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NEIGHBOURS: CHINA
Diverging Tracks
The 1,118-km Gormu-Lhasa railway line will significantly
improve China's military logistics capability and exert strategic pressure
on India
By Shishir Gupta
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FAR FRONTIER: A worker at the railroad
site at Gormu
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China has a long
history of politically driven construction projects. The Great Wall was
one; the tradition continues. The Three Gorges dam project and the western
highway linking its restive regions of Xinjiang with Tibet via the occupied
Aksai Chin are recent examples. The 1,118-km Gormu-Lhasa railway link
is the latest and perhaps the costliest project to join this growing list
of building wonders. These capital-intensive projects have served Beijing's
larger interests of internal consolidation apart from the economic development
of the regions concerned. While the railway may be part of China's blueprint
to control and integrate Tibet, the scheme has fired the imagination of
Indian security planners given its strategic and economic ramifications.
Launched this summer and expected to be completed
by 2006, the single-track metre-gauge railway link stretches from Gormu
City in Qinghai province to Lhasa by breaching the mighty Kulun Shan ranges
on the roof of the world. With a plan outlay of $2.34 billion (Rs 10,764
crore), the railway line will pass through 30 tunnels and bridges which
alone will cover a distance of 37.5 km. It will be the world's steepest
and highest railway line with more than 960 km of the track laid at altitudes
over 1,300 ft and nearly 560 km over permafrost earth.
The Indian threat perceptions on the rail link
have been bared in a classified Government report that delves into the
implications of the project. The report, circulated at the highest levels
of the Vajpayee Government, says the railroad connection will significantly
improve China's military transport capability in Tibet. According to the
Indian assessment, the project, besides linking Lhasa-Beijing-Shanghai
by rail, will drastically reduce the travel time from Gormu to the Tibetan
capital from 72 hours to 16 hours. It will also provide China an opportunity
to annually transport five million tonnes of cargo from mainland China
to Tibet and 2.8 million tonnes of mineral resources in the reverse direction.
In military terms, the rail link gives China the capability to mobilise
up to 12 divisions (12,000 men make a division) a month.
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