Can we also try some other options as given here to counter CPEC strategy
http://www.idsa.in/policybrief/TheNeedforHasteonPakistanoccupiedKashmir_pstobdan_071015
A Counter Strategy
India needs to work on its own counter strategy by offering a plan for a direct India-China Silk Route Corridor (ICSRC) that could run along the traditional Ladakh-Xinjiang axis. A shift in thinking can no longer be put off, for it would mean not just about breaking the connectivity bottlenecks but about finding interlocking economic interests between its northern states and the Eurasian growth story.
The ICSRC could provide an alternate transport, energy, trade, fibre optics and communication highway that could originate from a port in Gujarat run across northern India to connect with Kashgar in western China through the Indus Valley in Ladakh. The initiative would have multiple advantages for both India and China without compromising on their respective security concerns. These include:
- The corridor could bring massive Chinese investments for building infrastructure in India that would boost the economy and generate greater employment opportunities.
- India could earn billions as fee from pipeline transit.
- An energy corridor would help India gain a durable guarantee against any Chinese misadventure across the border.
- There could be a trade-off here in terms of India possibly getting long-distance transport and energy pipelines from Russia through western China.
- ICSRC would blunt the impact of the CPEC.
- For China, ICSRC would be more reliable and less hazardous than risking investments in terrorism-plagued Pakistan.
- ICSRC would open a historic opportunity for India to physically connect with markets in China, Eurasia, Europe, and beyond. And,
- India could offer several other alternate outlets for China through the Northeast or Sikkim that are nearer to Chinese growth centres.
If the idea were to be pushed forward, it could become a grand announcement indicating India’s willingness to deepen economic engagement with China and would be something akin to how Russia and China started two decades ago. ICSRC could help revive the shared legacy of a common history and culture enriched by the trade in silk and spices. The development could pave the way for strengthening trust between the two countries and eventually contribute to the solution of the boundary problem.
ICSRC could prove to be a masterstroke of a counter-strategy in India’s long-term domestic and foreign policies. It would be a coup de maître for India in dealing with multiple challenges of countering an expansive Chinese foreign policy, aggressive Pakistani designs, the growing threat of extremism, and addressing the connectivity issues.
Till then you are free to quote me and curse and scream.
