China Opens Train Line To Indian Ocean, Can Send Cargo From Singapore Via Myanmar

JAKARTA - Chinese authorities inaugurated a new railway line connecting the country to the Indian Ocean via Myanmar, last August 25, opening a new economic route for China.

Citing The Irrawaddy August 30, this railway line stretches from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, to Lincang, a prefecture-level city in China's Yunnan Province opposite Chin Shwe Haw, a border trading city in Shan State in northeastern Myanmar.

Later, the rail line will allow China to send cargo from Singapore ports via Myanmar. The cargo will be sent from the Port of Singapore to the Port of Yangon.

From there it will be transported to Chin Shwe Haw in the Kokang Self-Managed Zone by road, and then by train from Lincang to Chengdu. It will take three days to get from Lincang to Chengdu by train, according to the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar.

The route is the first to connect western China with the Indian Ocean. And it will significantly reduce the time it takes to import cargo into the landlocked Yunnan Province. The route will go through Mandalay, Lashio, and Hsenwi on the Myanmar side.

The railway line is expected to become the lifeblood of international trade for China and Myanmar, as well as provide a source of income for the Myanmar military regime.

Meanwhile, steps are underway to establish a border economic cooperation zone in Chin Shwe Haw, as part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the zone is planned to become an intermediary economic center, for imports and exports of Yunnan Province.

"Lincang will continue to be in charge of the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the 'Economic Pivot' and hopes to write a new chapter in the 'pauk-phaw' friendship between the two countries," said Chinese Communist Party Secretary in Lincang Yang Haodong, according to the embassy. China's headquarters in Myanmar at the inauguration of the train network.

China's efforts to build a railway linking the Shan State border town of Muse with Mandalay as part of a direct rail link with Yunnan and Kyaukphyu have been affected by fighting between the Myanmar military and armed ethnic groups.

The proposed rail line passes through areas controlled by armed ethnic groups, with clashes escalating after the February coup hampered the project.

To note, China is also developing a deep sea port at Kyaukphyu Township in Rakhine. The Special Economic Zone and Kyaukphyu Inner Port project, which is part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, is expected to allow Chinese trade to pass through the congested Malacca Strait near Singapore, while boosting development in the landlocked Yunnan Province.