Money Talks

Thursday should be a remarkable start for the two largest developing economic powers in the world. In the cold wastes of the high Himalayas stands a border gate guarded by soldiers on both sides and fortified with ramparts and barbed wire. The only person to cross this border since 1962 is the weekly visit of a postman who has to be escorted to the barbed wire by a soldier on one side, climb through the barbed wire fence and then be escorted by a soldier from the other side to a hut. There the postbag is almost ceremonially weighed and signed for by a postman on the receiving side.
This is the border between China and India on the old Silk Road. It was closed by the Chinese in 1962 after fierce military action between the two sides. Since then nothing much has happened except the semi-ritual crossing of the post. The Chinese postman told the BBC how he journeys up to the border on horseback in the summer but in the winter the snow is too deep for the horse so he has to climb alone with the precious postbag.
This sounds very quaint.
Then you realise what the re-opening of the border is all about. They are re-building the old Silk Road. Crews on both sides of the border are making good the route in a bid to enable trucks and other vehicles to cross the border. As I stated at the beginning of this post the two countries - China and India - are the fastest-growing economies in the world. Individually they hold an increasing amount of economic clout. Think about what could happen if they start to agree on how they trade, first with each other then jointly with the rest of the world. The present economic status will be turned on its head. The US, the EU and the Japanese could find themselves with the economic status of third world countries while China and India, with many South-East Asian countries hanging on their tails, dominate.
So that's progress. We invented the system of the strong rule and the weak go to the wall. Now we will reap the results of the system, as taken on by the "anti-capitalist" Chinese and the entrepreneurial Indians.
It looks like pay-back time.
Nuff said ...