China and the DPRK have a long history of friendship fighting side by side. The Yalu River, which crosses the two countries, has always been the boundary between them, and what connects the two countries is a historic bridge that spans the Yalu River. During the period of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, Chinese troops and supplies were transported to the interior of Korea through this Yalu River bridge. However, with the change of times, this bridge has become narrow and backward, and cannot meet the needs of modern transportation. In order to strengthen the best cultural exchanges between the two countries, it is imperative to build a new bridge.
As early as 2010, China proposed the idea of building a new Yalu River bridge and held consultations with North Korea. However, although the main structure of the bridge was built solely by China, it was not opened to traffic for the next nine years. This has sparked speculation about the reasons behind it. The Yalu River Bridge, which has gone through vicissitudes, undertook important tasks during the period of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, and was bombed by the US army many times, but the engineers always quickly repaired it and kept the bridge intact. Today, this historic bridge still stands on the Yalu River and has become the main road for transportation and a witness to that difficult history. However, due to limited capacity, the old bridge could only accommodate one train per day, and a new bridge was urgently needed to meet the needs of modern transportation.
China and the DPRK have communicated several times about the construction of the new Yalu River bridge, but the DPRK has not been positive. It was not until 2009 that the two sides reached an agreement to work together on the bridge. In a show of sincerity, China has invested up to 2.2 billion yuan and plans to build a two-way, four-lane cable-stayed bridge. Such a move will greatly reduce the burden on the old bridge and promote economic cooperation between the two countries. During the construction process, China invested a lot of manpower and material resources, and it took only four years to complete the construction of the main body of the bridge. However, the delay in the construction of the new bridge has led to the failure of the new bridge to open to traffic, which has become a major obstacle to economic cooperation between the two sides.
North Korea has long given the impression of being a country of isolation, especially during the pandemic. This leaves North Korea with very limited ties with other countries. Coupled with the large amount of money required to build the bridge, North Korea may want China to bear the full cost, making cooperation slow to progress. However, China does not want one party to take all the blame, believing that cooperation should be mutually beneficial. As a result, although the two sides agreed on their intention to cooperate, the North Korean side failed to follow up, resulting in the bridge project being shelved.
China is well aware of the importance of infrastructure for development, and in recent years, many of the world's most famous bridges have been built by China. The Yalu River Bridge is not only a transportation hub between the two countries, but also vital to North Korea's domestic development. However, to this day, North Korea has not shown a positive attitude towards the construction of the new bridge, which has affected the friendly relations between the two sides. Although there are other bridges on the Yalu River, most of them have fallen into disrepair for many years and are too limited in size to meet the needs of modern transportation. The North Korean side may also be aware of the importance of the new bridge to North Korea's development, but due to financial and other reasons, it is unable to fully support it, leading to an impasse in the bridge project.
In summary, although the cooperation project between China and North Korea to build the new Yalu River Bridge has good intentions, the project has reached an impasse due to differences between the two sides in terms of funding and responsibility sharing. The two sides should make joint efforts to find effective ways to solve problems, promote the realization of cooperation projects as soon as possible, and promote the sustained development of friendly relations between the two countries.
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