The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Corridor (BCIM) has seen tremendous progress under the Belt and Road initiative (BRI). The construction of the BCIM corridor has been hampered by misunderstandings and misinterpretations from the Indian side claims Chinese state-run media – Global Times.
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BCIM Corridor
The Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Economic Corridor or BCIM corridor was conceptualised for vital gains through sub-regional economic cooperation within the BCIM. The multi-modal corridor will be the first expressway between India and China and will pass through Myanmar and Bangladesh
The proposed BCIM corridor will cover 1.65 million square kilometres, encompassing an estimated 440 million people in China’s Yunnan province, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and West Bengal through the combination of road, rail, water and air linkages in the region.
Differences Over BCIM Corridor
The bilateral differences between India an China can’t be addressed instantly because Delhi’s misinterpretations of the BCIM Corridor haven’t been completely eradicated. When it comes to advancing the BCIM and BRI, it is of strategic significance to fully understand and effectively address perception problems between China and India.
The basic driving force of such corridors as the BCIM comes from the flow of economic factors, and the cost of these flows is the core issue of economic development. Due to this, all participants involved in the BCIM Corridor project have made strenuous efforts and achieved great results in trade and financing connectivity states Global Times.
Bilateral trade between China and India increased from less than $3 billion in 2000 to $84.44 billion in 2017, and China has been India’s largest trading partner for years. China has also become the largest trading partner, the largest export market and the largest source of imports for Myanmar, with smooth progress seen in major Chinese investment projects in the country.
As to Bangladesh, when Chinese leaders visited the country in 2016, the two sides signed 27 cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding, covering areas such as trade and investment, the marine economy, road and bridge construction, power and energy, maritime cooperation, and communication technology. Yet the development of the BCIM Corridor project faces bottlenecks and difficulties, sighs the Global Times.
