Kaladan Multi-Modal Transport Project : Daily Current Affairs

Kaladan Multi-Modal Transport Project

China’s hand seen in Myanmar’s insurgent group targeting India-backed Kaladan project.

The Arakan Army, an insurgent group whose activities have severely affected the India-backed Kaladan multi-modal transport project in Myanmar, has benefited from the clandestine transfer and smuggling of Chinese-made weaponry.
The group, designated a terrorist organisation by Naypyitaw, clashed with Myanmarese troops on nearly 600 occasions last year, and a majority of the skirmishes occurred in close proximity to the $480-million Kaladan project.
There have also been at least four instances of Arakan Army cadres targeting the shipment of materials for the infrastructure project or attacking Myanmar troops providing security to the project,while in 2019, just as a key phase of the Kaladan project was nearing completion in Rakhine and Chin states, the Arakan Army shifted its area of operations to these regions.
On June 23, the Thai military seized a consignment of Chinese-made weapons, including AK-47 assault rifles, machine guns, anti-tank mines, grenades and ammunition, in Mae Sot district bordering Myanmar’s Karen state. The weapons, worth 30 million baht (almost $1 million), were meant to be supplied to the Arakan Army and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), both active in Rakhine.
This illicit flow of Chinese-made weaponry into Myanmar poses a threat to regional security and stability and has implications for the Kaladan project. There are strong suspicions that China is orchestrating the actions of the myriad ethnic armed groups in Myanmar to further its objectives.

One of the reasons for the push against the Kaladan project is that it is seen as a rival to the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) centred around a port at Kyaukpyu in Rakhine state.
This approach isn’t new as China used the same tool against India when it trained and provided arms to insurgent groups in the northeastern states in the 1960s and 1970s. In Myanmar, China appears to be using the Arakan Army to limit India’s inroads through the Kaladan project.
It appeared that China was trying to undermine the viability of the Kaladan project after being unable to convince Myanmar to give up on it.

India and Myanmar are currently working to operationalise Sittwe port by early next year as part of the massive transport and transit project that will connect with Kolkata port and help in moving goods to the landlocked northeastern states via Kaladan river.
The project was jointly initiated by India and Myanmar to create a multi-modal platform for cargo shipments from the eastern ports to Myanmar and to the North- eastern parts of the country through Myanmar.

It is expected to open up sea routes and promote economic development in the North-eastern states, and also add value to the economic, commercial and strategic ties between India and Myanmar.
India has for years sought transit access through Bangladesh to ship goods to the landlocked north-eastern States. This project will reduce distance from Kolkata to Sittwe by approximately 1328 km and will reduce the need to transport good through the narrow Siliguri corridor, also known as Chicken’s Neck.
The new route through Sittwe would significantly lower the cost and distance of movement from Kolkata to Mizoram and beyond.