[Special Issue for the 10th Anniversary of the "the Belt and Road"] The "the Belt and Road" helps Southeast Asia move towards the "Great Connectivity" Global Times | Initiative | Southeast Asia

[Zhao Jue, Hao Shuangyan, Special Correspondent of the Global Times to Southeast Asia, Li Xuanmin, Hu Yuwei] said in the opening column that this year is the tenth anniversary of the proposal to jointly build the "the Belt and Road". In the past decade, the international community has faced unprecedented changes, with ongoing conflicts and instability, increasing decoupling and disconnection, and the counter current of populism and anti globalization threatening the well-being of people around the world. It is against this historical background that the "the Belt and Road" initiative, which advocates "openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation", has become a popular public product in the international community. Today, more than 150 countries and 30 international organizations have signed the "the Belt and Road" cooperation documents.

Recently, Global Times reporters divided into five groups and went deep into Southeast Asia, Africa, South Pacific, Central Asia, and Europe. Following the footsteps of pioneers, they covered the tremendous changes of the past decade and told the stories of the past decade, while also carrying a vision for the next decade. The Southeast Asia section of our special issue "The 10th Anniversary of the the Belt and Road" is in the newspaper today.

A grand idea from 28 years ago is becoming a reality in Asia! At the 5th ASEAN Summit in 1995, then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir proposed a large-scale connectivity plan - the Pan Asian Railway. According to his plan, the Pan Asian Railway will include a main railway line starting from Kunming, China, passing through Laos, Thailand, and Malaysia to reach Singapore, with a total length of nearly 4000 kilometers. However, the "Pan Asian Railway" stayed on paper for a long time, and it was not until the "the Belt and Road" initiative was put forward that people's longing for this plan was revived.

On December 3, 2021, the China Laos Railway, which connects Kunming and Vientiane and adopts Chinese standards, will be officially put into operation, marking an important step for the "Pan Asian Railway" from imagination to reality. Under the "the Belt and Road" initiative, this dream is now extending along an increasingly clear "track". The soon to be put into operation Yawan High Speed Railway, as well as the still under construction China Thailand Railway and Malaysia East Coast Railway, will present an unprecedented interconnected network to people.

A rice gauge train has arrived at the Ayutthaya Station in Thailand. Photo by He Zhuoqian

"We look forward to its early realization"

"People who have not experienced modern railways cannot imagine its convenience and beauty," said a Jakarta citizen to a Global Times reporter. The railway system in Southeast Asia heavily relies on the equipment and network built in the last century, almost becoming synonymous with "outdated" and "slow". Before the completion of the China Laos Railway, Laos had only one 3.5km long railway connecting Thailand; In Indonesia, a considerable portion of railways are narrow gauge railways left over from the colonial period; In Malaysia, over 1.2 million people in the state of Terengganu have never experienced the feeling of a train arriving at their doorstep.

During this interview in Thailand, Global Times reporters experienced the local meter gauge railway. At Dachengfu Station, there are no security checkpoints or waiting rooms, and passengers can even board the train without presenting a ticket. The train started, and in the hot summer, only a few fans above the head were working inside the carriage.

Ailing, a local who accompanied the reporter on the train, said that this was her only few experiences of riding Thai trains in over 20 years. With the influence of the "the Belt and Road" initiative moving towards the depth of Southeast Asia, the Thai railway is undergoing profound changes. Ailing works in the public relations department of the China Thailand Railway. "The China Thailand Railway is a new thing for us. When people talk about it, they are very excited and look forward to the day when they travel on it." Ailing said.

Compared to Thai citizens, residents of Java, Indonesia who are also eagerly anticipating the new railway, may be even luckier, as the Jakarta Bandung high-speed railway connecting Jakarta and Bandung will open this year. The commute time has been shortened from over 3 hours to 40 minutes, with handsome silver red color trains and fully equipped modern stations, all of which have filled Indonesian people with expectations. As the beginning of carrying the dream of "Trans Asian Railway", the China Laos Railway had sent more than 20 million passengers by August 16.

"This is our common mission"

This "steel transportation network" that has been continuously paved and extended is the answer sheet that China and Southeast Asian countries are trying to hand over in the implementation of the "the Belt and Road" initiative. In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, Malaysian Minister of Transport Lu Zhaofu said that infrastructure is the "catalyst" for many developing countries to promote growth, and the "the Belt and Road Initiative" gives developing countries "an opportunity and a choice".

Zhang Chao, Executive Director of Indonesia China High Speed Railway Co., Ltd., told reporters that the Yawan High Speed Railway is the first overseas construction project of China High Speed Railway with a full system, all elements, and all industry chains. This huge investment is our common cause and mission.

Picture caption 1: A high-speed train parked at the Dekarul high-speed train station on the Yawan high-speed railway. Photo by Zhao Jue

At the construction site of the Eighth Division of the General Manager Department of China Communications Construction Malaysia East Coast Railway Project, the scorching sun in July did not slow down the pace of construction at all. The deputy manager of the branch, Lin Xiongqi, told Global Times reporters that the proportion of bridges and tunnels on this section of the line is as high as 68%, and the standard requirements are also high. Among them, the Shuangwendan 2 channel has the "five longest": the longest single hole double track in Malaysia and the entire MTR line, the longest drilling and blasting method construction, the longest auxiliary tunnel, the longest single hole double track ballastless track, and the longest reverse slope drainage railway tunnel.

"Building the 'Pan Asian Railway' is a dream for Asian economic development." Kong Qi, General Manager of the Malaysia East Coast Railway Project, told Global Times reporters that the China Europe freight trains connecting the east and west sides of the Eurasian continent have been in operation for many years. Trains departing from Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuhan and other places can all directly connect to Europe. "Why can't we achieve railway connectivity with Southeast Asia?"

"More connectivity is a historical inevitability"

Just as Thai and Malaysian people were eagerly anticipating the early opening of trains, local specialty agricultural products had already boarded trains bound for China. On June 7 this year, 150000 durian seeds were sent from Tsim Chuen Phu in Thailand, packed at Vientiane South Station in Laos, and entered the country through Mohan Port of China Laos Railway. It only took four days to appear in the commercial supermarket in Chongqing. This is the first time that Thai durian has been transported directly from overseas to the Chengdu Chongqing region of western China through the Western Land Sea New Channel railway train, setting a record for transportation time.

Behind the lightning transportation of "Little Durian" is the "Great Connection" between China and Southeast Asia's economy. Many locals believe that by solving development bottlenecks through railway connectivity, Southeast Asia will surely unleash greater development vitality.

Song Wei, from the School of International Relations of Beijing International Studies University, told the Global Times that the Southeast Asian railways under the framework of the "the Belt and Road Initiative" will form a network in the future, which will not only help Southeast Asia to be more deeply embedded in the global value chain, but also play a huge role in promoting the intra Asian economic and trade cycle.

"The 'the Belt and Road' initiative has profoundly changed the world." Willen, director of the the Belt and Road Research Center between Thailand and China, said to the reporter of the Global Times that under the promotion of this initiative, China, Laos and Thailand, as well as China, will further connect with the entire Southeast Peninsula, which is a historical necessity, and the community of shared future between China and ASEAN countries will also become closer.