Local officials in Yatung say a line running to the India border could transform the currently paltry $15million border trade, which relies on a small border market in Yatung.”
The problem is that India has not been consulted.
In 2018, Yatung already received 1.2 lakh Chinese tourists, an increase of 43% over the previous year. Once the train comes, several lakhs of visitors will come within a short distance of the Indian border and let us not forget that the infrastructure in China is dual use, military and civilian.
What would happen in the case of a new Doklam incident?

The Tibet-India Railway

A 'Tibet-South Asia' promotion meeting for travel products was held in Lhasa on June 11.
The theme was ‘crossing Himalaya, rambling paradise in the clouds’.
China Tibet News, a Chinese website says that more than 100 travel agencies from inside or outside Tibet took part in the promotion meeting.
What was the objective of the gathering?
The website said to “show innovative idea of product design on Tibet’s travel, strengthen exchanges and communications with fellow traders, promote developmental directions of individuation, branding, and high-end quality in tourism industry, activate developmental vitality of folk travel organization, as well as expand upgrading of tourism product and profit space.”
This is fine.
A question however remains, why ‘Tibet-South Asia’?
Apart Nepal, Tibet has no ‘tourism’ contact with any ‘South Asian’ country.
Except for the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra opened from Pittoragarh district of Uttarakhand and Nathu-la in Sikkim, there are no ‘tourist tours’ crossing over the Himalaya to Tibet or vice-versa.
During the meeting in Lhasa, some travel agencies made some major recommendations for outbound ('out of Tibet') tourism products for Nepal …and other South Asian countries.
It is there that the route to Chumbi Valley and Yatung (written Yadong by the Chinese) was mentioned.
The article said that the ‘Yatung border tour’ aroused everybody’s interest.
According to Qiao Zhifeng, director general of Yatung Tourism (under Shigatse City’s administration), the Yatung County has rich touristic resources and apparently, the local government has been keen “to exploit Yatung tourism since 2016.”
Quio explained that a three-day tour from Lhasa-Yatung has become “a very mature travel route, it also has attracted a lot of self-driving tourists and group tourists.”
He added: “In the future, we will continue to plan and develop colorful tourism products relying on abundant and superior tourism resources, and the market. At the same time, we will strive to improve the infrastructure construction of software and hardware to attract visitors from all over the world.”
'Improve the infrastructure' means 'bring the railway line to Yatung'?

Chinese tourists in India via Nathu-la?
Can the next step be to send Chinese tourists to India via Yatung and Nathu-la?
In July 2006, at the time of the opening Nathula pass for trade between India and China, Sun Yuxi, the then Chinese Ambassador in India told some journalists that Beijing planned to extend its railway linking Beijing to Tibet, to a newly opened border point in India's northeast and possibly link it to India's east coast.
Sun said "From Yadong, the Indian border area is only a few dozens of kilometers away. Then, anytime we feel the need we will link it. If the train got through all the way to Kolkata, that will be something. Lots of potential, opportunities will develop there.”
Nobody took Sun seriously then.
In July 2015, Ananth Krishnan wrote in The Daily Mail “Local officials in Yadong [Yatung] say a line running to the India border could transform the currently paltry $15million border trade, which relies on a small border market that is open from Monday to Thursday in Yatung.”
Krishnan then reported: “China has already upgraded the roads from Lhasa to Yatung. A 500km journey to the India border took Mail Today only seven hours.
Last year, in an article in the China Daily, Ma Jiali, a well-known Chinese ‘India expert’ and a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations explained that “a trans-Himalayan railway would be of great economic value as it could later connect China, the largest economy in Asia, with India, the continent's third-largest economy.”
But has India been consulted?

Surely not.
However Beijing seems decided to go ahead with the project of ‘connecting’ India.
Nepal, on its part, is more than willing to have “a convenient link to China because it believes that China's development will offer great opportunities for Nepal,” commented Jia last year (a map was then attached to the article).
It showed the train continuing its journey to Purang (Burang), near the tri-junction Nepal-Tibet-India and Yatung in the Chumbi Valley. The Purang leg will be a further step to connect Tibet and Xinjiang, through a railway line parallel to the Aksai Chin road (via the Indian territory).
The creation of Western Theater Command will make the process easier.
It would make two branches of the OBOR ending up at India’s gate.
The point is: can tourism alone justify the laying of a railway line to Yatung?
Certainly not.
The answer is somewhere else.
The raising of a Mountain Strike Corps on the other side of the pass?

The Upgrading of Tibet Military Command and the Train

In May 2015, the Chinese Government published a White Paper (WP) on Defence, putting forward new objectives for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Beijing announced that the PLA’s military strategy was to ‘win informationized local wars’.
China Military Online, a website affiliated to the PLA explained: “The WP systematically expounded on the Chinese military's missions and strategic tasks in the new era”. It spoke of “making preparation for military struggle shall be focused on winning local wars in conditions of modern technology.”
Highlighting maritime military struggle (in the South China Sea for example), the WP said “the traditional mentality that land outweighs sea must be abandoned.”
Mao’s old view of ‘an Army of peasants’ is dead and gone. In the years to come, the Chinese Navy and the Air Force are bound to take a more preponderant place in Beijing’s defence strategy, but it does not mean that China is going to forget its land neighbours, first and foremost India.
In May 2016, The Global Times announced that the status of the Tibet Military Command (TMC) facing India from Arunachal Pradesh to Ladakh was to be raised. It was part of the in-depth reforms instituted by President Xi Jinping, who is also the Chairman of the all-powerful Central Military Commission (CMC).
Quoting an unknown ‘analyst’, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece reported: “By raising the TMC’s authority level and putting it under the jurisdiction of the PLA Army (ground forces), China continues to strengthen its military presence in the autonomous region and aims to allow the military command to shoulder more combat assignments.”
Assignments against whom?
The fact is that there is only India on the other side of the Himalayan range!
China Youth Daily had reported earlier that this marks a “new journey for the TMC's construction.”
Zhao Zhong, deputy director of the TMC’s Political Work Department explained: “The elevation of the authority level is not only an improvement for the troops' designation, but also an expansion of their function and mission.” Quoting ‘a source close to the matter’, The Global Times suggested that “the command may undertake some kind of military combat mission in the future.”
Song Zhongping, a Beijing-based military expert, told the tabloid that the TMC “bears great responsibility to prepare for possible conflicts between China and India, [because] currently it is difficult to secure all the military resources they need.”

A plan and a tool
For this, Beijing has a clearly-defined plan …and a tool: the railway line.
The most important strategic development in the recent decades has been the arrival of the train on the Tibetan plateau in July 2006.
For Beijing, it has been a historic event.
The train has brought radical changes not only for China or the Tibetans, but for India too.
An article on the China Tibet Online remarks: “Foreigners only know that the Great Wall is the seventh wonder of the world, actually, modern Chinese construction is even more amazing.” And it cited the train, termed the ‘pride of the Chinese people’.
Hundred thousand workers “with no past references, have solved many technical problems such as building a railway through frozen soil, and achieved a miracle in human railway construction, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.”
Ten years ago, Beijing hoped to solve several issues with the arrival of the train on the plateau. It has partially succeeded.
The railway indeed triggered a frenzy of infrastructure development on the plateau; the instability of the restive region has apparently been contained; a mega economic boom has been brought by tourism and as importantly, the border with India is mightily reinforced. Once could add that the exploitation of the natural resources of the plateau (like water and minerals) has reached new heights.
The main pretext for rapidly developing the infrastructure has been tourism.
In 2015, the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) broke all records; it welcomed more than 20 million tourists. The tourism industry in the TAR generated 4.26 billion U.S. dollars, nearly three times the figure of 2010.
For Beijing, the tourist boom is a win-win solution to solve all the problems of the plateau; the Chinese authorities have hence decided to accelerate the infrastructure construction and develop high-end tourism brands with a new railway line from Chengdu (Sichuan) to Lhasa. The Western leg from Lhasa to Nyingchi to be completed by 2020, will reach the Indian border.
Then, a railway line to Kyirong and Nepal, probably to be continued to Kathmandu and perhaps Lumbini; a second international airport in Lhasa, a new airport in Nagchu, a 4-lane highway between Lhasa and Nyingchi (the Arunachal border) and finally the improvement of National Highway 219 between Tibet and Xinjiang, cutting across the Indian territory in the Aksai Chin area of Ladakh.
All these projects have serious strategic implications for India, as ALL infrastructure built on the plateau has a dual use: civilian and military.
On April 25, 2016, Xinhua reported that the National People's Congress (NPC) discussed a new law on national defense transport. The legislation will cover the use of infrastructure for defense as well as civilian purposes.
The idea is to integrate military and civilian resources and make sure that the national defense transport network is compatible “with market and economic development.”
In August 2015, during the Tibet Work Forum, a large gathering on Tibet, Xi reiterated his theory about the ‘border areas’; he said that “governing border areas is the key for governing a country, and stabilizing Tibet is a priority for governing border areas.”
This speaks for itself.
The time has come for India to wake up.

The Pride of the Chinese People: the Train to Lhasa 10 years After

One of the most important strategic developments in the recent decades has been the arrival of the train on the Tibetan plateau in July 2006. Ten years later, the event has been largely ignored by the Indian media.
The train has not brought radical changes for the Tibetans alone, but for India’s defence preparedness too.
For Beijing, it has been a historic date.
An article on the China Tibet Online remarks: “Foreigners only know that the Great Wall is the seventh wonder of the world, actually, modern Chinese construction is even more amazing. …For example, there are the 130 thousand railroad workers working in the ‘forbidden zone of life’ on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, with no past references, they have solved many technical problems such as building a railway through frozen soil, and achieved a miracle in human railway construction, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway (QTR).” The train is termed the ‘pride of the Chinese people’.
Ten years ago, Beijing hoped to solve several issues with the arrival of the train on the plateau. It partially succeeded.
The railway indeed triggered a frenzy of infrastructure development on the plateau; the instability of the restive region has apparently been contained; a mega economic boom has been brought by tourism and as importantly, the border with India mightily reinforced.
Once could add, that the exploitation of the natural resources of the plateau (like water and minerals) has reached new heights.

Tibet: a Paradise for Tourists
The main pretext for rapidly developing infrastructure has been tourism. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Lhasa is one of the cities with the best air quality in China. The ministry compiled air quality data from 74 major cities. Seven of them, including Lhasa, have met the national standards for best air quality for five main pollutants.
The China Daily recently advertized the Roof of the World thus: “Tibet with its mystery is the spiritual Garden of Eden and is longed by travelers home and abroad. Only by stepping on the snowy plateau, can one be baptized by its splendor, culture, folklore, life, snow-mountains, saint mountains, sacred lakes, residences with local characteristics and charming landscape.”
Further, tourism brings tremendous revenues to the regional government and helps in tackling the two other issues, the ‘stability of the plateau and the defence of China’s borders.
In 2015, the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) broke all records; it welcomed more than 20 million tourists. The tourism industry in the TAR generated 4.26 billion U.S. dollars, nearly three times the figure of 2010.
Lhasa, Tibet’s capital alone saw its tourism revenue triple over the past five years to an estimated 2.51 billion dollars. The number of tourists visiting the capital rose to 11.79 million in 2015, a 23 percent increase compared to 2014.
An article in China Tibet Online mentioned the train, ‘Iron and Steel road pierces into plateau tourism’; it says: “These world class locations are like pearls embedded along the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, and now because of extensions of the Qinghai-Tibet railroad they are all linked up.”
Indeed several extensions of the railway line are coming up.

‘Stability’ of the Plateau
In the wake of the 2008 unrest in Tibet, Beijing still seemed nervous. On September 7, 2015, soon after a grandiose parade on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Yu Zhengsheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, who was the chief guest, met a large number of representatives from the PLA and the People’s Armed Police Force (PAPF) posted in Tibet.
Yu urged the army, the police and the judicial staff “to crack down on separatist forces and be ready to fight a protracted battle against the 14th Dalai clique.”
It is worth noting that according to the TAR’s Tourist Bureau there were more than 100,000 Tibetans engaged in tourist services in Tibet in 2015. By providing a decent income to the local Tibetans, China believes it can keep the restive populations relatively happy, thereby ‘stabilizing’ the plateau.

‘Defending’ the Border
Last but not least, for Beijing, the defence of the borders are often mentioned in the Chinese media. Dduring the Tibet Work Forum, Xi reiterated his theory about the ‘border areas’; he said that “governing border areas is the key for governing a country, and stabilizing Tibet is a priority for governing border areas.”
This speaks for itself.
Soon after the PLA entered Lhasa in September 1951, the Chinese started improving the infrastructure between China and Tibet and building new strategic roads on a war-footing.
Mao Zedong knew that the only way to consolidate and ‘unify’ China’s new colonies (Tibet and Xinjiang) was to construct a large network of roads. Priority was given to motorable roads: the Sichuan-Tibet and the Qinghai-Tibet Highways. Surveying for the Tibet-Xinjiang Highway cutting across Western Tibet (and the Indian territory in Ladakh) started at the end of 1951; construction began in 1953/54.
On 29 November 1954, Xinhua News Agency reported: “The two large armies of road builders from the eastern and western section of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway joined hands on November 27.” A month later, the Qinghai-Tibet Highway was completed.
The construction of one feeder road leading to Nathu-la, the border pass between Sikkim and Tibet had some strange consequences. India began feeding the Chinese road workers in Tibet, sending tons of rice through this route.
Both the road network and the airports were to play a crucial role not only in what China calls the ‘Liberation of Tibet’, but also in the 1962 border conflict with India.
Nearly two decades ago, the then Defense Minister George Fernandes had told a news agency: “China has built roads up to the border, while there has been negligence on India's part.” He further lamented: “China has even built roads in such areas where not a single human being lives or even a blade of grass grows.”
The allusion was not lost on anybody. In 1959, while intervening in Parliament on the 'Aksai Chin road', Prime Minister Jawaharlal justified why his government had taken more than two years to discover that the PLA had been building a road on the barren heights of the Aksai Chin plateau in Ladakh, by saying: “Nobody has been present there. It is a territory where not even a blade of grass grows.” It had just come to light that a Chinese road had been built through Indian territory.
Since George Fernandes uttered these brave words, what has been done on the Indian side? The Modi Sarkar is apparently trying, but little has been achieved so far.

The new plans
According to the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016 to 2020), Lhasa should receive 24 million Chinese tourists (an annual increase of 15 percent), as well as 300,000 international tourists (an annual increase of 20 percent).
The real figures will probably exceed the plans.
For Beijing, the tourist boom is a win-win solution to solve all the problems of the plateau; the Chinese authorities have hence decided to accelerate the infrastructure construction and develop high-end tourism brands with:

1. A new railway line Lhasa-Chengdu (in Sichuan); the western leg from Lhasa to Nyingchi to be completed by 2020 will reach the Indian border
2. A railway line to Kyirong and Nepal, probably to be continued to Kathmandu and perhaps Lumbini
3. A second international airport in Lhasa
4. A new terminal for the Nyingchi airport
5. A new airport in Nagchu
6. A 4-lane highway between Lhasa and Nyingchi
7. Improvement of National Highway 219 between Tibet and Xinjiang

All these projects have serious strategic implications for India, as ALL infrastructure built on the plateau has a dual use: civilian and military.
On April 25, 2016, Xinhua reported that the National People's Congress (NPC) discussed a new law on national defense transport. The legislation will cover the use of infrastructure for defense as well as civilian purposes.
According to the Chinese news agency: “The new law is expected to regulate the planning, construction, management and use of resources in transportation sectors such as railways, roads, waterways, aviation, pipelines and mail services, for national defense.”
The idea is to integrate military and civilian resources and make sure that the national defense transport network is compatible “with market and economic development.”
The time has come for India to wake up.
An antiquated ‘Inner Line Permit’ dating from the Raj still prevails in many border areas. It was recently announced that this may change soon, but one has to see it to believe it.
In the meantime, China is going ahead at full steam.

More infrastructure, more tourists, more infrastructure...

Tibetan delegates in uniform arriving at the NPC in Beijing

International media reported last month that Tibet would be closed to foreigners for 5 weeks, till the end of March.
CNN explained: “The closure has been an annual occurrence since 2008 when the Tibetan capital Lhasa was rocked by riots linked to the anniversary of an uprising against Beijing rule. Authorities have also stopped issuing travel permits to foreign travelers at short notice during periodic unrest.”
At the same time, according to The China Daily, “Tibet hopes to become a top global destination.”
The Chinese daily asserts:

In a bid to attract more tourists and become one of the world's top destinations during the next five years, the Tibet autonomous region would like to shorten the time it takes to issue travel permits to foreigners. Currently, foreign travelers need Tibet travel permits to tour the region, in addition to a Chinese visa.

The Communist publication rationales the new craze for the Roof of the World, which is

based on Tibet's unique ethnic traditions, cultural heritage, reception capacity and ecological protection needs. Without the permits, which must be applied for through an authorized travel agency, foreigners can't board a flight or train to Tibet.

This is called a contradiction …with Chinese characteristics.
Visitors are banned to visit to Tibet for several weeks, but they are welcome…

Hong Wei, a deputy director of the Tibet Tourism Development Commission and a member of the Tibet delegation at the National People's Congress (NPC) affirms:

Tibet will be more open to domestic and foreign tourists in the next five years. We will simplify the procedure for foreigners to obtain travel permits and cut the waiting time.

Padma Choling, the TAR’s Deputy Secretary (the senior ethnic Tibetan in Lhasa) clarified that Tibet had no plan to completely abolish permits for foreign travelers “because its natural environment is complicated and the purpose of the permits is mainly to ensure the safety of the travelers.”

It is indeed complicated
During the same press conference at the NPC, Li Yiqiang, the deputy director of Shannan (Lokha) Prefecture stated that the number of foreigners visiting the prefecture in 2015 increased by more than 30 percent over the previous year. "Allowing more foreign visitors to come to Tibet can help the locals out of poverty by getting them involved in providing tourism services."
With 20 million Chinese visiting the TAR in 2015, a few foreigners more or less, will not make a difference in term of revenue for the regional government.
But a few 'selected' foreign tourists could make a difference in terms of ‘image’ for the Party's propaganda.

The Sichuan-Tibet Railway 
Regarding the new railway line between Lhasa and Chengdu, already reported on this blog, Padma Choling promised that “Tibet's environment will not be damaged by the construction of a second railroad linking the remote area to the rest of China.”
He affirmed:

Tibet is a highly sensitive spot, not just because of continued opposition by many Tibetans to Chinese control, but because of its strategic location next to neighbors India, Myanmar and Nepal. …The ecological environment of Tibet will not be harmed. The railway will be well built under the condition of environmental protection. That is for sure.

Reuters presented the other side of the coin: “Exiled Tibetans and rights groups also say the first railway has spurred an influx of long-term migrants who threaten Tibetans' cultural integrity, tied to Buddhist beliefs and a traditional herding lifestyle.”
All this is of course denied by Beijing.

India is concerned
India is however concerned by the proximity of the line (this was discussed 2 years ago on this blog) from the McMahon Line.
Padma Choling rejected such fears: “No matter whether it takes 15 hours, or however long, to reach the border, the border belongs to our motherland," he added: "We Tibetans have the responsibility to guard it well."
Lobsang Gyaltsen, the TAR Chairman and No 3 in the Party hierarchy in Tibet affirmed that the planned Sichuan-Tibet railway will help bring more tourists and opportunities to Tibet.
During the annual session of the TAR Regional People's Congress in January, he had declared that “China will accelerate the construction of the 1,629-kilometer Sichuan-Tibet railway” and that it should start in 2016.
In fact it has started more than a year ago.
According to the region's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), nearly 1,000 km of it will be laid in Tibet; the construction of the western and the eastern sections began last year.
The whole project is expected to be completed in the early 2030s:

Perched at over 3,000 meters above sea level and with more than 74 percent of its length running on bridges or in tunnels, the railway will meander through the mountains, the highest of which is over 7,000 meters above sea level, says The China Daily.

Gyaltsen noted that the Sichuan-Tibet railway will significantly improve people's livelihoods along its route.
As mentioned in an earlier post, soon 100 million Chinese will soon travel to the Roof on the World every year.

India's borders
More disturbing, Tibet will now streamline the procedure for Chinese people applying for passes to visit border areas: “Tibet shares a border of more than 4,000 kilometers with countries including India, Nepal and Burma. More trade routes will be built between Tibet and its neighbors in the future,” says the China Daily.
What does it mean?
Tourists will be allowed to visit the LAC in Ladakh and the border in Himachal or the McMahon Line in Arunachal?

New Ximania
Another topic: all the NPC’s deputies from the TAR each wore two badges when they attended the opening session of the legislature on March 5.
Internet users always quick to react; they commented that it looks like “a return to the cult of personality crafted by Mao and employed during the violent Culture Revolution.”
According to the Caixin newspaper: “One badge showed a smiling Xi Jinping, head of the Communist Party, talking to a Tibetan woman. The other showed the busts of Xi and his four predecessors as top leaders of the party and country, Mao, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. The [Chinese] flag of China appears in the background of the second badge.”
Kelsang, a deputy from Lhasa explained that the delegates “got the badges last year on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Tibetan Autonompus Region”. They apparently kept them preciously since the.
Kelsang said the deputies decided to wear the round pins at this year's ‘Two Sessions’. She added that the delegates wanted to wear the pins to show their gratitude to the party's top leaders for the changes made in Tibet.
Kelsang praised the Party and said: “Posters similar to the two badges are now hanging in every office, home and public squares in Tibet."
Caixin remarked that the badges are similar “to ones worn during the Cultural Revolution, [it was] a reminder of a period that saw the country brought to the brink of collapse.”
Someone on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter noted that China has moved since then "We should never allow the worship of an individual to become a fashion again," he wrote.
Another blogger commented: “If they are not told to stop doing this, other delegates could follow suit next year.”
But ‘Follow Comrade Xi’ if fashionable this season.
How long will it last?
Nobody is sure.

Nepal's vassal status: Yadav in Tibet

Where was Chen Quanguo?

It is not an April Fool, but it happened on April 1.
After attending the Boao Forum (The ‘Asian’ Davos) the Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav and his entourage stopped for a couple of days in Tibet.
As the report did not appeared in English in the Chinese press, I give here a rough translation of The Tibet Daily's article.
While receiving Yadav, Lobsang Gyaltsen, the Chairman of the local government stated that it was the first time in five years that a Nepalese President visited the ‘Autonomous Region’, although it was Yadav's second visit to Tibet.
‘Tibetan’ leaders such as Padma Choling, Lobsang Gyatsen, Wu Yingjie, Deng Xiao-gang, Qizha La (Choedrak), Rui Lian, Tenzin Namgyal, Saron Ping were in attendance to receive President Yadav.
When he arrived at Gongkar Airport, Yadav and his entourage were received by Lobsang Gyatsen.
Xinhua asserts that ‘the two sides held cordial and friendly talks’ during the visit. Lobsang Gyaltsen received the Nepalese party and gave a speech on behalf of the regional party committee, the government and on behalf of the regional party secretary Chen Quanguo, (who seems to have been missing in action).
Gyaltsen extended a warm welcome “on behalf of the region's more than 300 million (sic) people of all nationalities in Tibet and wished the visit a complete success.”
He noted that President Xi Jinping and President Yadav had a cordial meeting during the Boao Forum and both sides had decided to strengthen the bilateral cooperation in the field of development, to deepen law enforcement (probably against Tibetan refugees in Nepal) and to enhance their security cooperation (again against the Tibetans), while expanding cultural cooperation, strengthening coordination in multilateral areas and conducting in-depth exchanges.
A big program indeed!
Gyaltsen spoke of the consensus between the 2 countries “which will greatly help to promote a comprehensive and in-depth cooperative partnership between China and Nepal, but also will uphold the traditional friendship as well as exchanges and cooperation between China's Tibet Autonomous Region and Nepal in the future.”
Why do the Tibetan leaders need to always say ‘China’s Tibet’? It would be strange to write ‘India’s Haryana’ or India’s Kerala’. It is perhaps an old habit dating from the time Tibet was not China's.
Lobsang Gyatsen continued to say that the TAR’s Communist Party and his Government attach a great importance to further develop the traditional friendly relations with Nepal.
He reminded the Nepalese President that last year, he had led a TAR delegation to Nepal for a five-day visit; at that time the Government of Nepal provided them “a high standard of courtesy and hospitality and the interview with His Excellency the President [Yadav]  is still fresh in my memory,” said Gyaltsen, who added that he hoped that the present visit would be an occasion for the Tibet Autonomous Region and Nepal to further enhance their understanding and to reach a broad consensus for future great achievements.
Gyalsten also affirmed: “In recent years, bilateral exchanges have been multi-faceted; multi-level cooperation helped to maintain a vigorous growth.”
The TAR government Chairman noted that friendship and cooperation between the two countries help to confidently look into the future of the relations between Nepal and Tibet.
He appreciated Nepal firmly supporting China on Taiwan-related issues, and for not allowing any forces (read Tibetan refugees) who would like to use the Nepalese territory to engage in anti-China activities, thereby effectively safeguarding the stability of the Sino-Nepalese border area.
He said that this was highly appreciated and thanked Nepal for this.
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Nepal and China, the Tibet Autonomous Region will take the opportunity to continue to unswervingly implement the principles and policies of the central government's diplomatic work with the neighbours and further strengthen and promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, culture, tourism, police, port construction, by increasing China’s aid to Nepal, deepening of the Sino-Nepalese friendship and achieving shared outcomes and promoting common development.
Lobsang Gyaltsen briefed the Nepalese President on the present economic and social development of the Tibet Autonomous Region: “under the loving care (sic) and the selfless support of Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and the people, cadres and the masses of all ethnic groups in the region, through these joint efforts, Tibet today witnesses a fast economic development while the people's livelihood is continuously improving.
Then Gyaltsen gave the usual lecture about good ecology and environment, national unity and progress, religious harmony, social harmony and stability between people of all nationalities who are working together to achieve the objective of a moderately prosperous society [the first ‘comprehensive’ of Xi Jinping] and China’s great rejuvenation, i.e. the Chinese dream.
Lobsang Gyaltsen invited President Yadav and other senior Nepalese officials to attend the second session of the Tibet China International Fair of Tourism and Culture.
President Yadav in his reply to Lobsang Gyaltsen remembered his first visit to Tibet 5 years earlier. He was very happy to be back, he said, adding that the mountains and rivers in Nepal are similar, there are also many cultural similarities between Nepal and Tibet, and the two countries have a long, deep, time-tested and comprehensive history of cooperation. Nepal adheres to the one-China policy and will never allow any forces to engage in any anti-China activities on Nepalese territory (i.e. the Tibetans)
In recent years, Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region have deepened their friendly exchanges through frequent high-level visits. He especially mentioned Lobsang Gyaltsen’s last year visit to Kathmandu: “This successful visit to Nepal have taken the bilateral relations to a new height, while maintaining close bilateral police cooperation in the fight against cross-border crime [Tibetan refugees crossing into Nepal]; the economic exchange has become increasingly active, growing, and are expanding in the fields of bilateral trade, investment and tourism. The cooperation is based on a good foundation; Nepal and Tibet Autonomous Region have important channels of communication, by aviation and roads [and soon train], he added.
The forthcoming railway to Nepal will create interoperability on both sides, it will be an opportunity to share more and create a huge prosperity for Nepal.
The Nepal-Tibet trade cooperation has a huge potential and is poised to thrive; Nepal is grateful to Tibet Autonomous Region for helping to improve people's lives in northern Nepal border region, said Yadav.
The Nepalese President mentioned the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Nepal and China during which a series of activities will be held; it is bound to take the Nepal-China friendship into a higher level; it will breathe a new vitality into the Nepal-China relations.
Nepal is willing to further deepen the close cooperation between Nepal and the TAR by participating in the China International Tourism and Culture Fair which will enhance mutual trust, said President Yadav.
During his stay in Tibet, President Yadav and his entourage visited the Lhasa railway station and the Tashilhunpo monastery in Shigatse.
They also saw the Lhasa National Economic and Technological Development Zone and the National Agricultural Technology Park. They visited a barley beer production unit and the Yak Museum in Lhasa.
Before leaving, President Yadav praised Tibet for its great achievements in terms of infrastructure, agricultural science and technology innovation, development of special industries, cultural heritage protection, improved urban and rural areas and ecological and environmental protection.
The Nepalese President also stated that the rapid development and changes in Tibet, the social stability and harmony, the vigor and vitality of the region deeply impressed him. He wished the Sino-Nepalese friendship generations of comprehensive cooperative partnership at highest level.
On April 1 at noon, President Yadav left for Nepal.
He had said what the Chinese wanted to hear from a vassal.
Lobsang Gyaltsen went to the Gongkar airport to see President Yadav off; he invited him visited Tibet again. Apparently, Yadav accepted ‘with pleasure’.
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Wu Chun too, Urban Development Minister of Nepal Dr. Narayanan Khadka were present during the visit.
E-Kantipur, a Nepali newspaper further reported: “The rail connectivity will improve trade, tourism and people-to-people relations between Nepal and China, Losang Jamcan [Lobsang Gyalsten], chairman of Tibetan Autonomous Region, told President Ram Baran Yadav during their meeting in Lhasa.”
The article added: “China has already expressed its readiness to extend its rail network up to Nepal. During his Nepal visit in December last year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had requested the Nepal side to conduct a feasibility study for the proposed railway extension project from the Tibetan city of Shigatse to Kathmandu and beyond. “
And beyond…
Minister for Urban Development Narayan Khadka said that China promised an aid of Rs 14 billion to Nepal: ‘this was the major highlights of the visit’. Obviously!
In the meantime, Reuters reported: “Buddhist temples and monasteries in Tibet must become propaganda centres for the ruling Communist Party, where monks and nuns learn to ‘revere’ science and appreciate the party's love.”
It quoted an article written by Chen Quanguo in the party magazine Qiushi; the Part boss in Tibet said that more than 1,700 temples and monasteries and 46,000 monks and nuns had to be seen by the government as ‘friends’, adding “Let the monks and nuns in the temples and monasteries have a personal feeling of the party and government's care and warmth; let them feel the party's benevolence, listen to the party's words and follow the party's path."
Chen further argued: “Monks and nuns should not have to go out of their temples or monasteries to understand the party and government's policies and social progress, or Tibet's peace, stability and good fortune, so as to be guided to follow a path of revering scientific culture.".
By the way: where was Chen Quanguo, Tibet's Party boss during President Yadav’s visit to Tibet? As the Secretary of the Party, he should have been in Lhasa to receive the Nepalese President. He was missing in action.
It is strange.
Is he on his way out?

A New Year Wish

A New Year Wish!
Why can't India have a high-speed train, if even the Tibetan plateau has one?

These photos appeared in the Chinese press with the following caption:

The Lanzhou-Xinjiang high-speed railway is the world’s longest railway constructed at one time, and the first high-speed line on China’s high-altitude areas including the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It links Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province and Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with a total of 31 stations and an investment of 14.35 billion yuan (2.32 billion US dollars). Travel time between Urumqi and Lanzhou is reduced from the previous 20 hours to eight. Top speed could achieve 250 km/h. The Qinghai section of the railway stretches 267 kilometers.

 

 

 

 

Good for the goose, good for the gander

Nyingtri Airport close to the McMahon Line

My article Good for the goose, good for the gander appeared in the Edit Page of The Pioneer today.

Here is the link...
 
Having undertaken a huge amount of infrastructure work along the border with India, China has no business to object to similar activity by New Delhi on the pretext it will complicate matters. Modi regime must remain firm

The Chinese are amazing. During his monthly press conference, Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun questioned India’s plan to build 54 border posts on its Arunachal frontier. He said: “We have taken notice of the reports. China and India have disputes over the eastern part of their border. We hope India will try to help maintain stability and peace, instead of taking moves that may further complicate the situation.”
Beijing is also unhappy about India’s plans to build a road on the southern side of the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei had earlier grumbled: “The boundary issue between China and India is left by the colonial past. Before a final settlement is reached, we hope that India will not take any actions that may further complicate the situation.” But who is complicating the situation? As the Chinese spokesmen whined, Beijing announced its plans to invest 278 million yuan ($45 million) for expanding the Mainling (Nyingtri) airport, just north of the McMahon line.
China Tibet Online says: “The abundant tourism resources and many famous scenic spots in the region attract more and more tourists to Nyingtri as their first stop for Tibet. In the first half year of 2014, Nyingtri totally received 836,200 tourists from home and aboard.” The project has a vital military angle as Bayi, the main Chinese garrison in Southern Tibet, is located close by.
That is not all.Xinhua announced that China has approved plans to build a 402km railway line linking Shigatse to Nyingtri, north of Arunachal Pradesh. The news agency provided details about the strategic new line along the Arunachal border. The Tibet project will cost 36.6 billion yuan (six billion dollars) and take seven years to complete. The state-owned China Railway Corporation will be the builder and operator. The line is designed for a speed of 160km per hour for passenger trains. The cargo capacity will be 10 million tonnes per year. Wang Daiyuan of the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences asserted that after completion, “the Sichuan-Tibet railway will form a ring with the Qinghai-Tibet railway, which will bring more economic benefit.” A ring around India’s frontiers?
Though the Chinese authorities only emphasise the development of tourism, the new railway line will be part of a strategic network linking Lhasa to the borders of India and Nepal. It will connect Lhasa and Shigatse with Kyirong (Nepal border), Yatung (Sikkim border) and Nyalam (near Dram, the landport with Nepal).
The next stage will probably be a railway line through the Aksai Chin linking Tibet (Lhasa) to Xinjiang (Kashgar and Urumchi). Though it has not been announced as yet, it is bound to happen soon. Will all this not complicate the border issue? China, which has already built an extremely good network of roads close to the Line of Actual Control on the Tibetan plateau, objects to India struggling on her side of the border, where the terrain is extremely difficult.
That is not to say that everything is rosy in the Middle Kingdom; Beijing has its own problems. On November 3, The Global Times quoted the Chinese President speaking at a military ‘political work’ conference. “The Communist Party of China has absolute control over the military, and called for serious reflection on the violations of discipline and law committed by former General Xu Caihou. The party commands the gun,” Mr Xi Jinping said. Xinhua reported that Mr Xi stressed the “the principle of the party leading the Army, which should always be firmly upheld.” Is there any doubt in the ranks?
The President, who is also the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, asserted that ideological and political development are the keys to safeguarding the CPC’s absolute command of the troops. Is the party afraid to lose control? The PLA Daily had prepared the groundwork for Mr Xi’s intervention by publishing a series of articles highlighting the importance of party-control over the military, while refuting Western arguments about ‘the nationalisation of a country’s military forces’ (in other words, a military which could take its orders from the Government and not the party).
During the conference, Mr Xi readily admitted that “there were serious problems in the Army’s ideological and political development.” He cited a few of the issues faced by the Army: Loss of faith in the party, in party principles not followed, revolutionary spirit missing, lack of discipline, improper ideology and work styles, lax management of officials or flaws in the military's supervision system. This list is quite disturbing for the Chinese leadership. The President spoke at length about General Xu Caihou, the former CMC Vice Chairman who has been expelled from the party and is being investigated for taking huge bribes and offering ‘promotions’ to senior Generals (many of them probably present at the Conference).
A few days earlier, Lt Gen Yang Jinshan, a Deputy Commander of the Chengdu Military Region (and former Commander of the Tibet Military District) lost his membership of the CCP’s Central Committee. It is a first in the history of the party that a senior serving General loses his job and his seat in the Central Committee.
Lt Gen Yang was one of 41 members of the PLA in the Central Committee, and as such was ‘senior’ in the party to his direct boss, Lt Gen Li Zuocheng, the Commander of Chengdu MR. Apparently, the arrest of General Yang is part of the wider inquiry into Xu Caihou. In the meantime, the CMC warned that ideological struggles within the PLA were “acute and complicated”, and appealed to the military to remain loyal to the party’s leadership.
The Global Times asserted: “Military reform has entered ‘uncharted waters’ with concerns growing that reform could be impeded by structural problems.” The CMC admitted that among the problems facing the Army, “the struggle over ideology has been exceptionally acute and complicated”.  A CMC communiqué says that “different ideologies and new ideas that have emerged in Chinese society have penetrated the military, and will have a disruptive impact.”
There is no doubt that India has been too shy. While New Delhi continues to insist on an Inner Line Permit (for Indian nationals) and a Protected Area Permit (for foreigners) visiting Arunachal, Beijing brings lakhs of tourists to its side of the line. It is certainly time for New Delhi to open up. Not only should it go ahead with the roads to the LAC, but the Government must allow tourists to visit these remote and stunningly beautiful areas of the Indian territory. In India, the grace remains that the democratic system protects the nation against more disruptive ‘ideological struggles’.

A Chinese train to the Indian Border (updated)

Yesterday, Xinhua announced that "China's top economic planning agency has approved plans to build three rail lines, at a cost of about 250 billion yuan (40 billion U.S. dollars)."
According to the National Development and Reform Commission, the construction of the longest line, (costing some 20 billion yuan), will carry coal on 1,800 km from the city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia to Ji'an in the eastern province of Jiangxi. It will take five years to complete.
Another project is a 137 km passenger line linking Datong in north China's Shanxi Province with Zhangjiakou in neighboring Hebei.
And finally, but it is not news, it is only a confirmation: a 402 km linking Shigatse (via Lhasa?) to Nyingchi, north of Arunachal Pradesh.
Xinhua says: "Policymakers have been accelerating investment in infrastructure to stabilize growth in recent months."
Xinhua later reported: "According to the plan approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Lhasa to Nyingchi section of the Sichuan-Tibet railway runs 402 km from Nyingchi to Xierong, a stop on the Lhasa-Shigatse line. The 32-km section from Xierong [near Lhasa-Gongkar airport] to Lhasa will be electrified."
Xinhua provides further details about this most strategic new railway line to Arunachal border.
The Tibet project will cost 36.6 billion yuan (6 billion US dollars) and take seven years to complete (2021). The state-owned China Railway Corporation will the builder and operator.
The line is designed for a speed of 160 km per hour for passenger trains.
The cargo capacity will be 10 million tonnes per year.
Yang Yulin, a Tibet railway official told Xinhua: "The Lhasa to Nyingchi railway section is conducive to improving the regional road network and transportation capacity to better integrate Tibet with other parts of China."
Wang Daiyuan of the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences asserted that after completion "the Sichuan-Tibet railway will form a ring with the Qinghai-Tibet railway, which will bring more economic benefit."
A ring around India's frontiers?
Of course, the Chinese authorities only emphasized the development of tourism.
Quoting Wang, Xinhua says: "Transport has long been a bottleneck for tourism in Tibet. More tourists will be able to visit Tibet via the Sichuan-Tibet railway."
Tourist arrivals in Tibet reached 12.9 million in 2103 from 1.8 million in 2005. Tibet's gross domestic product reached 80 billion yuan in 2013, compared with 34 billion yuan in 2006.
The new railway line is part of a network linking Lhasa to the borders of India and Nepal. It will connect Lhasa, Shigatse with Kyirong, Yatung (Sikkim border), Jilung (near Mt. Everest) and Nyalam (near Dram border port with Nepal).
The next stage will probably be a railway line through the Aksai Chin linking Tibet (Lhasa) to Xinjiang (Kashar and Urumchi).
Though it has not been announced as yet, it is bound to happen.

In January 2014, I already mentioned the project on this blog. I wrote:

It is most strategic move of the year.
China has officially announced that the construction of the Lhasa-Nyingchi [or Nyingtri] railway line, will start in 2014.
For India, it is an extremely serious (though expected) development. 
Indian Army Chief Bikram Singh has just admitted 'inadequacy' in the roads and rail infrastructure along the borders with China, while assuring the Indian public that "the government is working to build the facilities there and had identified projects".

Bayi, the PLA town near the Indian border
will be served by the train

During his press conference, General Singh stated : "Only last year, the Centre had allocated Rs 9,200 crore for infrastructure along the borders with China and a Cabinet Committee on Security note had been prepared for another Rs 28,000-crore worth of projects for the 12th and the 13th Five-year Plans".
Too little, too late to counter China which will bring the train near its border with India, north of the McMahon line.
I earlier wrote about Bayi, 'The Main Military Hub in Tibet'.
Today, Xinhua says:

A new railway connecting Lhasa and its southeastern neighbor Nyingchi [Nyingtri] Prefecture is going to be built in 2014, according to Losang Jamcan, [Lobsang Gyaltsen] chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, on Jan. 10, 2014.
Losang Jamcan made the announcement during the government work report in the second session of the 10th Tibet Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Lhasa, from Jan. 8 to Jan. 12.
Project of the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway is now at the feasibility study stage with two designs going southward and northward under discussion.
The Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway marks the second extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, following the Lhasa-Shigatse Railway terminating at Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet.
The two railways of equal importance will present different views with regard to their different geographical and climate conditions, according to Losang Jamcan.

India has to wake up.

Kyirong: A New Gate to Nepal

An article written a few weeks ago...

The Railway line is coming
A railway line has always been an instrument of change; in some cases for the good; in other cases for the worse (the Native Americans were probably aware that they would lose their traditional way of life when the train stretched out to the Far West).
After the train arrived in Lhasa in July 2006, the Tibetans lived a similar experience, though maybe not as traumatic.
It brought them some prosperity and …13 million tourists.
Jiang Zehai, the deputy general manager of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company, which operates the train, recently told Xinhua: “More than 73 million people have travelled on the Qinghai-Tibet railway, the world's highest plateau rail track, since the route opened in July 2006.”
According to official figures, the train, spanning over 1,956 km from Xining in Qinghai province, to Lhasa in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), has carried 73.79 million passengers in 8 years.
Jiang Zehai added: "Passengers on the rail link have increased on average 15.5 percent annually.” More than 1 million passengers left Lhasa railway station in 2013, a new record.
The train is not only used to carry Chinese tourists, coming to enjoy the Roof of the World’s pure air, but the Xining-Lhasa route has also transported 356 million tons of cargo.
Of course, the railway has been a boon for the tourism industry: last year the TAR attracted 12.9 million tourists, mainly from the mainland in 2013. A year before the rail link was opened, only 1.8 million travelled to Tibet; revenues have also grown exponentially: from 1.94 billion yuan (310 million US dollars) in 2005, it grew to 16.5 billion yuan (about 2.7 billion US dollars) in 2013.
The Tibet railway has also helped the Chinese engineers to gain a greater experience in technologies such as running on frozen land and in an extremely cold environment. It can be useful for further extension of the line.
In a few months, a new section will reach Shigatse, half way to the Nepal border. This too will bring tremendous change to Southern Tibet as well as nearby land-locked former kingdom.
The two next stages will see the train reaching Nyingchi, north of the McMahon Line (Arunachal Pradesh), but also Kyirong County (Chinese: Gyirong) in the TAR’s Shigatse Prefecture.

The Kyirong landport
In the meantime, Nepal's vital economic relations with its giant northern neighbour will receive a tremendous boost when the Kyirong landport opens later this year.
On April 11, the official China Tibet Online reported: "The Kyirong Port in southwest China’s Tibet bordered with Nepal will be formally opened in October this year.” The opening of the Kyirong Port has been listed as a key element of the Plan for national ports for 2014.
The same website also announces that a cross-border China-Nepal Kyirong Port Economic Cooperation Zone will be established; further, the Kyirong Port will be promoted as a tourist destination for mainland Chinese.
The website, affiliated with Xinhua continues: "The Kyirong Port enjoys a long history of being the largest land trading port between Tibet and Nepal. Many shop owners have expressed the hope that the opening of the port can help them get more involved in the border trade. From May 2007, the Shigatse Customs House dispatched four officials to be stationed at the Kyirong Port.”
Very few remember that during the 1792 Tibet-Nepal War, the Manchus troops called by the Tibetan government to defeat the Gorkhas used Kyirong route to invade Nepal. Will the opening of Kyirong mean another ‘invasion’ of Nepal?
Today, a ‘regular coordination system’ has been set up by the local government in Lhasa to coordinate the actions of the Kyirong County, the Kyirong Customs and the Risur Customs of Nepal. Tibetan officials have also decided to promote preferential trade policies to encourage the local people to participate in the border trade.
China Tibet Online also asserts that training have been provided to the port officials in Zham Customs House, the Class A port, east of Kyirong also in Shigatse Prefecture to cope with the new environment. Zham (or Dram in Tibetan) is currently the main landport between the TAR and Nepal.

Consequences of the opening of Kyirong
What will be the consequences of the opening of a new port between Tibet and Nepal?
Economically, the new border infrastructure will undoubtedly benefit both sides of the border. On April 11, 2014, Dong Mingjun, a vice-chairman of the TAR’s government told the media: "By the end of July this year, construction of roads, [provision for] energy and medical facilities will be completed at the port.” The Kyirong Port will also be equipped with special facilities for monitoring eventual smuggling.
Dong further affirmed that "the Kyirong Port will serve as a link between China and the South Asian countries. It is expected to bring a big number of visitors into Tibet and boost its tourism, which will help enhance the port’s popularity at home and abroad."
Does South Asia mean India in the official’s mouth?
Can Kyirong really be a link between the TAR and India?
Presently, it appears to be wishful-thinking from the part of the Tibetan officials.
Another administrator asserted: "The opening of the Kyirong Port will become a key trading port next to Zham Port in Shigatse [Prefecture], and an important destination for international trekking, folk activities and visitors’ driving tours."
In other words, Chinese tourists and goods will be poured into Nepal through the Lhasa-Shigatse railway line and then the highway between Shigatse and Kyirong (a branch of the highly-strategic G219 highway linking Tibet to Xinjiang, known in India as the Aksai Chin Road).
China boasted that as early as 789 AD, Kyirong served as a hub for commercial and cultural exchanges between Tibet and Nepal (it is true, though the Manchus were around for a few months only).
It is only in 1961 that Kyirong obtained from Beijing the status of ‘Port of Entry’, in other words, the approval to do business with Nepal; in 1987, Kyirong was upgraded to a national first-class (A Grade) land port of entry. By the end of 2008, Kyirong's imports and exports of had reached 0.67 million U.S. dollars.
Till now, the transactions in Kyirong represented only a small percentage of it; this will change with the opening of the new land port.
The Chinese official asserted that "the Kyirong Port will be opened wider to the outside world with improved operation capacity in order to promote trade with South Asia and become a cross-border economic cooperation zone between China and Nepal."
Will South Asia at large and India in particular be benefited by the new border post is separate issue.

Border Trade to boost Nepal economic growth
While the border trade between India and China is stagnating, Nepal has become Tibet's most important trading partner.
On July 15, 2012, Gao Yinhua, an official with the TAR's Commerce Department stated that with better transport infrastructure, the bilateral trade has enjoyed a boost in recent years and Nepal is today Tibet’s most important trading partner.
Bilateral trade accounted for more than 70 % of Tibet's total foreign trade volume in 2011. The official stated that bilateral trade skyrocketed to 945 million U.S. dollars in 2011, up 86.2 percent year-on-year basis.
In 2000, the trade volume between Nepal and Tibet was only 200 million U.S. dollars, while it was 60 million dollars in 1997.
Gao described three characteristics of the bilateral trade: First, trade volume between Tibet and Nepal has been rising drastically in recent years. This is particularly true for small-scale border trade. Tibet's export volume to Nepal is more than 90 percent of its total export through all regional borders.
Then, trade fairs have played a crucial role in boosting bilateral trade. The 13th economic and trade fair held in Kathmandu in 2011.During the fair 12 trade contracts for some 10 million U.S. dollars were signed.
Finally, Gao explained China and Nepal have conducted regular dialogues to promote their trade. Trade officials of the Tibet government have met with their Nepal counterparts in 2010, 2011 and 2012. It greatly facilitated bilateral trade.
In May 2011, the website China Tibet Online reported that the Second Trade Conference of China Tibet-Nepal Coordination Committee was held in Kathmandu. He was attended by Ye Yinchuan, Deputy Secretary-General of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
On the occasion, Ye mentioned the achievements made by both sides since the committee's first conference was held in 2009. The Tibet delegation also discussed the ‘hot issues’ including tax-free trade zone, transportation upgrade and trade imbalance. The first conference was held in Lhasa in April 2009
Interestingly, the Chinese website mentioned that “the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government has been stepping up its efforts to develop the ports of entry as the border trade between Tibet and Nepal and India is growing fast.
While the infrastructure on the Tibet-India’s border is stagnating, the large-scale upgrading of the Chinese-Nepal Highway allows the Zham land port on the Tibet-Nepal border to be reached by bus from Lhasa in one day. The construction of a new joint customs inspection building in Zham has also been completed. The new Kyirong Port of Entry, which received a total funding of 175 million US dollars, should further boost the economic exchanges between Nepal and China.

Can there be any benefit for India?
A Chinese website points out that with the opening of the Lhasa-Shigatse branch line of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the cost of transportation between Yadong (Yatung, Chumbi Valley) and other parts of Tibet will fall substantially. What is the TAR government trying to hint at?
That the Sino-Indian border trade could be boosted in Yatung too?
In April 2013, AFP reported that ‘China eyes India trade by boosting spending in Nepal’. The news agency stated that China’s ambassador to Kathmandu was seen in a traditional Nepali cap and silk scarf, digging with a spade to symbolise the laying of the foundations of the new land port.
China had then just completed a 22-kilometre road connecting central Nepal with Kyirong County. The new road was said to be the shortest motorable overland route between China and India.
In March 2013, Purna Basnet, a Nepalese political commentator told AFP that this will help China to export to India: “It will be easier for China to supply goods to India via Nepal. There is even talk of connecting Kathmandu with the rail network in Tibet. The Shigatse-Lhasa railway will be completed in a couple of years. From Shigatse, they have plans to connect Kathmandu through railways.”
In an op-ed article in The Republica two months earlier, Chinese ambassador Yang Houlan had propounded the same theory — Kathmandu could be a trade gateway to New Delhi: “From an economic viewpoint, Nepal links China (with 1.3 billion people) with South Asia (with 1.5 billion). The huge common market provides great opportunities for both China and South Asia.”
This argument however does not make real sense. If India was keen to trade with Tibet (or vice-versa), why is the trade through Nathu-la pass between Sikkim and Tibet faring so poorly? The 2 other landports in Shipki-la (Himachal Pradesh) and Lipulekh-la (Uttarakhand) are not doing even worse, mainly it is true because of the restricted list of items to be imported/exported.
The message from Lhasa (or Beijing) is clear: Kathmandu, once a secluded kingdom will be well connected by road (and later by train) to the TAR, could import petroleum products from China. Nepal has not forgotten the unwise economic blockade put in place Rajiv Gandhi.
Perhaps more interesting, a couple of years ago, a Nepali government statement mentioned that “an expanded and enhanced connectivity between the two countries [Nepal and China] will also open the avenues for Nepal being a transit country between the two giant economies, China and India."
It is not clear if India was asked her opinion on the subject.

The Tibetan refugees in Nepal
There other implications to the opening of Kyirong landport on a larger scale.
One factor is the presence of Tibetan refugees in Nepal. With the booming of the trade relations, their position is bound to become even more uneasy.
On April 12, The Sunday Review of the The New York Times published an Editorial on Nepal entitled Doing China’s Bidding in Nepal.
It quoted a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report which "shows how far Nepal has gone in capitulating to Chinese pressure in cracking down on Tibetan residents and refugees."
The report gave a long list of strong actions against Tibetans in Nepal, including “restrictions on their activities and movements, surveillance and intimidation, arbitrary detention and forcible return to China."
The New York Times asserted: "In effect, Nepal has turned itself into a partner of China’s anti-Tibetan policies."
The human rights group affirmed that Beijing has had three primary objectives:

1. Ensuring Nepal’s effective cooperation with China’s efforts to put an end to clandestine border-crossing by Tibetan asylum seekers and migrants;
2. Enforcing a de-facto ban on pro-Tibetan political mobilization in Nepal;
3. Enrolling Nepal’s intelligence and law-enforcement apparatus to monitor and infiltrate Tibetan communities living in Nepal.

Even after the democratic election of Sushil Koirala as prime minister, harassment of the Tibetan refugee population continued unabated.
The New York Times concludes: "Mr. Koirala and Nepal’s Constituent Assembly should move quickly to guarantee resident Tibetans legal status that respects their basic rights, and to treat Tibetan refugees in accordance with Nepalese and international law."
As the economic relations between Nepal and China become closer, the position of the Tibetan refugees will become more untenable, probably forcing many of them to take refuge in India.

Strategic implications
The other consequence of opening of a new border port is strategic. At this level, the Sino-Nepalese relations fast are improving.
China Military Online reported that on February 21, 2014, Girija Prasad Koirala (meaning Shushil Koirala!), Prime Minister of Nepal met with General Wang Guanzhong, the deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Kathmandu.
According to the Chinese news agency, Koirala told the general: "Nepal and China have long been maintaining good neighborly relations, and Nepal regards China as a reliable friend and partner, and thanks China for providing long-term selfless help and assistance in economic and social development of Nepal".
It is not necessary to comment of the 'selflessness' of Beijing.
Koirala added that "The new government of Nepal will always develop its relations with China on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence as before, continue to firmly pursue the one-China policy and not allow any force to engage in anti-China activities by using the territory of Nepal."
It is what General Wang Guanzhong wanted to hear.
He profusely thanked Kathmandu "for Nepal’s long-term and firm support on issues concerning China’s core interests such as that on Tibet."
He assured the new Nepali Prime Minister: "The Chinese military is willing to strengthen the pragmatic cooperation with the Nepalese military in the new historical period so as to make contributions to the development of the relations between the two countries."
This could be a source of worry for India.

Some Conclusions
The opening of a new landport at Kyirong should give a great boost to the border trade between Nepal and Tibet (China).
However, it is doubtful if it could significantly impact the trade relations between China and South Asia, particularly the Sino-Indian trade pattern.
The new port and the arrival of the train in Shigatse (and later in Kyirong) could also have strategic and security implications on India, especially if the military exchanges increase between Beijing and Kathmandu.
The Tibetan refugees in the long run may find it difficult to survive in Nepal, where the influence of China seems to increase by the day. It might create security issues for New Delhi, which over all should remain vigilant.

The new Route for Kailash: a boon for Indians?

As New Delhi prepares to receive President Xi Jinping for his maiden visit to India, PTI reported that, as a ‘political gesture’, the Chinese President will announce the opening of a new route for Indian pilgrims wanting to go on the Kailash/Mansarovar yatra.
The question which needs to be asked: is it a ‘great gesture’ from Beijing or only a self-serving one?
According to the Indian news agency, the proposal has been under serious consideration: “All announcements including the quantum of investments China plans to make in India are expected to be announced during Xi's visit.”
At their first meeting in Fortaleza in Brazil in July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had requested Xi to offer an alternative to the Lipulekh pass in Pittoragarh district of Uttarakhand for the Kailash yatra.
Either Demchok in Ladakh, or Shipki-la in Himachal Pradesh was expected to be the new port. It made sense in terms of access and 'comfort'.
The present Lipulekh-Purang route, also one of the traditional trade routes to Tibet, is often damaged by floods and the yatra has subsequently to be canceled.
Depending on the weather, the MEA yatra can take, every year, a  maximum of 1,000 pilgrims in 18 batches (selected through a lottery system). The pilgrimage involves a 22-day arduous journey.
It appears that the Chinese have now decided to open Nathu-la border point in Sikkim. PTI says: “The new route, though longer, takes pilgrims from Nathu La to Shigatse … [and] from there the pilgrims could comfortably travel to Mansarovar and Kailash using well laid out highway.”
It is obviously the Chinese argument.
The news agency adds: “It would be part of the big gesture of friendship not only to strike chord with Modi but also the people at large, specially the Hindus and Buddhists considering its religious importance.”
But is it a gesture of friendship or a decision driven by self-interest?
The Chinese foreign ministry told PTI that “lodging and boarding facilities for pilgrims have been improved with new hotels and additional beds with additional investments. Pilgrims also can have access to over 2300 vehicles.”
The Chinese foreign ministry asserted: “Indians pilgrimage to Tibet is an important content of bilateral relations. China's willingness is in accordance with the spirit of the agreement which has been signed by both parties...”
In article published in Rediff.com last month, I mentioned China’s interest in Sikkim (and Nathu-la).
I wrote: “More surprisingly, Yang [Yulin, deputy director of Tibet's railway office] announced that during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016 to 2020) period, the construction of a railway connecting Shigatse with Kyirong in northern Nepal and with Yatung, in the Chumbi Valley -- located between Sikkim and Bhutan - will start.
I then questioned: “Kyirong is a logical extension of the line as China has extensively invested in this landport to make it the main link between Tibet and Kathmandu, (and economically invade Nepal), but why Yatung, at the bottom of Nathu-la? The border trade between India and Tibet is minimal.”
It is clearer now why Beijing is ready to offer to open Nathu-la for the yatris.
A few months ago, Wang Chunhuan, a professor at the Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences in Lhasa told The Global Times that the railway network in Tibet will play the role of a continental bridge in South Asia and promote economic and cultural exchanges with the subcontinent.
For China, the Yatung-Nathu-la-Gangtok route could become a trade gate to South Asia. But why should pilgrims take this extremely long route (see map) to visit the holy pilgrimages of Western Tibet?
For China, if they want to open the trade route with South Asia, it is undoubtedly a win-win proposition. But for India, opening Shipki-la (already opened for petty trade) or Demchok would be far better.
But does Delhi have a choice in this matter?
The government can however refuse the dumping of cheap Chinese goods via Yatung and Nathu-la. 

Here is my rediff.com article.

Why do the Chinese want a train to Sikkim?
China is spending billions of dollars to improve infrastructure in Tibet and other parts of its border with India. Claude Arpi explains why New Delhi can't afford to ignore Beijing's plans.

India dreams to catch up with China in infrastructure.
Whether it is highways, bullet trains or airports in remote corners of the Middle Kingdom, China is way ahead compared to India which struggles to develop a decent infrastructure, particularly in the Himalayas.
But the Communist leadership in Beijing is apparently not satisfied. It wants to increase the pace of its own development, especially on its borders with India.
Xinhua announced that Beijing was soon to upgrade the road network in Tibet 'to make travels on The Roof of the World much easier.'
For whom, is the question!
The Chinese transport ministry affirmed that China will expand its road network to 110,000 km by 2020 in the Tibetan Autonomous Region alone.
That is not all, according to Xinhua, China plans to complete a network of railways of 1,300 km by the same year (the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan).
China will also build several new airports in Tibet.
In all, over $13 billion (Rs 79,495 crore) have been invested in transportation in the last 20 years in Tibet.
So, why should India be worried?
The ministry itself acknowledged that the development of transport in Tibet was 'crucial to China's national security... and the lasting prosperity in the autonomous region.'
'National security' in Tibet means the strengthening of the borders with India.
The Global Times recently published a report 'Sky rail to run from Lhasa to south Tibet; further railway expansion to connect Nepal, Bhutan, India by 2020'.
It announced that the railway linking Lhasa and Shigatse (poetically called by China as the 'closest stretch of railway to the sky') will be opened to traffic in August.
The construction of the extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which started in September 2010, will be 254 km long and have 13 stations. Trains will be able to run at a speed of 120 km per hour and will take only two hours from Lhasa to Shigatse, the seat of the Panchen Lama's and Tibet's second largest city.
According to Yang Yulin, deputy director of Tibet's railway office, it is the largest infrastructure project in the region during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011 to 2015), with an investment of more than $1.7 billion.
Zhu Bin, a manager at a mineral company based in Lhasa, told The People's Daily that 'it will accelerate transportation of the mineral products, which could only be transmitted through highways that often risk being cut off during rainy seasons or see vehicle turnovers.' That is certainly one of the train's objectives
A Tibetan writer based in Lhasa, told the Communist newspaper that the railway will help local Tibetans to 'exchange with the outside world and tourists will be attracted to the area.'
It is obvious that China is not investing billions of dollars for the Tibetans to 'see the outside world.'
The train to Shigatse has three purposes: One, to bring more tourists, Tibet's main source of revenue (15 million will visit Tibet in 2014); two, to take minerals to the mainland to feed the economic machine and three, to 'strengthen' the borders with India by allowing quick movement of troops and armament.
More surprisingly, Yang announced that during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016 to 2020) period, the construction of a railway connecting Shigatse with Kyirong in northern Nepal and with Yatung, in the Chumbi Valley -- located between Sikkim and Bhutan -- will start.
Kyirong is a logical extension of the line as China has extensively invested in this landport to make it the main link between Tibet and Kathmandu, (and economically invade Nepal), but why Yatung?
The border trade between India and Tibet is minimal.
Despite the great hopes generated in 2006, when Nathu-la was trade opened between Yatung and Gangtok, the border trade has been stagnating (partly due to the restricted list of items allowed to be traded).
Wang Chunhuan, professor at the Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences in Lhasa told The Global Times that the railway network in Tibet will play the role of a continental bridge in South Asia and promote economic and cultural exchanges.
Does it mean that China would like to open the Yatung-Nathu-la-Gangtok route in a big way?
Has Beijing consulted Delhi on this or is it a unilateral decision?
The Global Times quotes Liu Zongyi, a Chinese expert on India at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, saying that 'Indians have lately been working on adding infrastructure in the South Tibet region, in order to strengthen control.'
Southern Tibet is the Chinese name for Arunachal Pradesh!
Liu explains it is a bargaining chip.
If people on the Chinese side of the South Tibet region (Arunachal Pradesh) see better economic development in south-western Tibet (Shigatse and Ngari) they will be tempted to join the People's Republic.
This is, of course, a Chinese dream; it will never happen. But the move towards Yatung is indeed a bargaining chip at another level.
'The growing railway network will increase Chinese activities in this area,' Liu admits, 'balancing Indian moves.'
China is nervous about India raising a 'Mountain Strike Corps', the XVII Corps, with its headquarters at Panagarh in West Bengal, not too far from Sikkim (and Yatung).
When fully operational (by 2018-2019), the Corps, costing some Rs 64,678 crore to Indian tax-payers, will have 90,274 troops.
The Corps will be spread on the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh; it will have two high-altitude infantry divisions (59 Div at Panagarh and 72 Div at Pathankot) with their integral units, two independent infantry brigades, two armoured brigades.
It will also include 30 new infantry battalions and two Para-Special Forces battalions.
Incidentally, the projected railway line to Yatung perhaps explains the inflated size of the Chumbi Valley in newly-published Chinese maps. Huge chunks of Bhutanese territory have been engulfed in the Chumbi Valley.
Also important to India is the railway linking Lhasa to Nyingchi Prefecture, located north of the McMahon Line, which is expected to start in a few months. It is also part of the 13th Five-Year Plan.
The recent heavy traffic of Communist VIPs/VVIPs from Beijing visiting Ngari (Western Tibet) is probably due to Beijing's decision to consolidate its borders; namely the frontiers opposite Ladakh.
Last month, China Military Online reported that General Xu Qiliang, a member of the Politburo and one of the two powerful vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission, inspected the area.
According to an official military Web site, 'Xu Qiliang recently (it is not disclosed when) inspected the troops of the People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police Force garrisoning Xinjiang and Tibet.'
'During the inspection, General Xu Qiliang visited the officers and men in frontier areas, and held talks with the leaders of the troop units garrisoning in Hotan (Xinjiang, near the Aksai Chin), Ali (Ngari or Gar) and Lhasa (in the Tibetan Autonomous Region) areas to discuss the development and reform of frontier troop units.'
Xu also met sentries of a frontier defence company at Shenxianwan (just north of the Karakoram Pass and the Depsang Plains): 'The troops were performing their duties at the altitude of 5,380 metres.'
The general went to the barracks of the Khurnak Fort frontier (opposite the Indian troops in Ladakh, north of the Pangong lake) defence company and Banmozhang (near Sirijp on the Pangong lake where many incursions have taken place) 'to inspect a water (speed-boats) squadron and inquire about the soldiers' work, study and life.'
There is no doubt that Xi Jinping will make sure that China is ready in case of a conflict with India. He will also be in a strong bargaining position if Prime Minister Narendra Modi decides one day to discuss the border issue.