China's overland Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road Thread

timepass

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HISTORICAL MOVEMENT FOR
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100 Trucks convoy on the way to Gwader.
First time Pakistani export cargo and containerized vessel will depart from
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port for China on 13th November.

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Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
Interesting video from both NHK and CCTV about Cambodia and Laos .Like the rest of South east asia ,Chinese immigrant are influential in economic field
.But Khmer rouge and Indo China war in 60's decimated much of their influence in both country.Many left the country.

But as peace restore in both country, new immigrant from China start come to live and revitalized the economy in both country. Coupled with Chinese government investment in both country,Chinese influence will only grow in the future.

As there is such a surplus of men in Chinese demographic one solution is to export them to SEA where they can find wife. Chinese men and SEA women is as old as the history itself. I guess the long hiatus during colonial time is only short interlude of the long drive to the south east asia

 
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advill

Junior Member
Overseas Chinese from humble beginnings (many only shirts on their backs) have been dominant in business and trade in Southeast Asia, ever since their ancestors went to these countries since 18th Century and perhaps earlier. They were relatively small in numbers compared to the indigenous populations, but they contributed to the economies of these countries and continue to do so. These remarkable Chinese went not only to Southeast Asia but also to the other parts of the world including the West. There are several China Towns the world over, and they continue to celebrate Chinese New Year and other festivals. Most Overseas Chinese have integrated into the societies albeit not without difficulties, as they were at times looked upon with jaundiced eyes by many indigenous peoples of the countries where they had migrated. The Chinese contributions have been acknowledged, not only for improvements in the economies of Southeast Asian countries, but they were, and still several who are philanthropists contributing to many charitable projects. The openings of the Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road, China are expected to contribute to the benefit of countries along the routes.
 

weig2000

Captain
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Port of Hambantota on country’s southern coast lies along important trade route linking Middle East and Asia

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Port of Hambantota, in Hambantota District, Sri Lanka Photo: Junho Kim/The Wall Street Journal

By Gordon Fairclough and Uditha Jayasinghe
Dec. 8, 2016 2:45 p.m. ET

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—Sri Lanka’s heavily indebted government signed an agreement in principle on Thursday to sell an 80% stake in a deep-water port on the nation’s southern coast, close to one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, to a Chinese state-owned company, senior officials said.

Under the deal, a copy of which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, China Merchants Port Holdings Co. would pay about $1.1 billion for its share of the port and adjoining land in Hambantota district.

Sri Lanka’s ports authority would own 20%. Officials said they hoped to complete the arrangement by early January.

Washington could react warily, depending on the details. The port, in Hambantota, lies along an important trade route linking the Middle East and Asia. And China’s navy has been stepping up its operations in the Indian Ocean as it seeks to project power westward.

“We will watch carefully,” a senior U.S. official said. “These things do have long-term implications.”

Sri Lanka’s development minister, Malik Samarawickrama, dismissed strategic concerns, saying “there is no issue.” He said the deal was a commercial one that “would take a huge burden off the government.”

Beijing has said projects with which it is involved in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in the region are designed to boost trade and foster economic development. The projects are parts of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s so-called One Belt One Road plan to build connections between Asia and Europe.

On the other side of India near the mouth of the Persian Gulf, a port in Gwadar, Pakistan has also been built by China, which is a cornerstone of $46 billion in planned Chinese investments in transport and power generation in that country.

China’s ambassador in Colombo, Yi Xianliang, has said Beijing was in discussions with Sri Lanka over taking “shares in projects to help the government solve its finance problems.”

Sri Lankan officials say the Hambantota port, which is financed by more than $1 billion in loans from a Chinese state-owned bank and built by a Chinese state-owned engineering company, is bleeding money. Revenue covers a sliver of its repayment obligations.

Construction was started on the port and a nearby international airport by Sri Lanka’s former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was voted out of office in 2014.

Western countries distanced themselves from Mr. Rajapaksa’s government after allegations of human-rights abuses during and after the country’s long civil war, which ended with the defeat in 2009 of a separatist insurgency by the island nation’s minority Tamil community.

In the wake of the conflict, Sri Lanka became increasing reliant on Chinese funding for infrastructure. At the time, opposition politicians, many of whom are now in the government, criticized the projects as overpriced and underplanned and sought to distance the country from China.

The country’s new leaders have portrayed the Hambantota port and airport as white elephants. “The previous government built these without thinking about whether or not they made economic sense,” Mr. Samarawickrama said. Now Beijing “will help us make these projects viable.”

The financial drain from the port and other works funded by borrowing from China has put mounting pressure on Sri Lanka, which earlier this year had to turn to the International Monetary Fund for
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to bolster foreign-exchange reserves and stave off a financial crisis.

Sri Lanka’s new leaders have long sought to renegotiate terms of at least some of the $8 billion in debt the country owes China and to attract money from other sources. They have also tried to woo the West by improving human rights and pushing post-civil war reconciliation.

But the U.S., Japan, India and other potential backers have been slow to step up with alternative funding. “It will take some time for the restoration of relations and goodwill to translate into economic benefits,” said Eran Wickramaratne, deputy minister for public-enterprise development.

Write to Gordon Fairclough at [email protected]

 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
After long delay finally construction start on China - Laos railway .The connecting line to Thailand still mired in dispute

Construction starts on China – Laos railway
28 Dec 2016
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LAOS: Ceremonies were held in the northern city of Luang Prabang on December 25 to mark the launch of construction of the 414·3 km rail link from the Chinese border to Vientiane.

Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith formally turned the first sod and struck a gong to mark the start of construction. He was accompanied by former Deputy Prime Minister of Somsavat Lengsavad, Chinese Ambassador Guan Huabing, and Minister of Public Works & Transport Bounchanh Sinthavong, as well as the Chairman of the Laos-China Railway Co Huang Difu, General Manager of China Railway International.

Bounchanh said that the railway would be of ‘great significance’ in boosting socio-economic development, strengthening economic ties between China and the ASEAN region, as well as boosting trade, investment and tourism. ‘Once completed, the railway will benefit Lao people of all ethnic groups, reducing the cost of transport, and stimulating the development of the agricultural and industrial sectors’ he explained.

Huang told the guests that engineering design had been underway since the signing of the formal project agreement in November 2015, along with the setting up of LCRC and the award of construction contracts to various China Railway Group subsidiaries. Land acquisition and site clearance have also been making good progress, he reported. This has included the removal of undeploded ordnance.

Starting from the current CRC railhead at Mohan on the China-Laos border and passing through the Laotian border town of Boten, the 1 435 mm gauge line will then run south to the capital the cities of Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. It will terminate at Nong Khai which is currently served by a metre-gauge cross-border link from Thailand.

Although Chinese contractors have been building and operating railways in many parts of the world for more than four decades, the line to Laos is the first such railway linking directly to the CRC network across the Chinese border. The single track electrified mixed-traffic line is to be built to China’s GB Grade 1 standards, suitable for 160 km/h passenger and 120 km/h freight trains. The mountainous terrain will require 258·5 km of bridges and tunnels. The cost is estimated at 37·4bn yuan, and construction is expected to take five years.

 

timepass

Brigadier
First coal-laden freight 15000 Kg train reached at Sahiwal Coal power plant.Pakistan Railway will earn 13 Billion Rs Per year
Chinese company has submitted a rent of one billion rupees of one month.The biggest freight operation of Pakistan Railways’ (PR) history begins today .Twenty-five engines of four thousand -horsepower will be used for the freight service..

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