[The
Institute of South Asian Studies from the University of Chengdu organised in
Chengdu, December 14-16, the Fifth China-South Asia Cultural Forum. In the
conference, Paulo Casaca, SADF’s Executive Director, presented a paper entitled
“The merits of regional cooperation. The Himalayas conundrum” and Professor
Tomaz Dentinho Ponce, SADF’s Regional Cooperation Programme Director,,
presented “Regional cooperation in South Asia, Issues and questions on trade
corridors”.
The
aim of this essay is to understand the attitudes and values on Trans-Himalayan
Cooperation. The approach is to pick up the main thoughts presented in the
Fifth China-South Asia Cultural Forum on the topic “Exploring Cooperation
across the Himalayas”, to undertake a SWOT Analysis to identify the main issues
regarding cooperation and to identify different strategies to address them. Two
different strategies were discussed: i) a passive strategy that believes in the
economic dynamism of India and China but it is treated by terrorism that can be
fuelled by inequality, poverty, stress of water and energy instability; and ii)
an active strategy that explores the cooperation opportunities associated with
the Trans-Himalayan corridors, with common academic and research capabilities
and by challenging water, energy and tourism resources in the mountains.]
By Tomaz Ponce Dentinho and Paulo Casaca
1 –
Introduction
The Himalayas are between the two most
prominent economic spaces of the XXI century, India and China. The longstanding
natural barrier between rich territories and remarkable civilizations, has fed
the population with water and soil, filtered the passage for silk and spices,
and – through active testimony of local settlers – contributed to the humans’
communication or muteness among themselves and between themselves and the sky.
The Himalayas are the wall that opens the door, the barrier that requires the link
while providing an opportunity for alternative passages through the sea and the
air. Somehow these mountains guarantee the identity of civilizations moulded by
relations to the otherness.
For as long as can be remembered those places and passages were shaped by
nature, marginally managed by nearby settlers and remote civilizations.
Nevertheless globalisation and technology are changing the capacity of those
nearby and remote decisions makers, and necessarily their thoughts over those
passages and places. What are the main attitudes and values on Trans-Himalayan
Cooperation? What are the common values and attitudes that can be the bases for
effective cooperation and sustained development?
The aim of this essay is to understand current
and growing attitudes and values regarding Trans-Himalayan Cooperation. The
approach is to pick up the main thoughts presented in the Fifth China-South
Asia Cultural Forum (Chengdu, December 14-16, 2015) on the topic “Exploring
Cooperation across the Himalayas” and to undertake an analysis to understand
the main perspectives in terms of cooperation and to identify the main common
factors and values that can guide effective cooperation.
Point 2 provides a summary of the main thoughts
presented in the Fifth China-South Asia Cultural Forum. In Point 3 selects
thoughts to analyse within a SWOT framework and presents the results. Point 4
derive alternative cooperation strategies and in Point 5 the explore the
prospective effects of those strategies on cooperation and development.
2 – The
Fifth China-South Asia Cultural Forum
Presentation
The Institute of South Asian Studies of Sichuan
University organised the Fifth China-South Asia Cultural Forum in Chengdu,
China, on the 15th December 2015, involving around fifty scholars, students,
experts and stakeholders from China, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal,
Singapore, Bangladesh and Europe. It included five speeches in the Opening
Session, six comments in the Closing Session and twenty seven presentations
organized into five themes: Conceptualization of Trans-Himalaya Cooperation;
Political and Security Cooperation; Trans-national infrastructural development
and economic cooperation; and Cultural Exchanges and Educational Cooperation.
Common
assets of Trans – Himalayan peoples, paths and places
The Opening Session recalled a set of common
assets shared by Trans – Himalayan peoples, paths and places. There is a long
history of cooperation across the Himalayas (1), a cooperation that took place
around the Silk Road where peace, harmony and friendship could thrive (2), a
cooperation that should be reinforced in the XXI century, the century of Asia;
cooperation in energy, water, transportation (3) and education (4).
Nevertheless, as recalled by Huang Renwei (5),
there are non-cooperation traps and if those traps are not faced it is
difficult to cooperate fruitfully. Firstly, there are political and security
issues often associated to land disputes; secondly, it is not clear what can be
done regarding water, energy and commercial capabilities; and, finally, there
is still an unknown space of cooperation much beyond the cooperation paradigms
of the industrial era; this is definitely the time to share different
perspectives on Trans-Himalayan cooperation.
Conceptualization
of Trans-Himalaya Cooperation.
According to Li Mingjiang (6) there are various
models of regional cooperation that can be adopted to overcome the threats and
explore the opportunities of Trans – Himalayan Cooperation: 1) The ASEAN model
joint countries that complement each other; it is very much institutionalised
through a multitude of meetings and it is recognised in the world forum. 2) The
Central Asia Model that moves around the China and Russia Consortium and within
which different partners adapt themselves. 3) The One Belt – One Road Model
where China takes the lead no matter what India does. 4) The China –ASEAN Model
stimulates the participation of local governments; and, as explained by Paulo
Casaca (7), the European Model that, to avoid conflict, promote cooperation
around agriculture, trade, water, energy, transport, with a major focus on
understanding each other’s interests.
When issues arise concerning water, energy and
commercial capabilities Khalid Radman (8) pointed out that diversity is
reflected in society, that humans cannot live in isolation, and that technology
reduces time and space and changes peoples’ perceptions. Therefore there is a
lot to be taught and implemented regarding cooperation on water, energy, rail
and road networks, trade, software and education.
Nevertheless the wisdom of cooperation learned
from history have to cope with the challenges of future cooperation namely by
building a common understanding of security (9), talking and finding a common
ground for peace and cooperation. As stressed by Leela Paudyal (10) the common
enemy is malnutrition and poverty.
Cooperation
on a New Security Paradigm.
In fact there is a lot to talk about. ISIS is
grouping in Afghanistan creating more potential instability and there is a
third generation of extremists that create problems within all the countries of
the world (11). To deal with these threats there is an urgent need to promote a
New Security Paradigm (12), doing a better job in terms of equity, look more
carefully on the issues of water (13), eradicating poverty that supports
radicalization (14), facing the challenges of instability, climate change, and
favouritism (15), as well as cooperation in disaster relief and experience
sharing (16).
Cultural
Exchanges and Educational Cooperation.
Today it is possible to look at each other
differently. 1) We need to change taboos that classify others; 2) We need to
pay attention to food security; 3) We need to be objective. In a survey
undertaken by different people from China and Bangladesh there were no major differences
regarding attitudes and values related to individualism, indulgence, power
dispute; the only difference is that the Chinese have more long term
perspectives and risk takers (17).
With common values and attitudes it is possible
to integrate research with teaching and there are very good capabilities
regarding both (18), by establishing a platform for higher education programs
(19), by exploring common culture as a catalyst for cultural relations (20), by
enhancing the role of the gateways in Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan (21), by
exploring cooperation in health and education (22), by sharing history (23) and
by stimulating people to people relations (24).
Trans-national
infrastructural development and economic cooperation.
Trade between India and China is nowadays very
limited compared with the XVIII century. In fact for more than 200 years India
reverted its interests to the sea and reduced trade and cooperation in the
Continent; on the other hand the rise of maritime empires and coastal areas
represents the destruction of most of the internal routes and the isolation of
each country regarding their continental neighbours. Before that China and
India were complementary, there was a silk and a cotton road, borders were less
important than links and time solved the border issues. Actually History and
Geography are not the only things that are important and trade is done by
humans not territories. Those were thoughts presented by Ravi Mishram (25).
Notwithstanding this there is some disbelief in
India regarding the one-belt/one road program; although there aren’t clear road
networks (26), the one-road could eventually open Tibet to Bhutan and India to
China (27). Furthermore there is not enough understanding of the geological
risks of those roads and some local governments have concerns about the
benefits of the corridors (28). In fact the more important barriers to trade
are institutional and not infrastructural (29) consubstantiated in
protectionism, trade taxes and corruption (30).
And yet, there is the pilgrim’s path to improve
links for China with India through Nepal and possibly Bhutan (31) and the
Indian government talks about the construction of a community of common destiny
(32).
Summing
up
In fact this is the time for Trans-Himalayan
cooperation by promoting across the Himalayas a league of Universities, a
league of health professionals, a league of media experts and an agreement on
water sharing; by doing so research on Himalayan issues will foster:
cooperation and prosperity in the region and across the region and a cycle of
stability, cooperation and sustainable development.
3 – SWOT
Analysis on Trans-Himalayan Cooperation
Most of the strengths highlighted are timeless:
there is a long history of cooperation between spaces that complement each other
that can increase due to the on-going dynamism of China and India.
Those timeless strengths can relativize
concerns on equity and poverty that, sooner or later, may be solved by the
on-going economic dynamism and, once more, not foregoing the opportunities of
regional cooperation.
Nevertheless the threats of terrorism are there
and they are difficult to address without a common understanding for new
security measures across the Himalayans. We need to do a better job in terms of
equity and growth, looking more carefully at water issues and eradicating
poverty and favouritism.
Strengths
There
are no major differences in peoples’ attitudes and values. There is a long
history of cooperation across the Himalayas; The XXI Century is the century of Asia;
China and India are complementary.
Weaknesses
Mountains
are difficult for natural and non-natural reasons; The common enemy is
malnutrition and poverty; Poverty facilitates radicalization; We should do a
better job in terms of equity; Instability, climate change, and favouritism;
The more important barriers to trade are institutional.
Opportunities
New
frontiers of cooperation and New Security Paradigms; The Himalayans have
crucial resources on tourism; Cooperation is a crucial contribution for peace
and development; Tibet is the gateway to China in relation to India; Small
actors can help to facilitate cooperation; People to people relations; The
one-belt/one road program; There is the pilgrim’s path to improve; All value
chains have opportunities; Himalayan Leagues of Universities, Health, Media and
Water; A forum that can implement stability and development in the region.
Threats
Lack of
common understanding of security across the Himalayans; No political trust and
lack of mitigation in territorial disputes; Environmental issues; Food security;
Terrorism; Water stress in China, India and Pakistan.
4 –
Cooperation strategies
There are two implicit strategies for the
different actors across the Himalayans.
The first one is more passive and it is based
on the timeless resources of the region assuming that those capabilities will
be naturally potentiated by the on-going dynamism of India, China and all the
East. This strategy does not consider the threats of terrorism that are fuelled
by inequality, poverty, stress of water and energy instability.
The second strategy is more active and tries to
explore the existing cooperation opportunities: a) the opportunity to develop
the Himalayan countries and regions associated with the creation of
Trans-Himalayan corridors; b) the opportunity to promote cooperation with
academic and research projects; c) the opportunity to implement effective
projects on tourism (religious and mountain), on water and on energy.
5 –
Trans Himalayan Research Network
The Himalayas are between the most prominent
economic spaces of the XXI century. This requires joint research efforts that
can gather and generate effective knowledge for fruitful cooperation and
sustainable development across the Himalayans. The purpose is to generate
research and knowledge to promote effective cooperation and sustainable
development across the Himalayans and around the World.
This can be based on a set of Research Meetings
focused on issues related to the cooperation and sustainable development across
the Himalayas including results, such as: Exchange of lecturers, researchers
and post graduate students, development of academic curricula and text books
and articles or scientific journals. The most important element is the
multiplication of personal contacts that could interact and promote cooperation
on infrastructures, trade, education, health, tourism, water and energy.