China to build channel to Indian Oc

[ausgeo@xxxxxxx]

Subject: China to build channel to Indian Ocean

China to build channel to Indian Ocean

BEIJING, May 5  - China has reached an agreement with the SLORC on the joint 
development of the Irrawaddy River in order to open up a transport corridor to 
the Indian Ocean, Xinhua reported Monday.

"China and Burma are to sign the land-river joint transport agreement in the 
second half of this year," the news agency said in a report from the 
southwestern province of Yunnan.

Under the scheme, the corridor will start from Kunming, Yunnan's capital, and 
extend west through the province on existing roads to Ruili, on the border 
with Burma.

The 100-kilometre (60-mile) stretch of Burmese road from Ruili to the city of 
Bhamo, which is on the Irrawaddy River, will be improved and so will the 
inland port facilities there.

Some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) down the river is Rangoon, the capital of 
Burma and a sea port to Indian Ocean.

"There is no need to make a detour from Strait of Malacca to enter or exit 
southwest China,"the news agency quoted a transport expert as saying.

"The land ports along the Sino-Myanmar border can be a trade entrepot for 
surrounding inland provinces, including China's most populous Sichuan Province 
and the underdeveloped Guizhou Province," he added.

China is one of the few governments in the region that gives its full support 
to the Burmese military junta and the news agency said good political ties 
between the two nations had enable the project to go ahead.

AFP