China’s New Sea-Road-Rail Link to Indian Ocean

Context

A newly-launched railway line from the Myanmar border to the key commercial hub of Chengdu in western China provides China a new road-rail transportation channel to the Indian Ocean.

About the new trade corridor

• The transport corridor involves a sea-road-rail link.
• The route is “the first to link western China with the Indian Ocean”.
• Goods from Singapore reached Yangon Port, arriving by ship through the Andaman Sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean.
• Goods were then transported by road to Lincang on the Chinese side of the Myanmar-China border in Yunnan province. 
• The new railway line that runs from the border town of Lincang to Chengdu, a key trade hub in western China, completes the corridor.
• This passage connects the logistics lines of Singapore, Myanmar and China, and is currently the most convenient land and sea channel linking the Indian Ocean with southwest China.
• The one-way journey saves 20 to 22 days.
• China also has plans to develop another port in Kyaukphyu in the Rakhine state, including a proposed railway line from Yunnan directly to the port, but the progress there has been stalled by unrest in Myanmar.
• China Plans are underway to develop a “border economic cooperation zone” under the Belt and Road Initiative.
• It is expected to become the lifeblood of international trade for China, while providing a source of income for Myanmar.
• This trade corridor is another direct Chinese outlet to the Indian Ocean.
• The first one being at the Gwadar port in Pakistan.

About Gwadar Port

• Gwadar Port is a deep seaport located on the Arabian Sea in Gwadar.
• Gwadar is important to Beijing as it is establishing direct transport links to the Indian Ocean via the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).