The China-Africa Summit, the port of Gwadar, and North-West Nepal
It must be mentioned that the proposition raised here would be entirely facilitative of—indeed consistent with--the idea of Nepal serving as a transit corridor not only between India and China but between the latter and the greater South Asian region itself.
By Bhaskar Koirala
The recently concluded China-Africa Summit held in Beijing must go down in the annals of international affairs as one of the most stunning, sophisticated and creatively novel endeavors in recent history at forging linkages across the board between a single colossal state on the one hand and an entire continent on the other. It is China’s delicate and nuanced assessment of current international dynamics conjoined with a far-sighted and possibly clairvoyant conceptualization of future constellations that lends great significance to the Summit.
What is perhaps most appealing and astonishing about Chinese’s diplomatic engagement with Africa is its utterly ambitious demonstration and no less ability, to engage what is the second largest and second most populous continent in the world. Africa is the oldest inhabited territory on earth from where the human species had its origins, and it has produced many great civilizations such as those centered on Egypt, Carthage, the Kingdom of Aksuma, the Nubian Kingdoms, Great Zimbabwe, and the Songhai, among others. In this first decade of the 21st century, however, Africa is by no means an example par excellence of modern development: in fact, a 2003 United Nations Human Development Report asserted that the bottom 25 ranked nations (151st to 175th) were all African nations. This may be indicative, among other things, of the fact that the increasingly ‘homogenized’ development discourse adopted by bilateral and multilateral agencies has been largely inadequate. The emergence of China as a partner in African development can thus be seen in the context of an incipient ‘diversification’ of the global development framework itself.
The momentum to be generated by the China-Africa summit is founded on a heady list of development agendas and avenues for cooperation. Even a truncated description of these is monumental: high-level visits, exchanges between legislative bodies, exchanges between political parties and local governments, trade, investment, financial cooperation, agricultural cooperation, infrastructure and resource cooperation, debt reduction and relief, economic assistance, cooperation in human resources, development and education, science and technology cooperation, cultural exchanges, medial and health cooperation, media cooperation, administrative cooperation, people to people exchange, environment cooperation, disaster reduction, relief and humanitarian assistance, military cooperation, conflict settlement and peacekeeping operations, judicial and police cooperation, and non-traditional security areas. The actual achievements of the Summit meeting in Beijing are equally staggering: 48 heads of state of African countries in attendance were witness to a Chinese pledge of US$5 billion in preferential loans and credits, a promise to double aid to Africa by 2009, and the unveiling of a target of raising Sino-African trade to US$100 billion by 2010 (total trade in 2005 was US$39.7 billion).
As remote as the question may appear at this stage, what are the implications of the China-Africa Summit for Nepal? My estimation is that the reverberations of the rapidly expanding cooperation between China and Africa will be substantially felt in the international port of Gwadar (Buluchistan), funneling through the Karakoram Highway to the western Chinese province of Xinjiang and thereby, via the Tibet Autonomous Region, to the north-western (mountainous) areas of Nepal. One point that has seemingly eluded the commentary on the topic is that there is a near overlap (intentional or otherwise) between the timing of the China-Africa Summit this year and the opening of the Chinese-assisted port of Gwadar, expected to be complete by the end of 2006. The port of Gwadar offers, ostensibly, the most proximate route connecting the African continent with China, particularly the important Western provinces upon which Chinese authorities are focusing so much attention in the “Go West” drive. Zaid Haidar of the Henry L. Stimson Center, for example, has pointed out that “Chinese officials have publicly stated their interest in turning the port into a transit terminal for crude oil imports from Iran and Africa to China’s Xinjiang region.” Moreover, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had vocally called for expanding trade links with Xinjiang and offered the Gwadar port’s services for facilitating the same during the Governor of Xinjiang’s visit to Pakistan in October 2004.
The vast and sparsely populated province of Xinjiang is very well connected with the Tibetan autonomous region directly abutting Nepal along the country’s entire northern interface. As a matter of fact, the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway extends from Yecheng to Ngari in Tibet, encompassing an extraordinary length of 1, 179 km in what is the highest highway network of its kind in the world. What is of relevance here is the highway in Tibet that runs parallel to the Himalayas, along the Gung-gyu and almost circling the Lake of Manasarovar and dissecting the area separating that lake with the Rakshas Tal, and finally terminating (currently) in the town of Khorzhak, which is extremely close to the north-western Nepalese zone of Karnali. Establishing high quality connectivity between the Tibetan highway with various towns and villages in the Karnali zone should therefore be treated as a high priority national objective by Nepalese officials to be actively considered forthwith as the new interim government takes office in the weeks ahead.
The Karnali zone is the largest, most isolated, and poverty stricken of Nepal’s fourteen zones. It occupies approximately 15% of Nepal’s total land mass. The five districts that constitute the Karnali zone, namely, Dolpa, Humla, Jumla, Kalikot and Mugu, have all appeared at the bottom of Nepal’s district-wise human development index. The incidence of hunger, illiteracy, low income, poor health, and unemployment are extensive in the area. The Karnali zone, however, has a rich history and culture and is regarded as the place of origin of the Nepali language. Comprehensive exploration and research have not yet been conducted in Karnali but the innumerable potentialities of this zone are obvious. As the political landscape of Nepal has undergone a tectonic (positive) metamorphosis in recent times, it is now urgently the occasion for all political forces to converge on uplifting and buttressing Karnali, and one way to do so is to seriously consider the construction of various road accesses into Tibet. I have already alluded to the connections this would provide Nepal with respect not only to Tibet, but to Xinjiang, Pakistan, the port of Gwadar, and so on into the Indian Ocean and beyond.
Mainstream strategic thinking in current times would likely perceive the concepts outlined above as a possible affront to India, but I would argue that military and diplomatic strategic assessments should not be divorced from the ground realities of deficiency and destitution that characterizes an area such as Karnali. Sound strategy (wherever it may originate) is ultimately dependent upon the contentment of human beings on location, and improvements in the conditions necessary to achieve contentment are best pursued in the most feasible, practical and convenient manner. It must be mentioned that the proposition raised here would be entirely facilitative of—indeed consistent with--the idea of Nepal serving as a transit corridor not only between India and China but between the latter and the greater South Asian region itself. Nepal should conduct and calibrate its diplomacy with great diligence as it moves forward with this most promising idea to furnish a high-octane lifeline to a most beautiful but unfortunately, severely neglected area of north-west Nepal. This particular flank of Nepal is critical to the creation of a ‘new Nepal’ as being envisioned by so many Nepalis at a time when peace appears to be distinctly on the horizon.
(The author is a Kathmandu and New Delhi based analyst. He can be reached at bhaskar_koirala@hotmail.com )
(Editor’s Note: Nepalis, wherever they live, as well as friends of Nepal around the globe are requested to contribute their views/opinions/recollections etc. on issues concerning present day Nepal to the Guest Column of Nepalnews. Length of the article should not be more than 1,000 words and may be edited for the purpose of clarity and space. Relevant photos as well as photo of the author may also be sent along with the article. Please send your write-ups to editors@mos.com.np)
