Thailand worried over Laos railway delay
Delays on the Laos side of the China-ASEAN high-speed rail line have pressured the Thai government to take matters into their own hands.
During a recent meeting in Chiang Mai, Thai Prime Minster Yingluck Shinawatra met with her Lao counterpart Thongsing Thammavong to propose a round of talks between the two nations and China.
According to the Bangkok Post, Prime Minister Shinawatra expressed Thailand’s worry during the meeting that delays would setback greater ambitions to eventually link the region.
Laos took a more observatory role in the gigantic rail project after China offered to back the landlocked nation with financing, a $5-billion deal that caused moaning ripples in the Asian Development Bank, which branded it “unaffordable.”
As part of the project, Thailand will build four high-speed rail lines from Bangkok to Nong Khai and then southern China to Vientiane.
The first phase of the plan will include the Nong Khai train line to be laid in the Nakhon Ratchasima province.
The meeting has yet to officially produce a statement, but it is believed that the leaders also met to address drug and human trafficking, as well as bolster trade and investment on Roads 8 and 12 in Laos.
The ongoing China-ASEAN high-speed rail project is a monumental effort to link China with its Southeast Asian neighbours, eventually running from Beijing to Singapore.
Delays on the Laos side of the China-ASEAN high-speed rail line have pressured the Thai government to take matters into their own hands. During a recent meeting in Chiang Mai, Thai Prime Minster Yingluck Shinawatra met with her Lao counterpart Thongsing Thammavong to propose a round of talks between the two nations and China. According to the Bangkok Post, Prime Minister Shinawatra expressed Thailand’s worry during the meeting that delays would setback greater ambitions to eventually link the region. Laos took a more observatory role in the gigantic rail project after China offered to back the landlocked nation with financing,...
Delays on the Laos side of the China-ASEAN high-speed rail line have pressured the Thai government to take matters into their own hands.
During a recent meeting in Chiang Mai, Thai Prime Minster Yingluck Shinawatra met with her Lao counterpart Thongsing Thammavong to propose a round of talks between the two nations and China.
According to the Bangkok Post, Prime Minister Shinawatra expressed Thailand’s worry during the meeting that delays would setback greater ambitions to eventually link the region.
Laos took a more observatory role in the gigantic rail project after China offered to back the landlocked nation with financing, a $5-billion deal that caused moaning ripples in the Asian Development Bank, which branded it “unaffordable.”
As part of the project, Thailand will build four high-speed rail lines from Bangkok to Nong Khai and then southern China to Vientiane.
The first phase of the plan will include the Nong Khai train line to be laid in the Nakhon Ratchasima province.
The meeting has yet to officially produce a statement, but it is believed that the leaders also met to address drug and human trafficking, as well as bolster trade and investment on Roads 8 and 12 in Laos.
The ongoing China-ASEAN high-speed rail project is a monumental effort to link China with its Southeast Asian neighbours, eventually running from Beijing to Singapore.
