Repair of the north section of China-India road, or the Stilwell Road as it was called in WWII, got already underway, with the section in Myanmar expected to be complete by the end of this year, sources from the local government of Tengchong County in southwest China's Yunnan Province have confirmed.

 

The road repair project between Myanmar's Myitkyina and Yunnan's Tengchong will be complete by the end of 2007, said Yang Shunfu, deputy director of the foreign affairs office of the Tengchong government.

 

Some 1.01 billion yuan is budgeted for the rebuilding of the road and all the investment will be funded by China, Yang told China.org.cn on November 21 in Tengchong.

 

At present, the section of the road in China, from Tengchong to the No.4 stake on the China-Myanmar border, is expected to be complete by the end of 2007. This stretch is 73 km long and the budget for the work is 430 million yuan.

 

The length of road outside China, from the No.4 stake to Myitkyina of Myanmar, is 95 km long with a 580 million yuan budget. This section is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.

 

Of the investment for the work, the China National Development and Reform Commission is contributing 36.5 million yuan and China's Ministry of Communications will provide 77.5 million yuan.

 

The Yunnan government is providing 100 million yuan and the Tengchong government 70 million with a fund of 80 million being supplied by a state-owned investment company in Tengchong. The remaining costs will be raised through bank loans, Yang said.

 

Currently 2,590 workers and technicians are working on the project, explained Yang. 

 

When the project is complete, the time required to travel from Tengchong to Myitkyina will be significantly reduced, bringing many benefits to tourists and traders. Myanmar has many tourist attractions with a flavor of Buddhism and will undoubtedly be a "hot destination" for Chinese travelers when the road is complete. And international tourists are also likely to be drawn to the region because of the exotic ethnic people and the lifestyle they lead.

 

The restoration of the Tengchong-Myitkyina Road will also offer opportunities for more exchanges between China and ASEAN countries. The opening of the road would boost foreign trade and agriculture cooperation between China and Myanmar, Yang said.

 

In 2003, the Chinese government adopted a policy to develop west China and connect Yunnan Province with South Asia. With this in mind, the local government of Tengchong County was determined to rebuild the Tengchong-Myitkyina link which is the north section of the Stilwell Road.

 

At the same time in a bid to further boost international trade, the Indian and Myanmar governments are also making efforts to rebuild the section of the road from Myitkyina to India's Ledo City. "We believe the China-India Road will be restored by 2007," Yang said.

 

The Burma Road (China-India Road) became the vital link for the Chinese people to fight the Japanese aggressors in WWII.

 

After the War broke out in the Pacific, the Burma Road was cut off by the Japanese army which caused major problems for the Chinese people in the anti-Japanese war. To counterattack the enemy in north Burma and west Yunnan, the Chinese, America and Great Britain agreed to build the China-India road.

 

The road started from Myitkyina, an important city in north Burma, and entered China in the north and south. The north section went in the same direction as the ancient Southern Silk Road starting from Baoshan, Tengchong, Myitkyina and finally to Ledo in India.

 

The road is 1,568 km long. General Joseph W Stilwell, who was the commander in chief of the forces in China, played a key role during the construction period. When the project was completed, the Chinese government named the link "Stilwell Road" to give recognition to the general’s outstanding contribution during the construction period.  The road was a lifeline in the Chinese anti-Japanese theater of war.

 

After WWII, some sections of the road were damaged although trade between China, Myanmar and India has never been interrupted.

 

(China.org.cn by Wang Zhiyong, November 27, 2006)