Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, could soon have direct flights to Chennai. In an address to the China-South Asia Business Forum on Monday, Gao Shuxun, Vice-Governor of Yunnan Province, announced that the direct flights between Kunming and Chennai were now under active consideration.
If it comes through, Chennai would be the third Indian metropolis after New Delhi and Kolkata to have an air connection with Kunming.
Prime areaADVERTISEMENT
Diplomatic sources confirmed that that three Provinces in southwest China — Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizho — which had missed the first wave of China’s post-reform growth, have collectively homed on to India’s east coast as the prime arena of economic engagement.
Chennai, where a new Chinese consulate is to open soon, and Kolkata are the two poles of Beijing’s effort to invest along the Bay of Bengal coastline.
“Sub-regional cooperation is galloping, with Chinese Provinces and Indian States emerging as the primary movers of India-China ties,” says Silas Thangal, India’s consul-general in Guangzhou.
ADVERTISEMENT
The proposal to increase the aviation density with India echoes a decision by Chinese authorities to leverage Yunnan’s geographic location to bolster connectivity with the region.
A new railway connection is emerging that will link Yunnan and Thailand, with neighbouring Laos acting as the land bridge in the middle.
However, the promise of Yunnan’s common border with Myanmar as the gateway to Bangladesh and Indiacontinues to languish. Kolkata; Dhaka and Sylhet in Bangladesh; Mandalay in Myanmar; and Kunming, are the focal points of the proposed Bangladesh-China-India and Myanmar (BCIM) land corridor.
The delay notwithstanding, Chinese businesses are busy making preparations to develop basic infrastructure that would open the door for trade and investments along the 2,800 km route.
In a conversation with The Hindu , Liu Jinxin, dean of the Kunming Opening-Asia Transportation Logistics Research Institute, said 12 major cities in southwest China had teamed up to develop land and river ports along several nodal points of the BCIM corridor.
Developing land portsHe pointed out that Chongqing, a city of 30 million people and a major economic centre in the upper Yangtze basin, is collaborating with Chengdu, well known for its giant pandas, and Kunming, to focus on land ports.
Chinese companies are also looking at establishing a fibre-optic cable network along the BCIM corridor as a major hardware undertaking that will result in the emergence of smart cities and an Internet-driven economy.