Recently, the Vietnamese government news network reported that Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said during his visit to China that Vietnam needs China's assistance in railway design, construction, and technology transfer, including the construction of Lao Cai-Hanoi-Haiphong, Mong Cai-Ha Long-Haiphong and other railways, promoting China-Vietnam cross-border standard railway connectivity, and urban rail transit projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam also wants to learn from China's experience, technology and management to develop a high-speed rail network. Vietnam's railway network is very old and very restrictive, and it would be of great strategic importance if Vietnam had a real high-speed railway connecting the north and the south. A long time ago, there was an opportunity in front of Vietnam, but they made the wrong bet.
In 2005, the Government of Viet Nam planned to build a north-south railway to open international tenders. Chinese companies actively approached, but in the end, Vietnam still adopted the Japanese Shinkansen plan, but the repair has not yet been opened to traffic, and it is already an unfinished project. In recent years, the Vietnamese government has obviously been anxious, especially after the opening of the China-Laos Railway and the Indonesian Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway, the Vietnamese government has been scolded to death by the domestic people, after all, Vietnam is the first to build high-speed rail in Southeast Asia, and it is also the country with the most investment, so many years there is still no movement. By choosing Japan, Vietnam missed a great opportunity for development. With the support of Chinese technology, Vietnam's neighboring countries have begun to develop their railway networks in full swing, and only Vietnam is still stagnant. Therefore, in the past two years, Vietnam has been very anxious and has visited China frequently, and almost every time the topic is to discuss China's help Vietnam build high-speed rail. But China's express train will not stop and wait for it, and we have many options to choose from.
After the completion of the China-Laos Railway, in May this year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet announced that the construction of the Dechong Funan Canal would start in August, and the China Road and Bridge Corporation would contract the construction. It is no exaggeration to say that this canal project is about the fate of Cambodia's country. At present, Cambodia still uses Vietnamese ports to go to sea, and neighboring countries such as Thailand and Laos also rely on Vietnam's ports to go to sea, after all, almost all the ports in the lower reaches of the Mekong River are in Vietnam. Once the canal is completed, Cambodia will be able to achieve freight autonomy in the future. If another Lao-Cambodia railway is built to connect the China-Laos railway, then Cambodia will be directly connected to China's freight transport, and China will also be able to strengthen freight transport with Southeast Asia through this canal. Vietnam is squeezing internal wounds, both anxiety about the future shift in the economic center of gravity and concerns about water resources.
In this way, the context is very clear, the China-Laos Railway, which connects the Lao-Cambodia Railway that will definitely be built, and then the Dechong Funan Canal, basically separates Vietnam, and it is no wonder that Vietnam has been seeking China's help in building the railway in recent years, but our side has not yet loosened its mouth. Sometimes if you miss the opportunity, it's really too late and you can't find it back.