On the face of it, China's plans to reach for the sea fit its efforts to improve the lot of its inland provinces. But many countries are suspicious. But it's a question of the degree of concern. London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, in a July journal, goes further, noting that Burma is close to key shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. The bulk of Japan's Middle East oil imports, for example, pass through the area.
China also wants to check India's growing strategic influence, the institute suggests.
Indian security officials say New Delhi is concerned about China's alleged direct technical support in recent years for upgrades of Burmese electronic listening posts along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The suspicion is that China wants to keep an eye on military movements by India, a rival regional power against which it fought a border war in 1962. Vietnam also worries about China's strategic intentions because of past frictions and its territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea. The road projects China is supporting are being carried out mainly by the Wa ethnic minority in the country's northeast. This year alone, Thai officials estimate, a massive 600 million tablets have flowed across the border.