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KUNMING, YUNNAN, JUN 07 -
China’s first South Asia trade expo opened in this provincial capital on Thursday, with both Chinese and regional leaders recalling how the famed Silk Road for centuries contributed not just to their mutual prosperity, but also in understanding each other better.
Kunming, which sits at the crossroads between South Asia, East Asia and China, could help spur new prosperity, understanding and stability in the region, they said.
“Those trading in goods have turned into good friends,” said former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed.
Though Kunming has been hosting a South Asian trade fair for the last six years, Beijing this year upgraded the annual event to a ‘national level,’ giving it a new scale and visibility. In a country where provinces are engaged in stiff competition to attract trade and investment, the China-South Asia Expo gets the central government’s nod as China’s prime destination for South Asian businesses.
Since 2009, this once-remote southwestern city has attracted a lot of attention in China and beyond. Beijing seems set to develop Kunming as its gateway to South Asia and South East Asia, with strong rail, road and air links.
At a high-profile opening ceremony attended by Vice President Paramananda Jha, former Malaysian PM Mohammed, Saarc Secretary General Ahmed Saleem and Yunnan Governor Li Jiheng on early Thursday, Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai recalled “time-honoured trade and friendly ties” between China and its neighbours.
If it was Silk Road in the past, he said, the new Stillwell Road has reinforced, deepened and expanded the China-South Asia relationship in modern times. The fact that South Asia was the first stop overseas for the new Chinese Prime Minster Li Keqiang demonstrates the importance China accords to the region, said Ma Kai.
Though the bilateral trade between India and China, at US$ 70 billion, is still relatively small given their proximity and size of their economies, the Chinese Vice Premier’s reference to Stillwell’s contribution was seen here by South Asian participants more as an attainable vision than a living reality. “People of China and South Asian countries have increasing desire to work for our prosperities,” said the Chinese leader.It was perhaps mentioned for yet another reason, a geopolitical one, as three major Asian powers—China, India and Japan—try to redefine their roles and relations in a larger context of global shift of power to Asia.
Stillwell Road was used by Allied forces as a vital supply line in World War II to assist Chinese troops in the battle against the Japanese occupation. The Stilwell Road links India’s North East (Assam) via Myanmar to Kunming.
Once fully functional, it will cut down the cost of transporting goods between India and China by an estimated 30 percent.
Beijing has invested heavily in modernising Kunming’s infrastructure to help it reach out to bordering Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos, and farther afield, to Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Bhutan and Nepal, say officials here.
Kunming’s newly opened Kunming Changshui Airport, one of the biggest in China, is within a ‘five-hour-flight-circle’ from major Asian cities. Dhaka and Kolkata are only two hours away, while Kathmandu is two hours and 40 minutes. Other regional hubs are well within the five-hour flight time—Bangkok (2 hours), Kuala Lumpur (3 hours) and Singapore (3-and-a-half hours). To many, China’s recent overture to South Asia is a tested trade model. It replicates China’s success in ASEAN, with whom it now has over a US$ 362-billion trade.
“Because of its geography, Kunming has a great advantage in developing itself as China’s southwestern business hub,” said Li Po, a reporter with China News Service and a native of Kunming. “We (people of Yunnan province) always had great experience and relationship with bordering countries. Now the huge investment from Beijing in infrastructure takes the regional trade to a new scale and pace.”
Nepal is participating in the five-day event with a contingent of businesses, government officials and think tanks. The official delegation is led by Vice President Jha, who said China’s participation in Saarc as observer has provided additional opportunities for the regional grouping through “sharing China’s experience in our socioeconomic transformation.”
Despite Kunming’s proximity with South Asia, the region’s business communities, however, have traditionally preferred two other Chinese hubs—Shanghai and Guangzhou.
“In two or three years, Kunming should see a lot of South Asian business people, just as they visit Guangzhou and Shanghai. Only a few years ago, the places where you see these highways and high-rises were farms,” said Li Po, the reporter from Kunming, pointing at a two-storey Ring Road.
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