China opened a strategic highway in Tibet

Almaty. September 19. Silkroadnews – China has opened a strategic highway in Tibet, NDTV channel wrote.
“China has opened a strategic highway in Tibet to the Nepal border which could be used for civilian and defence purposes,” the report reads.
The 40.4-km eight-lane highway is planned to shorten the journey time between the dual-use airport and the city center of Xigaze from one hour to 30 minutes.
The highway, the report says, “will enable China to forge a route into South Asia in both economic and defense terms" and being a forerunner to a railway line connecting Nepal.”
The new highway will run in parallel with the Xigaze-Lhasa railway and connect the city’s ring roads with the 5,476-kilometers G318 motorway linking Shanghai with Zhangmu on the border of Nepal. The G318 connects the border town of Zhangmu with Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and in the future can connect with the China-Nepal cross-border railway.
Besides, the G318 connects Nepal with Nyingchi, a Tibetan town located near the border of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and runs very close to the border.
It is reported that China is making efforts to improve the transport connection between Tibet and Nepal while accelerating the construction of the railway line following signing of transit trade treaty between Nepal and China last year. The treaty was signed at the height of the Madhesi agitation and their blockade of Indian goods aimed at reducing Nepal’s dependence on India, expanding ties with China.
The total length of the highway in Tibet reached more than 80,000 kilometers in 2016, having increased almost 19,000 kilometers from 2011.