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Beijing’s leaders are working with regional neighbors on the country’s western, northern and southern borders to develop new rail and sea links.
Keith Bradsher reported from Hunchun, the town at China’s border with North Korea and Russia, and from Beijing and Shanghai.
Sept. 24, 2024, 12:00 a.m. ET
China has made several moves in recent months to advance its ambitious aim to become the trade and transportation hub of Asia.
To its west, China has agreed to build a rail line across Central Asia. Beijing also said it would help Vietnam plan three rail lines leading to the countries’ shared border. And China is trying to persuade Russia and North Korea to let it reopen a long-closed port on the Sea of Japan.
Kazakhstan
RUSSIA
Mongolia
A long-closed port
may be reopened
A new rail line
across Central Asia
Hunchun
Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan
Beijing
Samarkand
Kashgar
Japan
China
Afghanistan
Shanghai
Nepal
Pakistan
Bhutan
Three rail lines
planned in Vietnam
Bangladesh
Taiwan
India
Myanmar
Hanoi
LAOS
Thailand
Vietnam
400 MILES
Kazakhstan
RUSSIA
A long-closed port
may be reopened
Mongolia
A new rail line
across Central Asia
Hunchun
Kashgar
Beijing
Samarkand
Japan
China
Afghanistan
Shanghai
Three rail lines
planned in Vietnam
Pakistan
Nepal
Taiwan
India
Hanoi
LAOS
Thailand
Vietnam
Philippines
500 MILES
RUSSIA
A new rail line
across Central Asia
A long-closed port
may be reopened
Kashgar
Beijing
Samarkand
China
Shanghai
Three rail lines
planned in Vietnam
Hanoi
If successful, the plans would give China closer ties to the economies of Northeast and Southeast Asia, the Mideast and even the Arctic, the latest steps in its 11-year-old Belt and Road Initiative to create a more China-centered global order.
Each of the efforts, in varying ways, faces obstacles. The nation’s top leader, Xi Jinping, will need close cooperation from border countries, some of which are politically volatile, like Kyrgyzstan, or internationally isolated, like North Korea. Neighboring countries that have long been wary of China, like Vietnam, will need to be reassured.
A similar venture, a three-year-old rail line that China has forged into landlocked Laos in Southeast Asia, has been welcomed by some there for bringing an influx of Chinese mining investments and tourism to the country. But others have warned of Chinese domination of the Laotian economy.
