Loading ...China’s ambitious Mt. Everest tunnel is unsettling India
China’s chasing other projects besides a new Silk Road economic belt that spans Central Asia and Europe. But one proposed endeavor might raise the ire of China’s neighbor – India.
India’s Economic Times reported Thursday that China plans to build a 540-kilometre strategic high-speed rail link between Tibet and Nepal passing through a tunnel under Mt. Everest. The Times says the move “could raise alarm in India about the Communist giant’s growing influence in its neighborhood.”
Beijing’s state-run China Daily Thursday quoted Wang Mengshu, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as saying the project is rumbling ahead despite expected engineering hurdles.
“A proposed extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway to the China-Nepal border through Tibet would boost bilateral trade and tourism as there is currently no rail line linking the two countries,” China Daily said.
Details of the Mt. Everest project are sketchy. It’s expected to be completed by 2020. But there are no cost estimates.
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