Lucio Blanco Pitlo III

Opinion | How China’s belt and road is connecting Southeast Asia, political wariness aside

The newly-opened Laos-China railway is just one page in Beijing’s growing portfolio of infrastructure projects in the region. Notwithstanding the challenges, China’s gambit is paying dividends in the form of contracts and clout

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Vietnamese travel on the Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway line in Hanoi on November 6. Vietnam’s first metro line, built by a Chinese company, began operation in Hanoi last month after years of delays and a near-doubling of construction costs. Photo: EPA-EFE

Lucio Blanco Pitlo III

Published: 7:00pm, 4 Dec 2021

Last Thursday, Laos celebrated the completion of its first high-speed railway, a US$6 billion project backed by China. The inauguration came just a few weeks after Vietnam opened its first metro line in Hanoi, also built by China.

These infrastructure projects are proof that Beijing’s massive Belt and Road Initiative continues to break ground even amid a pandemic, with far-reaching implications for Southeast Asia. They will no doubt burnish Beijing’s appeal as a vital partner in promoting connectivity and spurring economic recovery in the region.

The new transport networks will be even more crucial after the world’s largest free trade agreement, the Regional Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), takes effect next year, bringing together all 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its five dialogue partners, including China.

The newly-opened Laotian railway runs for 414km, connecting the capital Vientiane with Boten on the China-Laos border. Completed after five years’ work, it is a linchpin of deepening ties between the two one-party states.

The line runs across the border and ends in Kunming, the capital of China’s southwestern Yunnan province. Reducing transport costs by as much as 40 per cent compared to road travel, it will be a game changer for Laos, Southeast Asia’s lone landlocked country. Indicative of the high hopes attached to the new railway, its inauguration coincided with the 46th anniversary of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

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China-Laos railway set to open in latest advance for Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative

But the Laotian railway is just one page in a growing portfolio of projects that will cement Beijing’s position in Southeast Asia when completed. In neighbouring Cambodia, the 190km Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville expressway, the country’s first, is expected to open next year after work began in 2020.