To deny China a strategic edge, India may explore taking part in Thailand’s ‘land-bridge’ project

China sees in Thailand’s ‘land-bridge’ project a solution to its strategic vulnerability due to over-dependence on the Strait of Malacca.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Thai counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra are likely to discuss on Thursday India’s participation in the Southeast Asian nation’s ambitious project to build an 87-km-long highway and railway link across the Malay Peninsula, connecting the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand.

Bangkok wants New Delhi to participate in the $29 billion ‘land bridge’ project, although it has already drawn the interest of Beijing, which has seen in it a potential alternative to the Strait of Malacca – a critical sea-lane that can be blocked by the navies of India or the US in the event of a conflict with China.

Modi will have a bilateral meeting with Shinawatra a few hours after landing in Bangkok on Thursday – a day before she will host him and other BIMSTEC leaders for the sixth summit of the seven-nation bloc.

“They will review the progress in the entire gamut of bilateral relations and ways to add greater momentum to the India-Thailand bilateral partnership and also exchange views on the regional and multilateral issues,” Jaideep Mazumdar, Secretary (East) at the Ministry of External Affairs, told journalists in New Delhi ahead of the meeting between the two prime ministers.

A source in New Delhi told DH that India would be open to discussing any proposal from Thailand for participation in the ‘land-bridge’ project if it came up during the bilateral meeting between the two prime ministers.

Bangkok is projecting the proposed ‘land-bridge’ as a faster, shorter and cheaper route for oil and other cargo currently being carried by ships sailing through the Strait of Malacca – a narrow stretch of water between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Island of Sumatra of Indonesia to the southwest.

The Strait of Malacca connects the Andaman Sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean and the South China Sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It links the Indian and Pacific oceans and is one of the busiest and most important shipping lanes in the world.

Bangkok’s land-bridge project envisages the construction of two deep-sea ports on the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, which would be connected by an 87-kilometre-long highway and railway link that would bypass the Strait of Malacca.

China relies heavily on the Strait of Malacca for its energy imports and has been wary of the prospects of the Indian Navy moving in tandem with the US Navy and blocking the narrow shipping lane in the event of a conflict.

With China seeing in the ‘land-bridge’ project of Thailand a solution to its strategic vulnerability caused by over-dependence on the Strait of Malacca, several state-owned entities of the communist country have already expressed interest in investing in it.

New Delhi, on the other hand, has been wary of China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean region and its ‘String of Pearls’ project to encircle India. What added to New Delhi’s concerns is the possibility of Thailand’s ‘land-bridge’ giving China a strategic edge in the maritime neighbourhood of India.

The source in New Delhi said that India could explore participating in some components of the ‘land-bridge’ project of Thailand, to deny China complete control of what would eventually emerge as a bypass to the Strait of Malacca.

Thailand had invited India to take part in the land-bridge project when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had hosted his counterpart from the Southeast Asian nation, Maris Sangiampongsa, in New Delhi in July and October last year, another source told DH on Wednesday.

“Thailand is India's maritime neighbour, a valuable partner in our Act East policy and Vision for the Indo-Pacific, and also a highly valued partner in BIMSTEC,” Mazumdar, the Secretary (East) at the MEA, said, adding, “Our bilateral ties are multifaceted and our cooperation covers a range of areas, from defence and security to trade and investment, connectivity, science, technology, innovation, education, space, health, culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges.”