Along the Burma Road December 2011

Yunnan was one of the worst-hit areas during World War II, almost completely destroyed by Japanese bombing. By today the province has been rebuilt, however, and the old Burma Road – that icon of the war, used to transport support material for the Allies into China – has been upgraded into a six-lane highway. Once it crosses the Chinese border, however, this potentially lucrative land link between China and India falls into disrepair, despite years of plans to upgrade it. On the Indian side, the Ledo Road (or Stilwell Road, after an American general), links up to the Burma Road, and is indeed motorable. But it too falls into disrepair on the Burma side.

Still, there is some movement on this front. Beijing recently hosted new talks on economic cooperation with India, and most analysts believe that there is immense pressure from industry to take the momentum forward. Once the entire road is operational, it will reduce transportation costs between China and India by an estimated 30 percent. Of course, Burma constitutes the vast majority of the road’s 1150 km, and thus remains the primary obstacle in this process, as can be seen in several of the accompanying photographs. Nonetheless, with a new government in power in Naypyidaw, recent reports have suggested that construction may indeed be going forward on this historic thoroughfare.