In the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, China has also built a number of cross-border railways.
As for why this is done, it is because the railway is part of the basic transportation infrastructure, since we want to jointly promote economic development and want to jointly build the "Belt and Road", then the transportation facilities are naturally indispensable.
At the beginning, many countries were not optimistic about China's construction of cross-border railways, but now more and more countries understand that China's cross-border railways are the real "road to prosperity". So what's going on here?
Let's find out!
1. The "China-Laos Railway" is the envy of Thailand
As early as December 2021, the China-Laos Railway, which connects Kunming in Yunnan Province and Vientiane in Laos, was officially put into operation.
Before this, Laos has not yet entered the "era of railway transportation", and it is conceivable how important the cross-border railway built by China is for Laos.
The China-Laos Railway is 1,035 kilometers long, with the starting station in the north of Kunming, China, going all the way to the south, passing through Yuxi, Pu'er and Xishuangbanna in Yunnan, and then entering northern Laos through the port, and then continuing all the way to the south, passing through many provinces of Laos, and the final destination is the capital of Laos.
The train stops and stops along the way, benefiting all the stations it passes through, and the construction of the economic corridor between China and Laos has also been accelerated, especially for the economic development of Laos.
After more than two years, watching Laos, which has entered the "era of railway transportation", has seen its GDP continue to grow, and Thailand, which borders Laos, has begun to regret its original decision.
So what does this have to do with Thailand?
Because the original China-Laos railway should be the "China-Thailand Railway", even if Thailand had thought about the stakes, he would have embarked on the road to prosperity.
2. The slow-moving China-Thailand Railway
In 2009, the mainland reached an agreement with Thailand to build a high-speed railway between China and Thailand.
At that time, when Thailand signed the agreement, it was said that they did not have the money to pay for all the expenses, so in order to promote the "Belt and Road", our country did not embarrass Thailand, but promised them to "exchange rice for high-speed rail".
As a result, after 5 years, everything is ready, and the construction of the Sino-Thai railway will begin, but the Thai side will not do it, and will not agree to exchange rice for high-speed rail.
Later, although the construction of the railway began, Thailand made many demons, thinking that the cost was too great, and only the first phase of the railway was built.
It was not until after 2021 that after seeing the full operation of the China-Laos Railway, he found that not only Laos, but also China's construction of the railway was also a lot of benefits for him, so on the one hand, Thailand wanted to open up the China-Laos Railway, hoping to connect the railway between itself and Laos with the China-Laos Railway, and on the other hand, began to beg China to continue to build the China-Thailand Railway.
Speaking of these countries around China, especially small countries such as Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, in fact, their own economic development is in trouble, and they all need to rely on a big country.
Take Laos as an example, even if he is relatively clear, he can see the international situation and development trend, and knows that only by following China can he "have meat to eat", while Thailand, Vietnam and other countries are obviously very dependent on China in terms of economic development, but they have been undecided, for example, Thailand, he has not been able to understand Vietnam in the past.
Obviously, there is a big backer at the door of his house, but he has to go near and far, and wants to rely on the United States to achieve "take-off", but as everyone knows, he is a fresh "leek" in the eyes of the United States.
On the one hand, in the past, Thailand and China freight trade can only be carried out by road and sea, and now there is the China-Laos Railway, although it is necessary to transit in Laos, but the transportation time is shortened by two days than in the past, and with the convenience of transportation, more Thai goods have been transported to China, and Thailand's exports to China are not short to a new high.
Naturally, the volume of exports has increased, the transportation is convenient, and from the perspective of economic development, Thailand has also made a lot of money.
So at this time, Thailand thought that if it repaired the railway between itself and Laos, and then connected the railway with the China-Laos railway, wouldn't it be able to make more money?
Therefore, Thailand, which was not at all active in building railways in the past, has recently begun to actively promote the construction of railways.
It's also funny to say, if Thailand had figured out that "the railway is the road to prosperity", he would not have taken a 15-year detour.
For example, if the Thai-Laos railway had been opened to traffic in 2009 according to the original plan, Thailand's economic development would have taken off for 15 years.
This also responds to that sentence: many times, choice is actually more important than hard work, only with the right person can take off, in the past Thailand has always wanted to hug the American thigh, but I don't know that the God of Wealth is at his doorstep, isn't this clumsy?
What do you think about this?