Posted on 10/24/2006 5:34:18 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
The greatest transportation explosion since post-World War II America is now underway in China, with the construction of a comprehensive intercontinental transportation network designed to ensure Beijing’s role as the undisputed leader of Asia. No better example of this progress can be found than the recent maiden journey of the US$4 billion Beijing-Lhasa Express, or “Railway of the Skies.”
The train’s 2,500 mile journey in June through the once-impenetrable Himalaya Mountains and across the vast Gobi Desert marked an important national victory for Beijing’s communist leadership and another step forward in the country’s much-touted “Great Leap West” campaign. At a ceremony in the western city of Golmud, Chinese President Hu Jintao, accompanied by a contingent of senior officials, proudly exclaimed, “This is a magnificent feat by the Chinese people, and also a miracle in railway history.”
Spending on railway construction under Chinese President Hu Jintao is expected to double in 2006, reaching US$12 billion. Beijing continues to negotiate with provincial governments to gain access to land and has approached Germany, Japan and France to secure funding to complete several railway projects.
From the onset of the Beijing-Lhasa project, China’s leaders have asserted that the railway’s new Canadian-made Bombardier trains would provide unprecedented economic growth for the sparsely populated plains of Xinjiang, China and Tibet, breaking down long-standing barriers between the Han dominated Chinese majority and ethnic Tibetans.
However, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has refuted Beijing’s claims, saying the new railway could lead to “cultural genocide” by luring more Chinese workers to the region. “In general, a railway link is very useful in order to develop, but not when politically motivated to bring about demographic change,” he said in June.
Supporting the Dali Lama’s claims of Chinese encroachment, highly desirable construction jobs that were promised to ethnic Tibetans as a result of the massive railroad construction project never materialized. Zhu Zhengsheng, project manger for the Chinese Railroad Ministry, recently acknowledged only 10 percent of the roughly 100,000 workers employed during the five years of construction were native Tibetans.
Concerns are growing among ethnic Tibetans that the railway is just another way for Beijing to increase its stranglehold on the country. During opening ceremonies for the Beijing-Lhasa Express, thousands of green-uniformed soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), policemen and Chinese government agents were stationed along the railway route. Several Chinese military convoys were spotted around the capital city of Lhasa and “secret police” were dispersed among the train’s passengers. Current plans call for approximately 3,000 to 5,000 Chinese soldiers to be stationed along the train route for security purposes, using existing military bases and camps to coordinate operations.
In addition to the Beijing-Lhasa railway, China has dramatically increased the number of domestic transportation projects. At a cost of approximately US$242 billion, Beijing plans to increase its expressway system to 53,000 miles by 2020, surpassing America’s 46,000 miles of interstate. “No other country can compete with China when it comes to building,” noted Wang Yuanqing, a professor at the Highway College of Chang’an University in Xian. In the past five years alone, the communist government has spent more on transportation than in the past half century. From 2001 to 2005, 15,350 miles of expressways were added. 4,163 miles were added in 2005, with another 3,000 miles expected this year. And this month, China will host the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Conference in Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang province. The primary focus of the conference will be the construction of additional expressways and railways.
Airports have also become a critical part of China’s multi-faceted transportation modernization plan. Under the government’s current five-year plan for the country’s aviation industry, 1,500 commercial airplanes are expected to be in service by 2010. The US$2 billion Beijing Capital International Airport, only a dream a few short years ago, is now under construction and will be ready for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. When completed, the new airport will overtake London’s Heathrow and Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok airports as the largest in the world. Moreover, the bustling cities of Guangzhou and Shanghai, along with approximately 20 other Chinese cities, are either building new airports or expanding existing airport facilities.
In addition, with more than 90 percent of intercontinental trade moving by sea, China has invested heavily in seaport construction and renovation, becoming the world leader in throughput capacity over the past three years. Total throughput capacity at the country’s 1,400 seaports is expected to grow more than 80 percent in the next five years, reaching 7.2 billion tones in 2010, up from 4.8 billion tones in 2005.
As China moves forward with its transportation expansion, its neighbors-namely, India and Russia-have monitored its actions with great interest, fearing that an expanding Chinese transportation system could upset the fragile geopolitical balance in Southeast and Central Asia. Despite these concerns, many countries in Asia have reached the conclusion, albeit with considerable angst, that the enormous immediate economic benefits of China’s rise far outweigh any possible regional security concerns at the moment.
One country working closely with China to fulfill its goal of a connected intercontinental transportation system is energy-rich neighbor Kazakhstan. Strategically positioned in the center of the Eurasia continent, Kazakhstan has been instrumental in the ongoing design and construction of a 2,000 mile railway called the “New Eurasia Land Bridge.” Linking mainland China with Europe, the new railway is expected to cut current rail transport times in half.
When completed sometime in 2008-09, the US$3.5 billion railway is expected to transport 40 billion tons of goods worth an estimated US$7 billion between Asia and Europe annually. At present, most goods shipped from China to Europe travel by sea to avoid Russia’s customs regime. The ambitious railway plan also calls for the construction of new rail links connecting Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey. Recently, China and Kazakhstan opened a network of 22 new transport routes, adding to the nearly 90 transport routes already linking China to Central Asia.
In August, the US$44 billion Asian Highway (AH) network took one more step toward becoming a reality when Vietnam completed an important US$144 million section linking the country to Laos, Thailand and Myanmar with a large portion of the route running through China. First conceived in 1959, the Asian Highway network is designed to connect 23 Asian countries with Europe and has been promoted as a way to boost trade and tourism. A total of US$26 billion has already been spent to complete 83 percent of the route, with the remaining sections to be completed by 2010 at a cost of US$18 billion.
Other important transportation projects are moving forward with Beijing’s full support, they include: a four-lane, US$458 million expressway connecting Nanning, the capital of south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with Vietnam’s Highway One; a highway linking China with neighbors Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia and Russia; the proposed construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki rail network, designed to link Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey with China and Central Asia, and a planned expressway to Taipei, Taiwan.
The opening of Nathu La Pass, a Himalayan pass on the legendary Silk Road trade route between India and China this year was hailed as a step to improve relations between the two emerging economies. China-India bilateral trade reached US$21 billion in 2005, up 38 percent from 2004. According to Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Yuxi, bilateral trade is expected to reach US$30 billion by 2008 and US$50 billion by 2010.
But like the Dali Lama of Tibet, a consortium of Indian military experts has warned that the route could be used by the Chinese to spy on India. “Chinese spies and agents on subversive missions will find it easier to slip in through Nathu Pass,” noted Krishna Dhar, the retired director of India’s Federal Intelligence Bureau. Dhar went on to say, “The Chinese will stoke insurgency, monitor troop deployment and movement along the disputed order and gain access to vital installations like refineries and highly sensitive warfare training centres.”
For many observers, Beijing’s efforts to develop a well-integrated transportation network that reaches deep into Central and Southeast Asia, Russia and Europe are normal actions for a large, developing economy as it attempts to reach new markets, improve global competitiveness and create opportunities for self-sustainability. Indeed, a well-conceived and established system of highways, railways, seaports and airports are essential elements for a successful globalization strategy.
However, what makes China’s emerging transportation network a troubling development for Asia and the West is Beijing’s ever-growing “extra-regional” military capabilities, persistent territorial confrontations in the East China Sea and provocative statements directed toward its neighbors, in particular, Taiwan and Japan. Of growing significance is Beijing’s reliance on Central Asia and the Middle East for energy and its investment in energy related infrastructure projects, giving Beijing a “vested interest” in the affairs of both regions.
Could the continued development of China’s transportation network eventually pose a regional threat to its neighbors, causing instability, not shared prosperity? At this point, we can only hope that Beijing’s ultimate intentions in Asia remain the improvement of economic and friendly relations with its neighbors, not conquest.
"Infrastructure", "Infrastructure", "Infrastructure". This is the continued cry of the communist. Just look at their sites, they say as much. Idiots. Don't blindly fall victim to the cry for more or better "infrastructure".
China's economy will easily surpass ours within a few decades. Not on a per capita basis, but certainly in total GDP.
The new Kunming - Botan Superhighway is part of this. Beyond the Botan border crossing into Laos, there is also a brand new Superhighway across the Lao panhandle ending at one of the new Mekong bridges. There, is connects with the Thai Motorway system (which connects to the Malaysian one, thence on to the Strait of Malacca). This is unprecedented. One of the things the Japanese lacked were good overland logistics. Problem solved. Signapore needs to worry. Did they ever learn their lesson about being able to shoot toward the north with their heavy artillery?
Ooops, Singapore ...
If the Chinese leadership thinks only in economic terms they will lose. If their leadership is thinking in political terms they will rule the world. A lesson for America.
If you give people economic power, they will soon start to demand political power as well. In the US, we have a history of No Taxation without Representation. But the government in China refuses to give up any power. It is communist and will always be communist. The natural tension will build up and some day cause another great loss of life. The last time it happened, over 25 million people died. The government, with almost 200 million excess males due to sex-selection abortion, will not hesitate to trade blood for power.
Even if we should agree that the number is far closer to 30 million than 200 million, it is still tens of millions of extra bodies the government can call into service of the State at almost no cost to itself.
My point still stands: communist governments do not hesitate to shed human blood to stay in power. The only times that the bloodshed is taken into account is when it starts to affect the level of resources. This is what reduced, but did not stop, Stalin's consumption of his own citizens in his gulag.
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