ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the spread of Southern Silk (SSR) Route in order to establish the historical basis for formation of BCIM. The SSR throughout the past two millennia has acted as a gel to connect Yunnan with South and Southeast Asia. The BCIM-EC follows dot on the footsteps of the SSR. It argues in favour of promotion of the BCIM sub-regional cooperation to create a cohesive geo-economic sub-region where the ethnic groups remain the main recipients of development, and shun guns to turn this region, from ‘battlefields into marketplaces’.
