The second Filipino emerges?Another neighboring country has exposed its true colors and wants to drag China into the water and change the Asia-Pacific pattern
According to the news, Thailand has recently begun to "replace the Strait of Malacca" and is ready to embark on the "land bridge" project, specifically preparing to build a deep-water wharf in Thailand's "Chumphon Province" and "Ranong Province", and then connect it with a road and railway with a total length of 90 kilometers.
Once this project is successfully implemented, if countries in East Asia want to carry out the best exchanges, whether they will transport goods from the Middle East to East Asia, or from East Asia to the Middle East, they can not go through the Strait of Malacca, so as to improve transportation efficiency and save transportation costs.
At the same time, Thailand will also be able to create a large number of jobs through this project, which will further stimulate the development of the Thai economy. Thailand** revealed that in order to regulate this project, special laws will be enacted in the future to serve it.
So what does this have to do with China?In terms of economic costs, according to Thai estimates, it is estimated that 1 trillion baht will be invested in this project, equivalent to about 204 billion yuan. It is very difficult for Thailand to do such a large project by itself, so it is preparing to bid and construct in 2025, and China is one of the objects that Thailand wants to cooperate.
In addition, in terms of the prospect of the "Land Bridge" project, once completed, it will completely change the transportation pattern in the Asia-Pacific region, thereby strengthening Thailand's influence in the region and even the world, but it is naturally difficult for Thailand to complete such a large project on its own.
As a result, Thailand has tried to pull China into the water, suggesting that the new route could help China bypass the Strait of Malacca. But if China doesn't agree, the U.S. side is also interested in the project. In short, Thailand does not have the financial resources and capacity to undertake the "land bridge" project, so it wants to turn to China and make China bear the cost.
In fact, China's focus on avoiding the Malacca route is largely driven by concerns about U.S. military deployments in Southeast Asia. Once Sino-US relations deteriorate to a peak, it will be difficult for China's first-class ships to the Middle East, Europe, and Africa to pass smoothly in the Strait of Malacca.
Therefore, China's attempt to reduce the importance of the Malacca route to its foreign trade and shipping is actually to avoid being choked by the United States on China's maritime lifeline.
But Thailand's plan is not perfect for us either. Thailand has chosen a large part of the South China Sea defense line to reach the area in time, not to mention whether this project will pay off from scratch, and the most important thing is that this project will have a lot of uncertainty and great insecurity for us.
In addition, Thailand's proposal to build a "land bridge" instead of directly opening a canal is actually based on Thailand's selfish considerations. The plan, which involves the construction of two deep-water ports, transportation along the route, and a range of infrastructure and supporting facilities, could indeed create a lot of jobs in Thailand.
However, the benefits of this project for China are relatively small, and the risks are large. Therefore, we naturally have to remain vigilant and fully consider the feasibility and safety of the first line.