Vietnam urged to get China-backed railway project on track, avoid ‘missed opportunities’ despite concerns
- Preliminary planning for the 392km-long (244 miles) Lao Cai-Hanoi–Haiphong standard gauge railway was finished in 2019 having first been mentioned in 2015
- Once constructed, it will link the capital of China’s southwestern Yunnan province to one of Vietnam’s busiest seaports as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative
For the past seven years, the name of a Vietnamese railway project has appeared in every diplomatic joint statement and declaration between Beijing and Hanoi. But so far, it has remained firmly on the drawing board only.
The two sides said that they will strive for the early completion of the evaluation of the standard gauge railway project as a part of an overall effort to boost connectivity.
Once constructed, the route will be part of the eastern line of a high-speed railway network linking Kunming – the capital of China’s southwestern Yunnan province – to Singapore as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, according to David M. Lampton, professor emeritus at School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Vietnam has to think about the opportunities it may miss by not itself connecting to this growing system and enhancing connectivity with China itself
The first phase of the central line to the border between Thailand and Laos has been in operation since late 2021, with freight and passenger traffic growing, said Lampton, who is also a co-author of Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia.