China Rebuilds "Energy Route" to India

A road between China’s western Yunnan Province and neighboring Burma will be re-opened to traffic following repairs over the next few months. It is part of the 1,600-kilometer Stilwell Road that linked China with India during World War II and is considered key to the development of a new “energy route” between the two countries.

In 1942, U.S. General Joseph Stilwell, commander of Allied forces in the Asian theater, commissioned the building of the road (which was later named after him) to transport war materials from India to China. The route extends from northeast India across Burma and ends in southwestern Yunnan. No previous road had existed on the extensive border between China and India, the world’s two most populous countries. Today, while most of the Stilwell Road in Burma and India has been abandoned, the segment in China (roughly 630 kilometers) is still in good condition.

According to Jia Ren, vice president of the Yunnan Academy of Social Science, a variety of resources—including biological, mineral, forest, land, and tourism—are abundant along the Stilwell Road. Rebuilding the route will help China, Burma, and India use and develop these resources as well as boost local economies, he says.

Both Burma and India are rich in oil and natural gas. Since the 1980s, the Burmese government has allowed foreign oil companies to explore for oil and gas in the country. During World War II, energy supplies from the oil-rich Indian state of Assam traveled to Yunnan’s capital city of Kunming through a pipeline built jointly by the U.S. and Chinese armies along the Stilwell Road.

China currently transports oil from the Middle East and Africa through the Strait of Malacca, a narrow stretch of water between Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Once the Stilwell Road is rebuilt, the oil can be shipped to Assam on waterways or railways and then transported to Kunming through the pipeline, eliminating nearly 5,000 kilometers of transport distance.

The great development potential of the Stilwell Road has attracted attention from the Chinese, Burmese, and Indian governments, who have proposed rebuilding the route several times. In China, the local government of Yunnan has been particularly active in renovating the segment inside the province. India is also pinning its hopes on rebuilding the road to link to markets in eastern China and Southeast Asia.

Jianqiang Liu is a senior investigative journalist with China Southern Weekend and a visiting scholar at Peking University.

Outside contributions to China Watch reflect the views of the author, and are not necessarily the views of the Worldwatch Institute.