Li Keqiang and trans-Eurasian Railroads
- By Heiko Khoo
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E-mail China.org.cn, October 27, 2014
From the standpoint of private profit-based railway companies and the governments of cash-strapped capitalist countries, visionary railroad infrastructure projects are often considered to be unviable. The World Bank survey, "High Speed Rail: A fast track to economic development?" claimed it is really only viable for medium distance travel. But this assessment remains very much based on market-logic rather than being farsighted and strategic and it fails to adequately consider societal benefits as an organic whole. The World Bank report mentions the overall socio-economic benefit of integrating cities only in passing and focuses instead, again and again, on return on investment.
Such an approach neglects the core issues of scientific development planning. For example, nobody denies the general global trend towards urbanization, yet, rather than viewing high-speed rail transport in this light, short-term thinking predominates in economics and politics. In Sub-Saharan Africa for example, the United Nations estimates an urbanization rate of over 60 percent by 2050. So unless there is a planned and continental approach to developing transport infrastructure, Africa will have huge urban populations without the preconditions for sustained overall development. Earlier this year in Africa Premier Li presented a vision to African leaders of high-speed railways connecting every major city "to boost pan-African communication and development." And the facts of Sino-African cooperation, between African states and China's state-owned enterprises, confirm the nature of this orientation.
On his recent visit to Russia, Premier Li signed a memorandum of understanding with President Vladimir Putin to build a Moscow-Kazan high-speed rail line and to connect this to Beijing. When complete, this will slash the time of a Moscow-Beijing train journey from six days to 48 hours, and lay the basis for high-speed rail travel from Beijing to London in 72 hours. This is an exhilarating prospect and it is deeply symbolic of a newly emerging correlation of geo-politics in which China's role is central.
When in Moscow, Premier Li spoke of the inexhaustible potential for development between China and Russia. This is certainly true. Indeed one of the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union was the long-term failure to fully exploit the potential of Sino-Soviet cooperation.
Sino-Russian and Sino-German railroad development is also important from the standpoint of binding German and Russian interests together. This can help to mitigate against inflammatory actions by the United States as its global power wanes. U.S. dominance of sea power make railways an ideal means to overcome China's dependence on vulnerable shipping lanes like the Straits of Malacca; through which most of China's imports pass. So, although there are also plans to build a high-speed railway from Beijing to Washington, it is likely that Sinophobia in Washington will scupper this project. It should be recalled that it was mainly cheap Chinese labor that built the First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the U.S. railway network from the East coast to the Pacific in the 1860s. China's state-owned railway companies have surpassed the railway infrastructure of world capitalism. This reveals that despite all the critics, China's system of public ownership and planning remains fundamentally healthy and vibrant.
The writer is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://china.org.cn/opinion/heikokhoo.htm
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