Enter the dragon along the Himalayan border

Why China is very keen on having its presence along the entire Himalayan border, extending from Nangaparbat to the Arunachal Pradesh ranges (including Nepal Himalayas)? It is all due to abundant natural resources, metallic, non-metallic, and energy resources that include Oil, shale, and geothermal resources. The occurrence of these mineral resources have been documented since the British rule in India and I am sure China must have documented it much before it………maybe during the Qin dynasty by Ying Zheng.!!!!

In the NW Himalayas, the Zanskar region has rich deposits of sapphires. Part of the resources land falls within the occupied Kashmir. The world’s best sapphires are found in Zanskar ranges in Kashmir. These sapphires are also known as the king of the sapphire. There are known as the blue violet because of its bright blue color. Although Burmese and Ceylonese sapphires are also famous, they cannot match the Zhanskar sapphires. Currently, mining is stopped except for poaching. Nepal is the warehouse of rare and precious minerals, yet to be explored and exploited. More than 85 types of economic mineral deposits have been reported from Nepal Himalayas. The minerals which occur in Nepal in sizeable amounts have not been fully exploited. Nepal contains rich deposits of copper, iron, tantalum, niobium, molybdenum, and rare earth elements. Nepal may become a major supplier of these metals in the future. The alluvial plains of Nepal contain rich placer gold deposits. Exploration results indicate nearly 7.33 million tones of Cu and 3.8 million tones of Zn and Pb deposits are present in this country. Thumki, Jagat, Panchmane, Gagalphedi, and Chunikhel in Shivapuri in Kathmandu areas contain U and Th. The Nepal Himalayas is rich in beryllium in the granites. In 2016 China conducted fieldwork in the Nepal Himalayas and mapped all the sites that are rich in this precious mineral (aquamarine- gem variety). This data has been published in a Chinese Journal. The granites of Nepal Himalayas are enriched in Nb, Ta (which belong to the Rare Earth Element group that are very essential for making wind turbines), Li ( raw material for making Li batteries), and B (borax abundantly used in the pharmacy industry)!!

Carbonaceous shales of Oligocene age occur in abundance in Arunachal Pradesh. This shale belt extends south. These are shelf deposits formed during the closure of the Tethyan Sea. The oil-rich shales co-exist with rich coal deposits. These same formations are the source of oil in Assam (Digboi oil fields). The oil shales are characterized by rich (77 %) ToC (Total Organic Carbon: indicating high commercial value). The shale deposits in Arunachal Pradesh (including Bhutan and Sikkim) are termed as Oil shale deposits that are the main source for Shale oil and shale gas.

The entire Himalayan belt is a rich source of geothermal energy, extending from Yangbhajing above Arunachal Pradesh to Puga in Ladakh). Lhasa, the capital of Tibet gets its electricity from a geothermal power plant located in Yangbhajing. China organized a workshop and invited all the countries traversed by the Himalayan ranges:- India, Pakistan, Iran, Italy, Afghanistan to discuss the proposed revival of the “silk route”. This project needs infrastructural support in the form of energy. It has prepared a detailed project report to develop all the geothermal sites along the Himalayas to generate electricity to support the entire (silk route) road/rail infrastructure. Of course all the Himalayan rivers originate from the upper Himalayas located on the Chinese side. Developing hydropower projects is part of the silk route project. Chinese strategy, ……keep fingering these regions so that India (and Nepal) will not develop and exploit the economic mineral deposits in the NE region. Now we know the inside story of our neighbor is showing keen interest in Tibet, Nepal, and India. Thus China’s intention to revive the silk route has wider implications. Once the infrastructure is established, mining operations will resume. Once the project is implemented China will hold the major share in industrial minerals deposits and can control the world economy. China plans to utilize its One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative to expand renewable energy along this ancient Silk Route. According to China’s National Energy Administration, international cooperation in energy resources has become the top priority of the Belt and Road construction.” China’s OBOR initiative has not found enough takers in countries like India which think it will lead to a Chinese monopoly. But China is becoming stronger in taking this initiative forward. However, linking renewables to the OBOR initiative may act as a facelift and evince interest from countries like Iran, Afghanistan, and eastern European and East Asian countries. Initially, China announced this proposal to revive the ancient Silk Route in 2013 connecting Asia and Europe. Now the scope has expanded and the present revised scope includes the inclusion of new territories and development initiatives in infrastructural projects such as railways, oil, and gas pipelines. The land part of the project is to establish a road network from Singapore to Europe through Italy. The world economy will see a sea change once the dragon enters the arena.