Student's Book – Dec 2009 (5.9mb) - The Curriculum Project

exercisecomprehensionA. Why did India have to pay more for oil after the Cold War?B. What action did India take to regain some of the economic power that it lost afterthe Cold War?C. Why was a good relationship between the U.S and China a bad thing for India?D. What projects may have helped to improve relations between India andSoutheast Asia?E. Why are good relations with Southeast Asia important for India? Explain.arms (n) – weaponsmemorandum (n) – a written remindertrillion (determiner) – 1,000,000,000,000KEY WORDSCase Study: China and India Compete for Burmese ResourcesBurma’s shoreline stretches almost 1,000 miles from the border of Bangladesh to the coast ofThailand and is largely undeveloped. There are at least ten trillion cubic feet of natural gas in thewaters offshore as well as the possibility of oil. Both of these resources hold a lot of interest forboth India and China.India was the first to contact Burma about the purchase of 5.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gasknown as undersea block A-1. The block is located in the Shwe gas field, near the port of Sittwe.While India was investigating the construction of a 960-mile pipeline to transport the gas, Chinamoved in. China and Burma signed a memorandum of agreement over the sale of A-1 gas.The final signing of a full supply and purchaseagreement with both India and China was delayed.The Burmese military junta insists thatthere is enough gas in the area for both countriesbut China and India aren’t convinced.Both China and India will have to invest billionsto create a system to transport the gas andwithout a secure 20 year deal over rights to theA1 field, neither country is sure the investmentwill pay off. India needs to invest about $3billion to build a pipeline past Bangladesh totransport the gas to Assam and Mizoram States.China wants to build a pipeline up the Irrawaddyriver valley to take the gas to Yunnan Provinceand into China.Both China and India supply arms and militarytraining to Burma, although China has beendoing so for much longer. China has also beentraining and modernising Burma’s navy andnaval bases.Map 16: Burma, China and IndiaexercisecomprehensionA. What exactly do India and China want from Burma?B. What does China need to do to get the gas? What does India need to do?C. What other interests do China and India have in Burma?64