{"id":30135,"date":"2018-10-26T14:19:03","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T08:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=30135"},"modified":"2018-10-26T14:19:03","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T08:49:03","slug":"heeding-the-lines-on-the-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/heeding-the-lines-on-the-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Heeding the lines on the map"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/todays-paper\/tp-opinion\/heeding-the-lines-on-the-map\/article23438510.ece\"><strong>Heeding the lines on the map<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Making a paradigm shift in South Asia\u2019s regional integration strategy<\/p>\n<p><strong>Complicated current situation: South Asian nations caught in a tug of war among themselves<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>India-Pakistan rivalry, further complicated by China-Pakistan proximity and India-China hostility<\/li>\n<li>A new dimension has been added with souring of Pakistan-Bangladesh relations and the India-China tug of war over Bangladesh<strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Solutions offered<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If the big three (IPB- India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) can have a strategic partnership that also factors in China, the remaining five can effortlessly fit into positive regionalism with a win-win situation for all<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Increasing inward investment into IPB<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>If Indian sensitivities can be addressed in CPEC, it can be a multilateral project, integrating India as well as other South Asian and Central Asian regions.<\/li>\n<li>Synergetic integration of the economic corridors with other BRI projects can accelerate inward investment into IPB<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Facilitating freight movement<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Due to cross-border barriers and lack of transport facilitation among IPB, freight movement is taking place along expensive routes, escalating investment cost<\/li>\n<li>The deep-pocketed Chinese can invest in land and rail infrastructure to develop both inter-regional connectivity and intra-regional connectivity<\/li>\n<li>China can lead in transport and transit agreements to facilitate smooth movement of freight and passenger vehicles across IPB resulting in integration with China and also South Asia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Energy sector cooperation<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With greater electricity generation and utilisation of domestic energy endowments, combined efforts of BCIM (Bangladesh\u2013China\u2013India\u2013Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation), CPEC and the proposed China-Nepal-India (CNI) Economic Corridor under BRI, can capitalise on regional energy potential.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Huge Potential for water sharing in future<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The three largest trans-boundary river basins, Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra, are all within CIPB<\/li>\n<li>This represents a huge potential for water-sharing and hydro power projects across the basins, but political mistrust is an impediment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Water-sharing treaties with China<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>China has expressed interest to pursue water- sharing treaties and the other three (IPB) affected can come together in a collaborative framework<\/li>\n<li>This can boost the livelihoods of millions across the region.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Potential in internet penetration<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Higher broadband connectivity and Internet access can boost regional e-commerce<\/li>\n<li>Digital connectivity can act as the gateway to a holistic transformation of the region via the CIPB conduit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Promotion of tourism <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Inadequate, expensive and mediocre travelling facilities against the backdrop of pickpockets, burglary, and sexual assaults have resulted in tourists lacking interest in the region.<\/li>\n<li>Of China\u2019s total outbound tourists, only 1% are to IPB.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>China unable to attract students<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>China is unable to attract students from South Asia against the improved facilities provided by the U.S. and U.K<\/li>\n<li>Only 5% of outbound students of IPB go to China, compared to 22% to the U.S<strong style=\"font-size: 1rem;\">\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Strategic collaboration needed<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A strategic collaboration that rises to the occasion, looking beyond historical animosity and misgivings, can unlock a new era of regionalism whose benefits far outweigh negatives<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Solving the jigsaw puzzle will need political statesmanship which will see friends and foes, living next to each other, knowing where to connect and when to disconnect.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Port mentioned: <\/strong>Ashuganj river port in Bangladesh<strong><br \/>\nDam: <\/strong>The Zangmu hydroelectricity dam, situated in the middle reaches of the Brahmaputra in tibet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heeding the lines on the map Context Making a paradigm shift in South Asia\u2019s regional integration strategy Complicated current situation: South Asian nations caught in a tug of war among themselves India-Pakistan rivalry, further complicated by China-Pakistan proximity and India-China hostility A new dimension has been added with souring of Pakistan-Bangladesh relations and the India-China&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/heeding-the-lines-on-the-map\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Heeding the lines on the map<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704868713},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30135\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}