India's national government has decided not to go forward with plans to rebuild the Stilwell Road connecting northeast India's Assam State with Yunnan in China, according to a BBC report.

The decision follows a continuing impasse regarding the long-disputed border shared by China and India. Recent talks between the two countries ended with no resolution of border issues and a promise to talk more in the future.

The Stilwell Road is a former World War II supply route built in 1944 under the supervision of US General 'Vinegar' Joe Stilwell. The 1,700-kilometer (1,000-mile) road once connected Kunming with the city of Ledo in Assam state, with most of the road passing through northern Myanmar's Kachin state.

Several prominent officials in Assam state had been pressing for the reopening of the Stilwell Road in recent years, which they had viewed as being a potential source of economic growth which could stabilize India's occasionally restive northeast.

In 2006, more than 10,000 demonstrators demanded that the government reopen the road. Some analysts have estimated that as much as one-fifth of bilateral trade between China and India could pass through a revived Stilwell Road.

In addition to New Delhi's reluctance to reopen the Stilwell Road, the government of Myanmar has been cool to the idea of an international highway passing through Kachin state, much of which is controlled by the Kachin Independence Army, which has had a ceasefire with Myanmar's ruling junta since 1994.

The Chinese portion of the road, which heads westward from Kunming, has been completed for several years. Progress in Myanmar, where more than half of the road is located, has been slow. In 2007, India became the last of the three countries to start work on the road.

The Indian government's reversal of its decision to rebuild the Stilwell Road suggests that despite recent diplomatic breakthroughs between the two Asian powers, there are concerns bubbling beneath the surface. These concerns are likely to include Indian worries about China diverting the Brahmaputra River, Chinese involvement in the arms trade around Assam and China's stance toward Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing calls 'South Tibet'.

Nazeeb Arif, a native of Assam state and former secretary-general of the Indian Chamber of Commerce who is a major proponent of rebuilding the Stilwell Road, told the BBC that trade with China would be a boon to the region's economy, which lags behind much of the rest of the country:


Although New Delhi's unwillingness to rebuild its portion of the Stilwell Road is a major setback to pan-Asian transport integration, China will likely continue to increase its connectivity with the rest of South Asia, especially Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Earlier this week, the Nepalese government recently approved the launch of direct flights between Kathmandu and Kunming. The thrice-weekly flights will be plied by China Eastern Airlines and will make Kunming the third mainland city after Beijing and Guangzhou to have direct air links with the Nepalese capital.

In recent years, the relationship between Asian giants China and India has gradually shifted from vocal distrust to guarded optimism. With the political thaw between the two countries, an economic relationship has grown rapidly – in 2002 bilateral trade was a mere US$2 billion, last year that number surpassed US$51 billion.

As China and India continue to open up to each other, the lack of sufficient transportation links is hampering trade and tourism. With both countries eager to increase interconnectivity, Kunming is emerging as China's de facto gateway to India.

Beginning in June, China Eastern Airlines will increase its flight services between Kunming and Kolkata, capital of eastern India's West Bengal state, from four to seven flights weekly, according to Indian media reports.

Li Ji, general manager of China Eastern's Kolkata operations, told reporters in India that more flights will be added to the Shanghai-New Delhi route, which currently has only three flights weekly.

Li said increasing tourism between the two countries was the driving force behind the decision to increase flight services. At present, China Eastern flights between the two countries have full occupancy, he added.

Local politics in India, particularly the country's occasionally restive northeast, are also beginning to focus on increasing connectivity with Kunming. MP and parliamentary election candidate Sarbananda Sonowal, from Assam state's Dibrugarh constituency in the Lok Sabha (LS) – India's directly elected lower house of parliament – has become one of India's most vocal proponents of a road to Kunming.

Sonowal has been arguing for a reopening of the Stilwell Road, a former World War II supply route built in 1944 under the supervision of US General Joe Stilwell. The 1,700-kilometer (1,000-mile) road once connected Kunming with the city of Ledo in Assam state, with most of the road passing through northern Myanmar.

Rather than serving as a military supply road, Sonowal imagines a resuscitated Stilwell Road as becoming a new channel for trade between India and China. China's portion of the road – all of it located in Yunnan – has already been upgraded to a modern six-lane expressway.

The main obstacles to the road's revival have been the fact that it passes through Myanmar's politically volatile north, plus a general reluctance by the Indian government, which has voiced security and drug trafficking concerns about the road in the recent past.

"The reopening of Stilwell Road is important not only for people of ... Dibrugarh LS constituency, but also for entire (Indian) northeast, as it would re-establish this region's old trade links with China and other countries in Southeast Asia," Sonowal recently told Indian reporters.

Goods transported between India and China via a new Stilwell Road would take two days to make the trip. At present, sea cargo between the two countries must pass south of Singapore and through the Malacca Strait. Reopening the Stilwell Road would cut the distance between China and India by 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles).