China Plans High-Speed Rail to Singapore

[Watchman]

China Plans High-Speed Rail to Singapore, Daily Says
By Bloomberg News - Jan 18, 2011 1:51 PM GMT+0800

China’s southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will make building a high-speed rail link from its main city of Nanning to connect to a planned Singapore-bound line its main task in the next five years, the China Daily said.
The construction of the rail link to Pingxiang, a city near China’s border with Vietnam, will start in the second half of this year, the paper said citing the local development and reform commission.
The local government wants a railway network to boost its trade with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Vietnam and Singapore. Asean is the largest trading partner and export market for Guangxi, according to the paper.
Guangxi will invest 15.6 billion yuan ($2.36 billion) to build its section of the rail link, the newspaper reported, citing Long Li, a regional transportation official.
The report didn’t say whether China has reached agreements with the neighboring countries on the plan.
Thailand’s government said it will build a high-speed rail system linking the country with Laos, Vietnam and southern China, according to a report by the Nation newspaper in August, citing Korbsak Sabhavasu, secretary to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg in Hong Kong at [email protected]

 

[Watchman]

China Dominates ASEAN Talks, Links to Singapore With High-Speed Rail
BY Jenara NerenbergWed Jan 19, 2011

The Nanning-Singapore Economic Corridor is to receive a very important new stop this year.

China map with surrounding countries

In China's ever-growing regional and global dominance, the country has announced that construction will begin this year on a portion of the much anticipated high-speed rail line reaching all the way to Singapore, by way of Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Laos. The move will bolster trade between the superpower and Asia's smaller players, as well as fortify the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region--of which Nanning is the capital--as China's main center of Asian trade. And the main center of trade in all of Asia, for that matter.

"The construction of the railway between Nanning and Pingxiang, a city near China's border with Vietnam, will start in the second half of this year," reports China Daily. The cost will be about $3 billion.

The Nanning-Singapore Economic Corridor will link Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Hanoi in Vietnam, Bangkok in Thailand, Vientiane in Laos, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Singapore--cities that will thus become trading centers for the region and will most likely see additional economic development boosts due to the rail link. It's easy to imagine local enterprises popping up to cater to travelers and tradesmen.

Portions of the corridor are already in place in one form or another--in some cases highways are complete and in others domestic rail lines have been linked between countries. But this week's announcement that construction will begin on one of the final links--Nanning to Pingxiang--signifies the importance China places on making Nanning its Southeast Asian trading hub.

The timing of the announcement comes at a time when China and Japan are in increasing competition over dominance in the region, particularly over Vietnam. And as the Chinese city of Pingxiang is just at the border, one has to wonder why the sudden focus on that portion of what will be one of the largest inter-country high-speed rail links in Asia.

That said, the ASEAN Summit just wrapped on Monday and it was clear that China intends to maintain its dominance in the region--even though it's not officially part of ASEAN, a 10-member group of only Southeast Asian countries.

Whether the corridor is meant for trade or easy access to neighboring countries for other purposes, the rail link is set to alter the region significantly, giving rise to targeted innovations and enterprises throughout Southeast Asia.