China-Laos Railway set to open in December
The railway links Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan Province, with Vientiane, the capital of Laos. From China, the line crosses the border at Mohan to the Laotian city of Boten. Total length of the line is 936 kilometers, 414 in Laos and 522 in Yunnan. The name China-Laos Railway refers only to the Laotian stretch of the line [China-Laos Railway may be ‘badly needed good news’ for Beijing. And the region?].
Costs of the project is 6 billion US dollar. Laos borrowed 60% from the China Exim Bank. The remaining 40% is financed by the Laos-China Railway Company (LCRC), the joint venture that will operate the line. 70% of this joint venture is owned by China. The China-Laos Railway is part of the larger Pan-Asia Railway Network, a BRI plan to connect Kunming with Singapore via Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Progress of this project has been slow, mostly due to the cancellation by Malaysia and Singapore of their High Speed Rail (HSR) project.
The China-Laos Railway is built by the state-owned China Railway Group (CREG) and several of its subsidiaries. Construction started in 2016. The mountainous terrain in northern Laos is challenging for any infrastructure project, forcing CRCC to dig 75 tunnels totaling 198 kilometers and to build 164 bridges totaling 62 kilometers. The railway will carry both passengers and freight, riding with a 160 km/h top speed.
China’s influence in Laos grows even faster than that. China is now Laos’ second largest trade partner, importing mostly copper and rubber and exporting mainly computers, electronics, and construction materials. China is by far the largest foreign investor in Laos, counting for 79% of all FDI in 2018. Laos is also part of China’s global vaccine-diplomacy scheme; in early February, the country received a donation of 300,000 doses Sinopharm. Soft power is on the rise too, with Chinese-language schools opening all over the country, led by the Confucius Institute at the National University of Laos. Finally, Chinese companies are again exploring Laos for resources, with a new iron-mining project under way.
Tycho de Feijter
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