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| Indian border isn't far from Yadung | | China's railway from Lhasa to India's Kolkata! | | From B L KAK
NEW DELHI, July 7: By far the most signifcant revelation: China plan to extend its railway network to India's east coast. This will be from Tibet to a newly opened border point in India's northeast. And finally link it to India's east coast.
Chinese Ambassador to India, Sun Yuxi's revelation came a day after China and India reopened Nathu-La pass, once part of the Silk Road. “Once trade starts, people will demand better transportation facilities,” Sun said in a media interview in Gangtok, capital of Sikkim.
Beijing had decided to first extend the railway to Lhasa, inaugurated last week, to the Tibetan city of Shigatse and then to Yadung, Sun said. “From Yadung, the Indian border area is only a few dozens of kilometres away,” he was quoted as saying.
Chinese Ambassador pointed out that on the Indian side, New Delhi planned to build a railway to Sikkim and once complete, the missing rail link between India and China would be less than 100 km. “Then, anytime we feel the need we will link it ... we are expecting to ... if the train got through all the way to Kolkata, that will be something. Lots of potential, opportunities will develop there,” Sun Yuxi said referring to India’s eastern port city.
The railway to Lhasa, the world’s highest, was opened by Chinese President Hu Jintao this month. Critics say the railway will spur an influx of migrants that threatens Tibetans’ culture. But Beijing and some analysts say that the railway and the opening of the Nathu-La trade route ties in with China’s goal of developing the long-isolated Tibetan region.
Connecting Kolkata to Lhasa by a railway may sound extremely ambitious, more so as the route would pass through tough Himalayan terrain. However, it could not be completely ruled out, according to Indian experts. It is generally felt that for the Chinese, nothing seems impossible. They feel if they can take it to Lhasa they can take it anywhere.
Sun Yuxi, a former Foreign Ministry spokesman and Ambassador to Afghanistan, has let it be known that over time local people and then tourists would be allowed to cross at Nathu-La, making the post at 4,310 metres the first crossing for citizens of the two nations. The opening of Nathu-La also showed India and China could do business even though their decades-old border dispute was yet to be settled, the Chinese envoy said.
Last year, the neighbours agreed to resolve the row politically. But talks have made slow progress and much of their 3,500-km frontier remains disputed. Both sides have been tightlipped on details of negotiations after several rounds of talks between special envoys.
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