Li Keqiang and trans-Eurasian Railroads
By Heiko Khoo
In the 19th century, steam powered railways were pivotal to the expansion of British and world capitalism. When, in 1850, Karl Marx saw an electric train in a London toyshop he was overjoyed. He told his friend, Wilhelm Liebknecht:
"Now the problem is solved - the consequences are indefinable. In the wake of the economic revolution the political must necessarily follow, for the latter is only the expression of the former."
A China Railways CRH2C (left) and a China Railways CRH3C (right) train in Tianjin.
However, over four decades later Liebknecht bemoaned the fact that there was not a single electric railway line in operation.
Railways were also at the heart of Premier Li Keqiang's recent visit to Europe. High-speed railway investment exposes "the China difference," namely, its capacity to accurately develop and realize its long-term plans for economic investment and growth. In this way China has overtaken the richest capitalist countries in the high-speed rail sector and this network is now larger than the rest of the world combined.
Global interconnectivity has raced ahead of the boundaries and limitations of nation states. Modern communications integrate the international process of design, production and consumption of commodities into an organic whole. The virtual interactions that bind together material production, consumption and distribution, require global logistics
. And a fundamental feature of the development of the productive forces is the conquest of distance and time, which, for the Eurasian landmass, inevitably means the expansion of railways both for freight and human transport.
The recent world economic crisis has acted as a drag on international railway development because, as world trade suffered, shipping costs fell dramatically. Therefore railroad investments in many countries declined as a consequence of this maritime competition.
However, in contrast, the global economic crisis was the signal for China to expand and accelerate the breadth and depth of its railroad investments, nationally and internationally. China's accumulated expertise and technical experience has global significance. Its capacity to build high-speed networks rapidly and in adverse conditions is reflected in the sweeping scope of the projects in development and being negotiated.
Plans to develop the interior of China have been combined with expansion of its freight network to Europe.
Trains from Chongqing to Duisburg in Germany, the world's largest inland harbor, have been in operation since April this year and, from Oct. 30, they will also run from Changsha in Hunan. Freight on these routes takes between 12 -16 days compared to 50-60 days by sea. In this way, developing the central and western areas of China is integrated with developing Eurasian railway networks as the foundation for the New Silk Road.
From the standpoint of private profit-based railway companies and the governments of cash-strapped capitalist countries, visionary railroad infrastructure projects are often considered to be unviable. The World Bank survey, "High Speed Rail: A fast track to economic development?" claimed it is really only viable for medium distance travel.
But this assessment remains very much based on market-logic rather than being farsighted and strategic and it fails to adequately consider societal benefits as an organic whole. The World Bank report mentions the overall socio-economic benefit of integrating cities only in passing and focuses instead, again and again, on return on investment.
Such an approach neglects the core issues of scientific development planning. For example, nobody denies the general global trend towards urbanization, yet, rather than viewing high-speed rail transport in this light, short-term thinking predominates in economics and politics. In Sub-Saharan Africa for example, the United Nations estimates an urbanization rate of over 60 percent by 2050. So unless there is a planned and continental approach to developing transport infrastructure, Africa will have huge urban populations without the preconditions for sustained overall development.
Earlier this year in Africa Premier Li presented a vision to African leaders of high-speed railways connecting every major city "to boost pan-African communication and development." And the facts of Sino-African cooperation, between African states and China's state-owned enterprises, confirm the nature of this orientation.
On his recent visit to Russia,
Premier Li signed a memorandum of understanding with President Vladimir Putin to build a Moscow-Kazan high-speed rail line and to connect this to Beijing. When complete, this will slash the time of a Moscow-Beijing train journey from six days to 48 hours, and lay the basis for high-speed rail travel from Beijing to London in 72 hours. This is an exhilarating prospect and it is deeply symbolic of a newly emerging correlation of geo-politics in which China's role is central.
When in Moscow, Premier Li spoke of the inexhaustible potential for development between China and Russia. This is certainly true. Indeed one of the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union was the long-term failure to fully exploit the potential of Sino-Soviet cooperation.
Sino-Russian and Sino-German railroad development is also important from the standpoint of binding German and Russian interests together. This can help to mitigate against inflammatory actions by the United States as its global power wanes. U.S. dominance of sea power make railways an ideal means to overcome China's dependence on vulnerable shipping lanes like the Straits of Malacca; through which most of China's imports pass. So, although there are also plans to build a high-speed railway from Beijing to Washington, it is likely that Sinophobia in Washington will scupper this project. It should be recalled that it was mainly cheap Chinese labor that built the First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the U.S. railway network from the East coast to the Pacific in the 1860s. China's state-owned railway companies have surpassed the railway infrastructure of world capitalism. This reveals that despite all the critics, China's system of public ownership and planning remains fundamentally healthy and vibrant.
The writer is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: Opinion - China.org.cn
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