"Rail plan may boost China's regional sway" from South China Morning Post

"China has put its ties with other Asian nations on a fast track as it competes with the United States for influence in the region."


"But unlike the US, China is offering its neighbours tangible benefits of alliance, such as high-speed railway and infrastructure investments.

China and Thailand are in advanced talks over a high-speed railway that will pass from southern China through Laos to Thailand, but the plan awaits full confirmation.

In October, the Thai parliament approved a framework for further negotiations with China on a high-speed railway in Thailand, the Bangkok Post reported. The plan would see China build rail lines in Thailand up to the Thai-Malaysian border, with trains running at 250 kilometres per hour. The project is estimated to cost US$23 billion to US$27 billion.

The first section to built would be a link between Bangkok and Nong Khai in northeast Thailand on the Thai-Lao border, Thai Transport Minister Sophon Sarum told media this month. Sophon said this 615kilometre section would cost 208 billion baht (HK$52.93 billion)."


"The high-speed railway that will operate between China, Laos and Thailand in the next few years is part of China's long-term plan to have a high-speed railway from China all the way through Malaysia to Singapore."


"The proposed high-speed rail link between China and Thailand will integrate other Asean members with China physically and spread prosperity from the wealthier to the less developed Asean nations, said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai researcher at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore."


"Vietnam will adopt Japanese high-speed rail technology for its project, which would cost US$55 billion and take 10 to 15 years to build. A Chinese system would require a fraction of the cost and time, the South China Morning Post earlier reported.

"Vietnam is particularly conscious of its problems with China because of history and geography," Wong said. Over the past 2,000 years, China and Vietnam have often been at war, the latest being the Sino-Vietnamese war in 1979. Vietnam and China still have lingering territorial disputes over the South China Sea, which the Vietnamese call the East Vietnam Sea, Wong said. "In Vietnam, some quarters are still anti-China, but other elements are quite neutral. They want China's investment, tourism and trade." "


"Wu's visit to Cambodia came just days after Clinton's visit, when she urged the nation not to become "too dependent" on China.

Wu also visited Indonesia just days before Obama arrived there. On November 8, one day before Obama arrived, China signed US$6.6 billion worth of deals with Indonesia in Jakarta, including infrastructure, energy and agricultural projects."