Transport
project further consolidates China's power in the region and will be finished
by by 2021
The Guardian, Kate Hodal, Friday 1 August 2014
 |
| Thai army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha unveiled plans connecting the country's northern border with the south-east. Photograph: Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters |
Thailand's
ruling junta has approved a $23 billion (£13.6bn) transport project that will
see two high-speed railways link up directly with China by 2021, in a move seen
as a further consolidation of Chinese power in the region.
The
National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), headed by Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha -
who took control of Thailand in a bloodless military coup in May - unveiled
plans this week connecting the northern border town of Nong Khai with Map Ta
Phut, located south-east of Bangkok. Chaing Khong, just south of the Laos
capital Vientiane, will also be connected to Ban Phachi, in the central
Ayutthaya regions.
The railway
lines will link up directly to Kunming, in China's southern Yunnan province, in
what analysts have termed Chinese "high-speed railway diplomacy".
China is
looking to build a 3,000km (1,860m) high-speed line from Kunming all the way
down to Singapore, passing through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia — a project that
would increase China's GDP and those of the involved nations by $375b, a former
Chinese railway chairman told the China Daily.
According
to China Railway Corp, it appears the Kunming-Singapore line will be
constructed in four stages, from Kunming to Vientiane, Vientiane to Bangkok,
Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur, and Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. Construction of the
Thai lines is planned to begin next year as part of the new eight-year 741.4
billion baht ($23.3bn) infrastructure development project connecting Bangkok
and other key cities with airports, seaports, border areas and cargo depots,
the Bangkok Post reported, with some 106 new trains added to the existing
fleet. Six dual-track railway lines will also be constructed under the same
scheme.
The two
routes comprise nearly 1,400km in total but unlike many other high-speed trains,
which generally run at a speed of 200 km per hour, will only be able to run at
160 km per hour until further investment would allow a higher-speed system.
 |
| Map of the planned route |
Chinese
officials involved in the project have described the deal as a major scoop for
the Chinese government, which had earlier struck a deal with former prime
minister Yingluck Shinawatra — only to see the project initially rejected by
the junta when it came to power.
Now the
military government has approved the project, "there will be huge room for
cooperation [between China and Thailand]," Yang Yong of the China Railway
Corp told China Daily, adding that Chinese engineers had been involved in
feasibility research for the high-speed lines, and Chinese companies were
directly helping to modernise Thailand's railway system.
The effect
of high-speed rail is likely to change South-east Asia and the way it does
business for good, says Geoff Wade of the College of Asia and the Pacific at
the Australian National University.
"When
the people of the mainland countries soon find, through the convenience of
[high-speed railways], that Kunming is their 'closest neighbour' but a few
hours away, the Yunnan capital will gradually emerge as the hub of the Greater
Mekong Region and will eventually become, in effect, the capital of mainland
Southeast Asia," Wade wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Blog.
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